How to Maximize Employee Adoption of New Tools and Processes

This IDC Perspective explores the challenges organizations can face when they must roll out a new process or technology to improve productivity, reduce costs, or remain competitive. To avoid employee reluctance, resentment, or outright refusal, it's important to take the pulse of employees by understanding their preferences, habits, and dislikes.By understanding user preferences, habits, and dislikes, companies can get ahead of user adoption issues that can derail important technology and process changes. Using a systematic approach to user adoption - deploying helpful technologies at specific points in the process - can help ensure a smooth transition."While employees have no choice but to adopt new processes or technologies if they want to remain employed, they can do a lot of damage by airing negative opinions," says Karen D. Schwartz, adjunct research advisor for IDC's IT Executive Programs (IEP). "The best way to avoid negatively impacting morale is to get in front of the issue by understanding employee sentiment, keeping employees in mind during the entire development and testing project, and measuring twice while cutting once."