How technology can empower workers let down by poor IT onboarding

Business Reporter talks to Scott Little at WalkMe about how businesses are excluding key groups of workers through poor IT onboarding, and what they can do to prevent skilled employees from leaving

 

Why do you think that poor onboarding is an issue for enterprises, and who does it affect the most?

Every person is different, and the onboarding process doesn’t cater to these differences. Organisations tend to simplify the process by creating a blanket program to cover all employees across all levels of experience.

 

For instance, some employees will be returning to the workplace and might not have the same level of digital dexterity as their colleagues. Because of this approach to onboarding, businesses are not unlocking the full range of skills, talents and contributions these individuals could offer the enterprise, and ultimately lose out. 

 

 

Why do you think the current, traditional approach to onboarding isn’t working?

Many businesses pigeonhole employees, rather than take the time to identify their different needs and levels of dexterity with technology. The traditional approach to onboarding is often just a handful of sessions at best, possibly augmented with online documents or videos.

 

Employees will have little opportunity to ask questions and are left to navigate the business themselves, or with the help of their immediate colleagues. Although this may save time for enterprises when it comes to training and onboarding, it doesn’t save money. 

 

The costs of poor onboarding aren’t only felt in unproductive employees. If employees can’t use the software applications and other digital tools at their disposal properly, then those tools can’t provide their full value to the business.

 

At the most extreme end, businesses could conclude that a piece of software isn’t up to the task and purchase new tools at great expense – creating a vicious cycle of under-utilised tech that could be broken with a different approach to onboarding. 

 

 

What is an effective way to onboard a businesses’ workforce? Do you think a one-size-fits-all approach has been working?

It’s pretty clear that a one-size-fits-all approach to onboarding isn’t fit for purpose in most organisations. It’s important that every employee is able to use the technology they’re given, and that it helps them with their day-to-day tasks, instead of being a hindrance. If this happens, then employees can quickly become demotivated, distracted, and exhausted – resulting in poor quality work and a sense of failure at the end of each working day.

 

To avoid this, businesses need a process tailored to different employees, designed for their level of experience. The first step is understanding the tools employees are expected to use – where are the pain points for different groups of people? What functions remain unused? Where do new employees struggle?

 

If businesses can automate this analysis, they can then work on fixing the issue: finding solutions to overcome pain points and encouraging employees towards unused functions and tailoring onboarding to overcome those common barriers. If businesses put these processes in place, they will produce capable and productive employees, rather than leaving them fed up and frustrated because they can’t get to grips with the tech. 

 

 

Can you explain what ‘digital adoption’ is and what its advantages are?

Essentially, ‘digital adoption’ means reaching a state in which people can use digital tools as they are intended, and to their fullest extent – whether that’s helping employees become entirely self-sufficient and competent with new technology, or showing experienced employees new and better ways to complete their desired business objectives.

 

With businesses constantly investing in digital transformation projects and new software, digital adoption is a critical component of an efficient and productive work environment. To truly succeed, businesses need to focus on workflows spanning multiple applications, rather than just taking an app-by-app approach.

 

Digital adoption helps address two of the main issues with poor onboarding: increasing technology adoption rates by understanding end users’ needs and frustrations – guiding them step-by-step through the solutions– and making sure this applies to every application they might use.

 

By doing this, employees will be less frustrated by the technology at their disposal, and the businesses will see their employees effortlessly using technology to its fullest extent, preventing wasted investments.

 

 

How would you say digital adoption benefits businesses when put into practice?

When put into place correctly, digital adoption brings many benefits for businesses. First, the tech they’ve invested in can be used to its fullest potential, and they will avoid ‘digital exhaustion’ in their workforce.

 

It will also mean enterprises don’t have to overspend on training, IT support, contractors, and other means to compensate for employees struggling to use technology.

 

No business can afford to lose talent that is frustrated by poor onboarding or technology issues. The fact that digital adoption can help enterprises identify tricky pain points and smooth onboarding means organisations can better retain talent.

 

By covering a broad spectrum of platforms and applications, it can help businesses to reduce the costs of digital transformation and meet strategic goals – by making sure they are investing in new technology that’s actually used by employees.

 

The benefits of digital adoption aren’t to be overlooked. By putting people at the forefront of their plans, businesses will unlock increased productivity and improved retention rates.

 

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 Scott Little is Chief Revenue Officer at digital adoption platform WalkMe

 

Main image courtesy of iStockPhoto.com