# 5 Keys to a Successful Digital Adoption Platform Deployment

Understanding digital adoption and digital adoption platforms (DAPs) is essential to an organization's digital transformation strategy. Just as Customer Experience (CX) drives to understand how consumers interact with a company’s external environments, DAPs can determine how and to what extent employees interact with internal digital tools. These platforms are more than just tools for interaction and connection; they also play a critical role in software adoption during onboarding and training.

In today's digital era, grasping these concepts is the first step in effectively navigating the tech landscape and ensuring a successful digital transformation.

# What is Digital Adoption?

Simply put, digital adoption is the achievement of a state wherein digital tools are being utilized as they are intended to be, and to their utmost potential, ensuring that technology is not just implemented but fully integrated into workflows, processes, and tasks.

Digital Adoption Platforms (DAP) facilitate this process. A DAP is a tool that enables organizations to extract the maximum value and efficiency from their digital tools. It's the catalyst that accelerates the journey from merely using technology to excelling with it.

Understanding the nuances of digital adoption and the role of a digital adoption platform is the first step toward crafting a successful digital adoption strategy. These platforms are instrumental in bridging the gap between software deployment and software mastery, leading to an overall increase in technology adoption and digital adaptability within an organization.

# Benefits of Digital Adoption Platforms

Digital Adoption Platforms (DAP) offer many benefits for organizations striving to enhance their tech adoption. To identify whether your organization requires a DAP, consider these key indicators:

  • Inadequate Software Performance: If your current software isn't delivering as expected, it might be a sign of incomplete digital adoption. Implementing a DAP can help maximize software utilization, turning underused tools into productivity powerhouses.
  • Resistance to Change: Negative attitudes towards new technology can stall digital adoption. By offering guided, user-friendly experiences, a DAP can help manage this resistance, promoting a more positive attitude towards change and ensuring smoother transitions.
  • Low Employee Engagement: When employees aren't fully engaged with the digital tools at their disposal, it's a sign that your digital adoption strategy may need reinforcement. A DAP can heighten engagement, improve proficiency with these tools, and make working with new software an intuitive and seamless experience.

The benefits of implementing a DAP in your organization's digital adoption strategy include:

  • Improved Customer Satisfaction: DAPs streamline the customer service process, leading to more efficient responses, improved customer interactions, and ultimately, heightened customer satisfaction.
  • Seamless Workflow and Increased Productivity: With guided workflows and in-app support, a DAP facilitates smoother interaction with software, reducing bottlenecks, and boosting employee productivity. This leads to an overall increase in digital adaptability across your organization.
  • Positive Return on Technology Investments: By ensuring complete utilization of your digital tools, a DAP not only improves the return on your technology adoption investments but also ensures that your digital tools are contributing effectively to your business goals.

# Digital Adoption Strategy: Keys to a Successful Rollout


Digital adoption platforms can be transformative tools in the journey of technology adoption for an organization. However, mishandled digital adoption can instead widen existing divisions within teams. Drawing from our diverse experiences with DAP deployments, we've curated a list of best practices to facilitate a successful DAP rollout and optimize your digital adoption strategy.

# 1. Clearly Define Your Problem

Understanding your audience and pinpointing the specific behaviors you wish to encourage or deter is crucial in formulating a successful digital adoption strategy. It's important to conduct a thorough study of your user base to grasp their current state and their interaction with the technology. The insights derived from this study can serve as a foundation for selecting the right Digital Adoption Platform (DAP).

Investing time in defining your problem and accurately determining what you expect your DAP to accomplish is vital for success. Proper scoping of your DAP should take into account:

  • A specific audience
  • A defined purpose
  • The learning curve

The above points illustrate a tightly scoped implementation success story. However, it's also important to be aware of potential pitfalls that could lead to failure:

  • Broad Problem Statements: Overly general problem statements can make you susceptible to market influences, potentially leading to the wrong solution being chosen. It can also lead to overpromising internally, which can set unrealistic expectations for your digital adoption platform.
  • Absence of Change Management: Adoption platforms invariably require individuals to change behaviors. Overlooking this aspect can hinder the successful deployment of your DAP and disrupt your tech adoption efforts.

# 2. Scope to Criteria, Then Go to the Market

Remember, while all DAP providers will assure you they are the solution to your digital adoption needs, each comes with distinct core competencies. It's crucial to scope according to your specific criteria before entering the market.

Emerging players in the market might position themselves as agile and responsive to your requirements. However, they might not possess the necessary skills or resources to deliver on that promise. The strategy of prioritizing sales over product isn't new, but it carries a risk - one that you, as the buyer, have to bear.

