As a Learning and Development professional, it can be hard to stay driven in times of disruption and abrupt change. It is also easy to stray away from basic principles of how learning works when under stress. Hopefully, these quotes help inspire you to deliver the best you can in your L&D endeavors.
5 Metrics to Measure Employee Productivity
The term employee productivity doesn’t always need to refer to increased efficiency. It can be more related to the quality of work done over a period.
Organizations looking to improve employee productivity should implement steps that can help them improve the quality of work over a short period, enabling the company to grow further.
Improving employee productivity can significantly influence the organization’s growth and, at the same time, enhance the use of the company’s resources and time. This blog post will discuss the different ways to improve productivity and various metrics used to measure employee productivity.
What are productivity metrics?
Productivity metrics provide a way to measure the effectiveness of the employees in an organization. These metrics are helpful in tracking, managing, and measuring employee productivity throughout the process.
How do you measure employee productivity?
Employee productivity measurement can be carried out in many ways. They can be either quantitative or qualitative. Using KPI ( Key Performance Indicators ) to measure employee productivity is one of the common ways to evaluate and measure employee productivity. KPIs provide clear outputs that can be used to analyze and assess the results.
There are two types of KPIs;
- High-level KPIs – Used to measure the overall performance of a company.
- Low-level KPIs – Used to measure processes related to specific departments in organizations like Finance, HR, Sales, etc.
Why measuring employee productivity is important?
Measuring Employee Productivity helps an organization measure the company’s performance.
This is important to make informed decisions to prepare employees for the company’s short- and long-term goals. Effective performance measurement can also help in identifying gaps and areas that need improvement.
Measuring employee productivity helps us achieve the following:
- Increases work quality
- Employee development
- Clear insights into Employee performance
- To identify targets
- Account errors made
We now know why measuring employee productivity is important and how it directly influences a company’s growth. Let’s now discuss the 5 key metrics used to measure employee productivity.
5 Key Metrics to measure Employee productivity:
Though there are several metrics to measure employee productivity, using KPIs to measure employee productivity helps in din achieving accurate business outcomes.
Below are the 5 key metrics to measure employee productivity:
- Revenue per employee
- Absenteeism Rate
- Employee attrition rate
- Sales growth
- Workforce Cost
1. Revenue per employee
2. Absenteeism Rate
The absenteeism rate measures how engaged and committed employees are to their work. Absenteeism can be directly related to reduced performance. According to Gallup, motivated and engaged employees usually take up to 37% less compared to others.
So, by studying the absenteeism rate, the company can try to boost employee productivity by understanding the needs of the employees.
3. Employee attrition rate
The employee attrition rate, also known as the churn rate, helps understand the rate at which employees leave the company. Organizations can use the results from it to understand new employee trends and focus on areas that need improvement, as a result aiding in improving employee productivity.
The formula for calculating attrition per employee is :
4. Sales growth
Measuring sales growth is essential and helps identify sales performance in any area. It can be calculated by tracking the number of sales over a period over the target areas.
The formula to calculate sales growth over the past year is :
5. Workforce Cost
The total workforce cost is usually calculated as the total sum of all Workforce related costs such as Tax, Salary, Bonuses, Training, etc. The cumulated value can be used as a metric to reduce costs, improve areas that need more attention, and reallocate the budget to areas that will make the employee even more productive.
The formula for Workforce cost is calculated in terms of percentage against the company’s operating expenses:
Ways to improve employee productivity
Following are some of the standard methods used by organizations to boost employee productivity :
Revenue per employee is a metric used to uncover every employee’s contribution in terms of revenue to the company. This can help understand employees’ contribution to the company in terms of revenue and compare the same with competitors and other similar industries.
The formula to calculate revenue per employee is :
- Assign Tasks – Delegating tasks based on different criteria can help improve work quality and communication among employees.
- Working condition – Improving the workplace environment can significantly affect employee well-being both physically and mentally
- Meaningful meetings – Rather than having mundane meetings, planning the time and attendees can significantly save time and resources, thereby improving productivity.
- Exercise Regular breaks – Allowing the employees to have regular intervals can help improve productivity to a great extent.
- Reward employees – Encouraging employees regularly, either monetarily or by appreciation, can help employees engage better and perform well.
In Conclusion
By now, we already know that KPIs play a crucial role in measuring employee productivity and help save a lot for an organization when carried out correctly. Measuring these metrics may sometimes be complicated or need regular manual intervention, but when done right can drive desired results.
To overcome the challenges, organizations use Digital Adoption Platforms like Apty. Apty can easily sit on top of the existing software to help users with in-app guidance, customized user behavior reports, and application insights. It helps you uncover application-related productivity secrets and enables the organization to create processes and training content that the workforce needs.
