Why 70% of Software Training Fails and How to Fix It

Common Pitfalls in Traditional Training Methods

Traditional training methods often fall short due to several common pitfalls:

• Lack of Personalization: One-size-fits-all training approaches leave employees struggling to engage with content that’s not tailored to their specific needs.
• Training Fatigue: Long, tedious training sessions that don’t connect to daily work tasks often result in disengagement.
• Poor Employee Engagement: Employees fail to stay engaged with outdated, static training materials, leading to lower adoption rates.
• Resistance to Change: Lack of motivation and an unwillingness to embrace new software tools hinder smooth transitions.
• Information Overload: New hires are bombarded with vast amounts of information in a short period, leading to cognitive overload and poor retention.
• Poor Timing: Training sessions are often scheduled without considering the optimal time for learning, resulting in employees forgetting crucial information when they actually need it.
• Lack of Contextual Support: Most training programs fail to provide real-time, in-the-moment assistance, forcing employees to memorize processes and procedures rather than understand them.
• No Real Measurement of Success: Traditional training programs often lack metrics to measure effectiveness beyond basic completion rates.

These issues contribute directly to IT adoption challenges, which directly affect employee productivity and the overall success of digital transformation efforts.

The High Cost of Ineffective Training and Onboarding

Ineffective training and onboarding don’t just affect new hires; it has far-reaching consequences for the entire organization. Here are some of the significant costs associated with poor onboarding:

• Slower Time to Productivity: It can take 8-12 months for a new hire to reach full productivity in traditional onboarding models. This delay increases operational costs and hampers business growth.
• Higher Employee Turnover: Poor onboarding is directly linked to employee attrition. According to Gallup, only 12% of employees strongly agree that their organization does a great job onboarding new employees.
• Increased Errors and Compliance Risks: When employees don’t fully understand processes, they make mistakes. In regulated industries, this can lead to heavy fines and reputational damage.
• Soaring Support Costs: Confused employees generate more IT tickets and HR inquiries, burdening internal support teams and escalating costs.

Digital Transformation Failure: Poor onboarding undermines broader digital initiatives. McKinsey reports that 70% of digital transformation projects fail to meet their goals, with a lack of user adoption being a top reason.

How AI is Revolutionizing Software Training

So, how can businesses overcome these barriers and ensure successful software adoption? The answer lies in AI-based Digital Adoption Platforms (DAPs). These platforms are designed to:

• Hyper-Personalization: AI adapts onboarding experiences to each employee’s role, past behavior, and performance gaps. No two employees have the same journey—they get what they need when they need it.
• Contextual In-the-Moment Assistance: DAPs provide real-time guidance and in-app support, guiding users at the exact moment they are performing a task, which leads to a reduction in errors and boosts confidence.
• Real-Time Skill Gap Detection: DAPs continuously monitor how employees interact with systems and identify areas where they struggle, prescribing targeted content or guidance to close gaps instantly.
• Continuous, Adaptive Training: With DAPs, training doesn’t stop after day one. As software updates roll out, the platform automatically adjusts content to reflect new features or processes.
• Automated Content Creation: Generative AI capabilities speed up the creation of onboarding content—like checklists, walkthroughs, and tooltips—dramatically reducing time and cost for L&D and IT teams.
• Predictive Insights: By analyzing user behavior and engagement trends, AI can predict who might need additional support, allowing proactive intervention before productivity or morale suffers.

Furthermore, using predictive analytics within a DAP, organizations can track employee progress and offer targeted interventions to avoid common roadblocks.

Next Steps – Build A DAP Adoption Strategy For Your Training and Onboarding Success

Successfully implementing a Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) like Apty requires more than just purchasing the tool—it’s about developing a strategic approach that ensures adoption is seamless, scalable, and sustainable across your organization. Here’s how you can build a robust DAP adoption strategy to drive lasting success in your training and onboarding programs.