On the other hand, established players offer mature products and display confidence in their offerings. But their size could limit their agility and adaptability. They might have a tendency to push you into their standardized processes, which might not always align with your unique digital adoption strategy.

# 3. Invest in Internal & Vendor Resources

Investing adequately in both internal and vendor resources is a cornerstone of a successful digital adoption platform deployment.

From our experience with successful DAP engagements, dedicated internal resources play an especially vital role. For instance, one client had two internal resources fully devoted to the DAP. One spent approximately 230 hours mastering the product over four months, and even then, there was more to learn. Fast forward a year, and that novice user had grown proficient enough to develop content. Vendor resources are just as crucial in a digital adoption strategy. In the same engagement, the vendor team provided invaluable guidance, assisting us in discerning when to use professional service hours and when our internal team was capable enough to build an internal knowledge base.

Relying on vendor resources can help accelerate your learning curve efficiently. Our client purchased 60 service hours from the vendor for the initial launch, and every single hour was utilized to reach their first successful release.

# 4. Don’t Layer a DAP Onto a Nascent Technology

When integrating a digital adoption platform into your technology adoption strategy, it's important to avoid layering it onto newly implemented or immature technologies. Doing so can expose your organization to additional risks, such as substantial updates that could disrupt operations.

Keep in mind that a DAP operates on top of your existing technology. Significant changes to the user interface or data field alterations could disrupt the DAP's operation. This could result in additional costs, either through vendor fees for troubleshooting and resolution or by using internal resources to fix the issue.

# 5. Treat It Like a Project, Then a Product

Projects inherently come with crucial elements such as scope, budget, resources, and governance. These elements are essential for a successful digital adoption platform deployment. However, once a DAP is successfully implemented, it transitions from a project to a product. Similar to any software product management, DAPs require ongoing maintenance and fine-tuning to ensure optimal performance.

This doesn't necessarily require a senior product owner, but it's important to have an internal resource who owns the tool as a product and is invested in its long-term success. This product owner should be responsible for monitoring any upcoming product updates that could potentially disrupt your entire DAP system, ensuring your technology adoption efforts remain unhindered.

# KPIs to Measure Successful Technology Adoption

The success of a digital adoption platform deployment and the overall effectiveness of a technology adoption strategy can be quantified with Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). These metrics provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of your digital adoption efforts, helping you measure progress and make data-driven decisions.

Here are some suggested KPIs:

  • User Engagement: Monitor how often and how effectively your employees are utilizing the digital tools available to them.
  • Training Completion Rates: Measure the percentage of employees who complete training programs for new digital tools.
  • Support Ticket Volume: A decrease in support tickets can indicate that users are becoming more comfortable and proficient with the digital tools.
  • Employee Productivity: An increase in productivity can indicate successful adoption of digital tools.
  • Customer Satisfaction: If your digital tools are customer-facing, improved customer satisfaction can indicate successful adoption.
  • Return on Investment (ROI): Measure the financial returns generated from your technology investments.

# Digital Adoption in Digital Transformation

Serving as a compass, digital adoption can help guide businesses as they navigate change. Today’s rapid pace of technological innovation necessitates that organizations not only implement new digital tools but also fully integrate them into their workflows. Digital adoption platforms facilitate this integration, ensuring that technology investments are fully leveraged, and employees are proficient in their use. By fostering a culture of digital adaptability, businesses can more effectively manage change, enhance productivity, and stay competitive in the digital age.

# 7 Questions To Ask About DAP

Download DAP Checklist

# Key Takeaways

Digital adoption platforms play a crucial role in the digital transformation of your internal teams. They help shape behaviors, facilitate the adoption of new practices, and accelerate the onboarding of new employees. To successfully implement a DAP as part of your digital transformation strategy, it's important to:

  1. Ask yourself these 7 questions about DAP
  2. Define a narrow problem scope
  3. Research DAP providers and stay true to your selection criteria
  4. Invest in both internal and vendor resources
  5. Approach it as a project initially, then maintain it as a product

An organizational needs assessment can provide valuable insights to determine whether a DAP can effectively address your organization’s challenges before diving into a DAP project.

Remember, the key to successful digital adoption is not just about implementing new technologies, but ensuring they are fully integrated and utilized effectively. By doing so, you can ensure your organization is not just surviving, but thriving in the era of digital transformation.

Ready to get started? Learn more about Tech Transformation and Change Management at Propeller or contact us today.