A strong employee training plan can qualify as the backbone of an organization and not just a way to train the employees. It can help you handle change, transformation, and disruption if it is done right. However, keeping up the morale can be a difficult thing to do. There are multiple factors that are involved in it. Several of which are not controllable.
Of the factors that you do have control over, the right setting and environment are some of the most important ones that often get the least attention. Remember to provide your employees with all the infrastructure and support they might require to make the most of the training program. This also includes prepping them with the right mindset. Here are 25 quotes for you to your trainees (and yourself) going when navigating your training roadmap.
“The only thing worse than training your employees and having them leave is not training them and having them stay.” Henry Ford, Founder, Ford Motor Company
“If learners think it looks bad, you may have lost a good percentage of the battle in getting them to pay attention.” Patti Shank, President, Learning Peaks, LLC
“Where my reason, imagination or interest were not engaged, I would not or could not learn.” Sir Winston Churchill, British Statesman, Soldier and Writer.
“Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit.” C. William Pollard, Chairman, Fairwyn Investment Company
“Learning can emerge as spontaneous order at the edge of chaos.” Sugata Mitra, Professor of Educational Technology, Newcastle University
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the United States
“Education is not the filling of a pot but the lighting of a fire.” W.B. Yeats, Irish Poet, Dramatist and Writer
“In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.” Phil Collins, English drummer, Singer-Songwriter, Record Producer, and Actor
“For the things we have to learn before we can do them, we learn by doing them.” Aristotle, Greek Philosopher
“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” John F. Kennedy, 35th American President
“For the best return on your money, pour your purse into your head.” Benjamin Franklin, Founding Father of the United States
“Learn as if you were not reaching your goal and as though you were scared of missing it.” Confucius, Chinese Philosopher and Politician
“The beautiful thing about learning is that nobody can take it away from you.” B.B. King, American Blues Singer-Songwriter, Guitarist, and Record Producer
“Boring to make is boring to take.” Lisa Stortz, Strategic Relationship Manager, Allen Interactions
“You can’t teach people everything they need to know. The best you can do is position them where they can find what they need to know when they need to know it.” Seymour Papert, Mathematician, Computer Scientist, and Educator
“Think about what your learners need to do with that information after the course is finished and design around that.” Matthew Guyan, Learning Solutions Specialist
“If knowledge is a power, then learning is a superpower.” Jim Kwik, Memory and Brain coach
“We now accept the fact that learning is a lifelong process of keeping abreast of change. And the most pressing task is to teach people how to learn.” Peter Drucker, Austrian-American Management Consultant, Educator, and Author
“In the end we retain from our studies only that which we practically apply.” Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, German Poet, Playwright, Novelist, Scientist, Statesman, Theatre Director, and Critic
“He who would learn to fly one day must first learn to stand and walk and run and climb and dance; one cannot fly into flying.” Friedrich Nietzsche, German Philosopher, Cultural Critic and Philologist
“Best way to respect learners: Use techniques that research has proven to work. Help people reach their goals without wasting their time.” Cathy Moore, Internationally Recognized Training Designer
“Every student can learn, just not on the same day, or the same way.” George Evans, American Cartoonist
“Spoon feeding in the long run teaches us nothing but the shape of the spoon.” E.M. Forster, English Fiction Writer, Essayist and Librettist.
“Change is the end result of all true learning.” Leo Buscaglia, American Author, Motivational Speaker, and Professor
“Practice design, not decoration: Don’t just make pretty talking points. Instead, display information in a way that makes complex information clear.” Nancy Duarte, American Writer, Speaker, and CEO, Duarte Design
A Complete Guide to Enhance your Workplace Productivity in 2026
Employees who are distracted are a burden on businesses. Employees who feel motivated and engaged come to work regularly, stay longer, and be more productive. Providing opportunities for employees to develop their knowledge is perhaps the most effective technique for enhancing operational efficiency.
If working through a pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that our traditional views on workplace and employee productivity have been completely redefined. Increasing & measuring productivity should be evolving as our lives and workforce continue to evolve in these unprecedented times.
The business world is striving hard to increase its workplace productivity. Discovering the ins and outs of workplace productivity can help companies achieve it.
In this blog post, we will cover,
How to increase productivity in the workplace
Give employees control over their working conditions. While some amount of coordination of hours and techniques is unavoidable, embracing the individual working styles of your team can do a lot to increase their productivity. The following are some effective ways to increase employee productivity,
1. Invest in training
Businesses should invest in training their workers in new procedures to gain new skills. Employees must know how to do their jobs well so that they can perform them efficiently and in the best possible manner. When you encounter a problem with an employee’s work, training them well about the root cause of that problem will help you solve the problem and prevent similar future problems from occurring.
