The News: According to research recently published by WalkMe, even though increased priority is being placed on digital adoption, there are still challenges with lack of best practices, ongoing application visibility gaps, lack of utilization, and lost productivity. Data shows that inefficient technology usage results in an average of $1.14 million a week in lost productivity. More information on WalkMe’s 2024 The State of Digital Adoption report can be found on the WalkMe website.
Companies Lose Money, Employees Lose Time Without Digital Adoption
Analyst Take: Companies’ technology and application stacks are getting increasingly diverse, complex, and wide-ranging. With initial investments aimed at solving problems, supporting productivity and operations, and potentially boosting customer and employee experience, the money spent on these technologies often does not result in the expected ROI for a variety of reasons. Without a view into how these applications are being used, these reasons are often hidden, and as a result, unaddressed. The use of a digital adoption platform can provide this critical intelligence.
WalkMe recently released its State of Digital Adoption report; this is research that has been conducted annually since 2021 and this year’s version pointed to some alarming statistics on time and money lost due to technology-related productivity losses, but also gave cause for optimism with increased investments in technology and dedicated staffing.
Inefficient Technology Usage and Application Sprawl Result in Loss of Productivity and Unmet ROI
Enterprises are suffering significant financial losses due to inefficient technology use. According to the WalkMe data, companies see a staggering average loss of $1.14 million per week in productivity losses, with employees wasting 44 working days annually because they are not fully leveraging the technology their company has in place. These types of productivity roadblocks can be caused by trying to troubleshoot software problems, find information, delays in getting questions answered or receiving support, or grappling with deficient instructions and training.
Not having a view into the technology ecosystem housed within a company is also a contributor to the problem as application investments languish with low usage. The WalkMe data shows that 38% of digital transformation efforts were not successful in reaching their objectives due to lack of adoption. Looking at medium enterprises, that percentage rises to almost 46% not being successful, equating to $12.7 million in wasted spend.
How does this happen? The application visibility gap and not being tapped into even knowing exactly what an enterprise has available. Seventy percent of enterprises say they lack full visibility into application adoption and leaders are often wildly off on estimating the number of applications that are in play. Enterprise leaders believe they employ only 21 applications, whereas staff members claim to utilize 13 on a weekly basis. Contrary to these perceptions, larger enterprises actually deploy 211 applications, while smaller ones make use of 69.
One noteworthy consequence of having limited visibility into the application stack is the increased risk around cybersecurity. Applications that have fallen off the organizational radar may not be getting required updates or security patches that can serve as a line of defense against cyberattacks against the application itself or originating elsewhere in the network. Further, applications that aren’t visible to IT staff may be targets for disgruntled employees, outside contractors, or others who wish to do the company harm. If an attack is launched against an application that IT has forgotten about, any malware or virus will have more time to do damage before it is detected by network-level systems.
Investment in Digital Adoption Technology Rises 63% Year-Over-Year; Those Embracing Digital Adoption Strategies Show Savings and Higher ROI
The WalkMe report did underscore a positive shift in investment trends. Seventy percent of organizations surveyed list digital adoption as a strategic priority, and many are following that up with investments, as there was a 63% year-over-year (YoY) increase in digital adoption technology. Another positive was the movement towards having an actual team responsible for digital adoption. In 2021, less than half (48%) of the organizations surveyed had such a team, but this increased to 68% in 2023.
The WalkMe data showed that only 6% of organizations are fully adopting recommended best practices in digital adoption, but for those who did, they saved an average of $4.9 million in lowered costs, had 18% higher ROI from their digital transformation projects and had 30% higher application usage.
Digital Adoption Platforms Can Help Assess and Justify IT Spending
It is encouraging to see the deepened investment in digital adoption technologies. Although it is still a somewhat immature category, the benefits of deploying a digital adoption platform are apparent, and while IT and software investments are expected to grow, it will be important to have solutions in place that will demonstrate that this money spend was worthwhile. Like any department, IT needs to justify its spending, and having a tangible way to measure use and ROI dovetails nicely with many organizations’ focus on paring down and streamlining spending.
The WalkMe research also touched on the intersection of AI and digital adoption and how they worked together to more deeply support increased and efficient use of technology, as well as the idea of “hyperproductivity” which is described as an “aspirational state in which everyone can use any application with ease … where companies have automated as many processes as possible and integrated technologies into one, cohesive workflow.” This is certainly a worthwhile goal, but it is also important to keep in mind that in addition to the cost saving and productivity gains that digital adoption technologies and hyperproductivity provide, there are also employees struggling to keep pace with too many applications, frustrated over mundane tasks and time wasting activities and poorly trained on the tools they have access to.
Indeed, application overflow can create additional headaches. If workers are asked to input the same information into multiple systems, or workflows are filled with multiple points of friction, compliance with best organizational practices for entering, maintaining, and storing data may suffer, thereby impacting the business. Using digital adoption tools and practices can not only clean up the application stack, but also make employees’ jobs easier, and contribute to a more satisfied and productive workforce.
Disclosure: The Futurum Group is a research and advisory firm that engages or has engaged in research, analysis, and advisory services with many technology companies, including those mentioned in this article. The author does not hold any equity positions with any company mentioned in this article.
Analysis and opinions expressed herein are specific to the analyst individually and data and other information that might have been provided for validation, not those of The Futurum Group as a whole.
Other Insights from The Futurum Group:
WalkMe Analyst Day Recap: Putting DAP Front and Center
WalkMe for Shadow AI: Guardrails and Guidance Within the Flow of Work
WalkMe’s Digital Adoption Platform Helps Drive Software Stack ROI
Author Information
Keith Kirkpatrick is VP & Research Director, Enterprise Software & Digital Workflows for The Futurum Group. Keith has over 25 years of experience in research, marketing, and consulting-based fields.
He has authored in-depth reports and market forecast studies covering artificial intelligence, biometrics, data analytics, robotics, high performance computing, and quantum computing, with a specific focus on the use of these technologies within large enterprise organizations and SMBs. He has also established strong working relationships with the international technology vendor community and is a frequent speaker at industry conferences and events.
In his career as a financial and technology journalist he has written for national and trade publications, including BusinessWeek, CNBC.com, Investment Dealers’ Digest, The Red Herring, The Communications of the ACM, and Mobile Computing & Communications, among others.
He is a member of the Association of Independent Information Professionals (AIIP).
Keith holds dual Bachelor of Arts degrees in Magazine Journalism and Sociology from Syracuse University.
As a detail-oriented researcher, Sherril is expert at discovering, gathering and compiling industry and market data to create clear, actionable market and competitive intelligence. With deep experience in market analysis and segmentation she is a consummate collaborator with strong communication skills adept at supporting and forming relationships with cross-functional teams in all levels of organizations.
Sherril holds a Master of Business Administration in Marketing from University of Colorado, Boulder and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Rutgers University.
