Five Signs That Your Company Needs a Technology Adoption Strategy

And Where to Start Crafting One

How does your organization introduce and implement new technologies in daily operations?

Is your approach reactive (seeking a solution when something fails or breaks) or proactive?

Finding time to prioritize the creation of short and long-term tech adoption strategies may seem unimportant compared to the challenges of running daily operations.

However, ignoring the strategy until problems become detrimental to business success will end up costing significantly more. Before you get into panic mode, consider signs that you should be working on your technology adoption plan sooner rather than later.

Sign 1: Operations - Your Daily Struggles Are Increasing

Manifestations:

• Your company struggles to complete daily tasks on time. You rely on manual processes that cannot be easily scaled.
• Decisions are made in the dark because it’s challenging to obtain accurate and timely data about your operations from existing systems. Answering questions like “How much revenue did we get from this product?” or “What is the best-selling service?” takes hours.
• Systems frequently crash or slow down during peak hours. Something is always broken and needs fixing, and there are always technology fires and reactive problem-solving.

Approach:

• Perform an audit of your operations to identify the worst bottlenecks.
• Determine which pain points can be addressed by technology.
• Research industry best practices and most commonly used tech to evaluate if adoption will address your pain points.
• Set aside a realistic budget and timeframe.
• Develop a phased adoption roadmap that addresses short-term improvement and long-term digital transformation goals.

Dangers and mistakes to avoid:

• Trying to change too much at once and without a clear plan to roll back if unexpected consequences are faced.
• Not getting feedback from the entire team.
• Not investigating multiple solutions.
• Not setting success criteria that can be used to pick the best option.
• Forgetting to plan for data migration and integration with existing systems.

Sign 2: Competition - Your Competitors Are Outperforming You in Business

Manifestations:

• Competitors leverage technology to achieve higher efficiency, allowing them to lower costs due to higher margins.
• They offer tech-driven solutions that reduce friction in customer experience.
• You are losing market share due to customers switching to more technologically advanced competitors.

Approach:

• Perform competitor audits and review their digital presence and customer-facing capabilities. Understand where you might be falling behind.
• Determine their competitive advantages that are driven by technology. For example, automation, product innovation, or unique customer experience.
• Rank your technology gaps that can be realistically addressed based on how impactful they are to your business revenue and market share.
• Identify potential solutions and develop a technology adoption roadmap that aligns with your business goals and capabilities.

Dangers and mistakes to avoid:

• Always catching up and trying to replicate what competitors are doing without considering your business needs and unique selling proposition.
• Not considering costs of staff training and solution ownership when estimating return on investment.
• Not investing any time in experimenting and exploring new technologies to see if they can offer a competitive advantage.
• Not being realistic about the time and resources required.

Sign 3: Customers - You Are Running Behind Customer Expectations

Manifestations:

• It’s difficult for customers to buy and pay for your services or products, so they abandon carts for easier integrated options.
• Your offering lacks features and options that customers are increasingly coming to expect.
• You struggle to gain insights into customer interactions and preferences.
• Customer support is slow and reactive.
• You cannot provide personalization or tailored experiences.

Approach:

• Conduct customer surveys and gather feedback to understand their pain points and expectations.
• Analyze your customer journey and identify areas where technology can improve the experience.
• Prioritize improvements based on customer impact and feasibility.
• Investigate customer relationship management (CRM) and analytics tools to better understand customer behavior.
• Create a plan to implement changes incrementally, starting with the most critical areas.

Dangers and mistakes to avoid:

• Assuming you know what customers want without proper research.
• Implementing changes without testing them with a small group first.
• Neglecting to train your staff on new customer-facing technologies.
• Hoping that technology will solve the problem without updating operations and policies.
• Not considering data privacy and security.

Sign 4: Employees - Talent Management Is More Difficult

Manifestations:

• Difficulty with attracting and retaining talent familiar with your existing tooling.
• Employees are frustrated with slow processes, inefficient operations, and poor communication.
• High turnover rates among tech-savvy employees.
• Reduced productivity and slowed innovation due to a lack of collaboration and knowledge-sharing tools.

Approach:

• Conduct an internal survey to understand employee pain points related to technology.
• Evaluate your current tech stack and compare it with the industry’s best practices.
• Consider training programs to upskill your existing workforce.
• Create a gradual technology update plan that aligns with employee needs and business goals.

Dangers and mistakes to avoid:

• Implementing new technologies without proper training and support.
• Ignoring employee feedback on technology needs.
• Failing to communicate the reasons behind technology changes.

Sign 5: Security and Regulations

Manifestations:

• Increasing difficulty meeting legal compliance requirements.
• Rising security concerns and an increasing amount of incidents.
• Challenges in protecting sensitive customer and business data.
• Difficulty in adapting to new regulations in your industry due to outdated or inflexible technology infrastructure,
• Growing concerns from your customers or partners about your data handling or security practices.

Approach:

• Conduct a thorough security audit of your current systems.
• Develop a comprehensive security and compliance roadmap based on risk level and impact.
• Consider compliance monitoring solutions
• Plan for employee training program.

Dangers and mistakes to avoid:

• Treating security as an afterthought. It should be a critical part of your technology strategy.
• Neglecting to update security measures regularly.
• Failing to educate employees about their role in maintaining security and compliance.
• Adopting new technology without evaluating security impact

Side note: considering emerging technologies

Emerging tech can provide a certain advantage, enabling previously impossible use cases.

However, unless you have a dedicated budget for Research and Development (R&D), sticking with solutions that are standard in your industry is usually safer. Why?

• Proven track record and common implementation strategies reduce risk
• More straightforward to integrate with your existing solutions
• Easier to find help (talent familiar with technology and learning resources)

Building Your Technology Adoption Strategy

Once you’ve identified these signs in your business, it’s essential to set aside time to create your technology adoption strategy. Paying attention to early warning signs helps ensure that your business stays competitive and evolving.

Creating a technology adoption strategy is not a one-time effort. Instead of reacting to immediate problems, you should plan on positioning your company for long-term success.

Technology is a powerful trigger for growth, efficiency, and innovation. How will you leverage digital tools to lead in your industry? The first step is the adoption strategy that you can start building today.