1. Define Clear Objectives for DAP Implementation

The first step in any successful DAP adoption strategy is setting clear goals. These objectives should be directly aligned with your business needs and training requirements. Ask yourself:

• What specific challenges do we want to solve with a DAP?
• What metrics will we track to measure success?
• How will we ensure the DAP is integrated into our existing workflows?

Whether it’s improving software adoption, accelerating time-to-competency, or reducing training costs, define the goals that will guide your implementation process.

2. Map Out Key Stakeholders and Get Buy-in

DAP adoption is a company-wide initiative, and securing support from key stakeholders is crucial for its success. Involve leaders from HR, IT, L&D, and other departments early on in the planning process. Ensure they understand the benefits of DAP, such as:

• Reduced training time and costs
• Improved employee engagement and retention
• Streamlined onboarding processes

By gaining buy-in from decision-makers across the organization, you ensure that your DAP adoption is supported at every level, facilitating smoother implementation and ongoing use.

3. Customize the DAP to Fit Your Organization’s Needs

Once you’ve secured the necessary support, the next step is to customize the DAP for your organization’s specific needs. Apty allows for role-based personalization, which means you can tailor the learning journey for each employee based on their specific job function, skills, and performance. Focus on:

• Personalized Onboarding: Customize learning paths for different departments, from sales to IT to HR, ensuring employees get relevant, targeted training.
• Software Integration: Ensure the DAP is fully integrated with your existing enterprise tools (CRM, ERP, HCM systems) to provide seamless, in-app guidance.

By tailoring the DAP to meet your organization’s unique needs, you’ll create an environment where employees can succeed with the tools that matter most to their roles.

4. Train Internal Champions

Your internal team plays a vital role in driving DAP adoption. Appoint Digital Adoption Champions within various departments who will serve as advocates for the platform. These champions should be well-versed in using the DAP and equipped to provide support and training to their teams. Key responsibilities of these champions include:

• Leading small, departmental DAP training sessions
• Monitoring employee engagement with the DAP and offering feedback
• Troubleshooting any issues employees may encounter

Training these internal champions ensures that your team members have a go-to person for help, reducing reliance on external support and increasing overall adoption.

5. Launch DAP in Phases

Rather than launching the DAP across the entire organization at once, start with a pilot phase. Select one department or a small group of employees to test the system. This allows you to:

• Evaluate how employees interact with the DAP and identify potential pain points
• Collect feedback to refine the platform and make necessary adjustments before the full rollout
• Measure the effectiveness of the DAP with a small group to calculate ROI before scaling

A phased approach provides a controlled environment for the initial adoption, ensuring you can resolve any issues early on without affecting the broader workforce.

6. Focus on Continuous Improvement

A key feature of a Digital Adoption Platform is its ability to evolve and improve over time. Track metrics such as:

• Employee time-to-competency
• Software adoption rates
• Engagement with in-app content
• User feedback on training resources

Regularly review these metrics to identify areas where the DAP can be improved or optimized. This ensures that the platform continues to meet employee needs and evolves alongside your software tools.

7. Foster a Culture of Continuous Learning

To ensure long-term success, build a culture of continuous learning around the DAP. Encourage employees to engage with the platform beyond initial onboarding and training:

• Offer ongoing development: Use the DAP to provide continuous training that evolves with employees’ roles and responsibilities.
• Incorporate real-time updates: Keep learning paths relevant by offering in-the-moment support and updates as software tools change or employees take on new tasks.
• Gamification: Use the DAP’s gamified features to incentivize learning and make training an engaging, rewarding experience.

Fostering this culture will make DAP a long-term resource for employee growth and software mastery.

8. Measure, Adapt, and Scale

Finally, to ensure sustained success, you must continually measure the effectiveness of the DAP strategy. Use analytics and feedback loops to monitor progress and adapt accordingly. Some key performance indicators (KPIs) to track include:

• Employee engagement rates with training content
• Reduction in onboarding time
• Increase in software adoption and proficiency
• Decrease in support tickets and training costs

Once the DAP is proven effective, scale its use across other departments, roles, and even geographies, adjusting the learning paths and content based on the specific needs of each group.