The great growling engine of change – technology.
– Alvin Toffler, author of “Future Shock.
As more businesses go through digital transformation, technology adoption is emerging as the primary driver for enterprise change. The 2021 Gartner report on “Hype Cycle for Emerging Technologies” talks about 25 breakthrough technologies, including Generative AI, data fabric, and NFT.
Brian Burke of Gartner talks about technology innovation as “a key enabler of competitive differentiation and the catalyst for transforming many industries.” However, technology adopters realize that not every technology would be the right choice for their business or products.
What is the right way for decision-makers to adopt and thrive with emerging technologies? Let us delve deep into this.
5 Factors to Consider before Adopting a New Technology
As new technologies continue to change business processes, the single most crucial factor is how companies and their employees adapt to the latest innovations. The widespread use of technology means that every organization must consider how new technology can transform their business.
As put explicitly by Satya Nadella of Microsoft, “every company is now a software company… and a digital organization.”
Here are five crucial factors to consider before deciding on the right technology:
- Does it provide your business with any competitive edge?
Dirk Ahlborn of Hyperloop technologies believes that any new technology must address concerns about “making business sense.” Whether it is about adopting cloud technologies or a new collaboration tool, the right technology must add business value to the organization.
As new technology tools keep emerging, the question is, “how does it add to the organization’s long-term competitive advantage?” Essentially, business leaders must look beyond the prevailing “buzzwords” in the technology domain and focus on enhancing the business and its various products and processes. - How does it address your business pain points?
Technology innovation must be driven by business use cases and not the other way around. The right technology is the one that helps businesses overcome their pain points and perform tasks easily, quickly, and efficiently. For instance, are executives taking a long time responding to client emails or queries?
Business managers must speak to their teams and understand the most “time-consuming” portion of their daily tasks to understand pain points. How would automation technologies help to “free up” their time and focus on other higher-value tasks? At the same time, teams must be encouraged to keep an eye on new technology products and develop a business “use case” with the right technology. - How does it improve the customer experience (CX)?
Among the main ‘thoughts’ behind technology adoption, how does it address customer requirements and needs? Every business must evaluate product success by asking the following questions:- How simple is it for customers to use the product?
- Does it enable an exceptional CX?
- Do customers come back to use the product?
- Does the technology vendor complement your organization’s culture?
“If you want to go fast, you go alone. If you want to go far, you go together,” writes Steve Case, author of “The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future.”
A matching culture is essential when looking for the right technology and vendor. For example, does your tech partner understand your business and offer a unified approach to solving business problems?
When it comes to selecting the right technology partner, many companies offer cost-effective and well-designed solutions that can benefit your business. Besides technical expertise, the right vendor focuses on product innovations, continuous improvements and is driven by your business success. - Does it provide a good ROI in the long run?
ROI (or return of investment) is crucial for any business enterprise when it comes to technology. Depending on their complexity, adopting the latest technologies requires investing both time and money on the part of the product development team. Therefore, the crucial deciding factor is worth investing the time and effort and its cost-benefit to your enterprise.
For improving ROI, organizations must measure the following metrics for their tech investments:- Employee retention
- Customer acquisition and retention
- Customized to specific business functions
- Long-term sustainability
Next, let us discuss how business enterprises can succeed with new technology.
How to succeed with new technology?
The key factor to succeeding with new technology is proceeding and adopting it “one step at a time.” According to Harvard Business Review, the advantages of adopting new technology is visible to business leaders, but not by end-users. Hence, the entire workforce must understand why there is a major technology change and its impact on their daily work.
Here are five steps towards a smooth adoption of technology for digital transformation:
- Design a digital transformation strategy supported by all business functions in your organization.
- Determine the exemplary business scenario where your chosen technology can easily fit into.
- Implement a change management program for each user group based on their technical skills and requirements.
- Adopt the new technology in a phased manner across all user or business groups to optimize their overall experience.
- Design an effective feedback system where end-users can voice their concerns or suggest improving the technology solution.
Conclusion
Adopting the right technology accelerates the success of digital transformation initiatives in any business enterprise. We have discussed a few crucial factors that should help enterprises determine the “best fit” technology for their business.
At Pragmatyc, we offer a range of product-related services like product consulting, development, and modernization customized to each customer. Our technology stack is designed with the best toolkits and expert technologists, ensuring that you are using the right technology for your business growth.
Collaborate with us as your tech partner for the digital transformation of your business.
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