The human element of a digital transformation

Technology changes in a human world

Over the last year, our daily routines and life as we knew it shifted dramatically. Employees were setting up offices on kitchen tables while organizations redirected strategies and objectives to support business continuity and find new ways to keep employees productive. As a result, the business world increased digital transformation initiatives, even as adoption rates of digital solutions suffered.

Why are organizations seeing a dismal 30% to 40% adoption rate of their new digital resources (1)? In a world where we need only to look as far as our pocket for technology, why do organizations struggle to achieve adoption of new platforms and resources? In short, it comes down to the human element. Humans by nature are habitual, so when faced with a change where they either have little to no influence, do not understand or do not have enough information; resistance can occur. Without an approach to educate, support and train employees on the change, projects will suffer. Change management seeks to close the gap between the human element and any impending upgrade by highlighting the importance, promoting the psychological benefits, opening up the lines of communication and minimizing disruption around the change.

Don’t think that “going digital” as a societal norm means we can completely ignore and refuse to nurture the “human element” when it comes to digital transformation. A change management strategy where one email is sent to announce [insert the name of any digital resource here] may not be what your employees need when it comes to their psychological emotions or technical knowledge as new tools are loaded to their desktops. Research has found that “technical factors” accounted for 35% of project failures, but the remaining 65% were because of “management factors,” in other words “people issues (2).”

Help the “human element” ‘navigate the change

Not every digital transformation, implementation or change requires the same amount of change management, but how do you know how much your project and, more importantly, your employees need? Conducting research through pulse surveys, one-on-one conversations, interviews or focus groups can provide insight into the complexity of the change, pinpoint specific concerns employees have and determine how much effort is needed. People are a critical component to business success, especially when it comes to digital transformation, subsequently, gathering input at the front end of any change is important. So what should you consider?