2. Boost employee morale
Employees need to know what is important and what they should focus on first in order to get everything done within a short period. This way, they will feel less overwhelmed and more confident in their abilities. They will also feel that the company cares about them as individuals, increasing employee morale.
3. Establish methodologies or processes
Establishing processes for your enterprise that will allow you to create pleasant experiences for your employees, including hiring, onboarding, remuneration, performance management, task delegation, and more. It takes a long time to develop these processes, and it is largely a question of trial and error.
Once you have them in place, your team will be much more organized and efficient. Implementing a project management application, on the other hand, might make it much easier for your HR managers to conduct work satisfaction surveys.
How to measure productivity in the workplace
Establish baseline time requirements for common tasks and use them to measure employee performance. To create the optimal working environment, give your employees the freedom to interact, compete, and collaborate.
Measuring the work productivity must be done against the number of activities done and not against the number of hours spent. The rate of efficiency, the time taken to complete tasks and number of completed tasks, etc.
For example, an employee can sit on one task for 8 hours, whereas the same person could have completed 3 tasks at the same time. Knowing how much time your employees spend on tasks allows you to assess their overall performance.
What affects productivity in the workplace
Workforce productivity is highly influenced by the tools and equipment they use on the job. Workplace productivity is directly linked to the quality of your workers’ tools at their disposal. Technology is an essential part of today’s workplace. Companies that use current technology are more profitable since it aids personnel in their tasks.
Financial losses may be caused by inexperienced employees who are unable to manage resources properly. Ineffective management practices and a lack of access to essential resources may lead to employee disengagement, affecting individual and overall workplace productivity.
Examples of productivity in the workplace
Productivity can decrease when there is a lack of planning. Attempting to complete a project with no outline or timeframe can cause confusion and delay. Every project contains small steps, leading you to reach the desired result. The following are some examples of productivity in the workplace,
- Boosting the skills and knowledge needed for the upcoming potential projects.
- Creating a to-do list of tasks helps you focus better on what jobs need to get done.
- Finishing a task within the defined time limit to keep your productivity level on track.
Factors that affect productivity in the workplace
Having complex objectives to achieve can be misleading as well as demotivating. It is always good to chunk out smaller, doable, and time-based objectives to keep the task clear. It feels motivated and comfortable to work in this pattern, and as a result, productivity increases. Some factors that can impact your workplace productivity are:
A. Employee goals
Goals make people work harder. Make sure the goals are realistic enough for workers to achieve. Goals give you direction and motivation to achieve success. Without any goal or vision, it’s easy to get off track and slip into mediocrity. You can set both short-term and long-term goals to increase overall workplace productivity.
Set clear, measurable goals for each worker. If your goal is simply “perform better,” it won’t tell you much about whether or not the worker is performing well or how to improve performance. Goals should be specific, measurable, and time-bound — for example, increase sales by 15% over last year.
B. Rewards and recognition
Employee recognition is one of the best ways to keep them motivated. Motivating and recognizing development showcases employees that it’s worth struggling for excellence at your organization. While promotions are a significant way to highlight employees, it’s not always a reliable option.
There are countless ways there to reward hard work, for example, raising wages, allocating more duties, giving rewards, or providing awards. Recognition helps make members feel appreciated, and they will increase their efforts. With increased motivation and engagement, employee productivity will be increased.
C. Provide employee growth opportunities
Employees stay with companies that cultivate their talents and give them opportunities to grow. Companies that want to expand and thrive require employee development. Employee development strategy is an essential mechanism for facilitating business growth. You need to ensure that they’re equipped with the necessary tools to help your business grow.
You can give your team the skills they need to improve their day-to-day work, boost your bottom line, and get better outcomes through employee development. A better-trained workforce brings maximized output for your company.
Ways to boost productivity in the workplace
The following are some effective ways that companies can utilize to boost their workplace productivity:
i. Use Workplace productivity tools.
A survey says a staggering 87% of employees are not engaged with their work. Providing the right productivity tool is one of the most important factors driving employee engagement and improving business outcomes. Market leaders say, “Businesses are getting more complex,” so companies need to ensure that all employees have the right tools and are operating in an efficient or flexible environment.
Companies that have both engaged employees and the resources to adapt to the rapidly changing environment are the ones that can survive disruptive market conditions. In many cases, providing access to simple employee productivity tools can help teams stay organized and complete their tasks more efficiently.
Transform your company to the latest digital transformation trend and procure effective workplace productivity tools that ensure employee satisfaction with the product.
Employee engagement is an investment we make for the privilege of staying in business – Ian Hutchinson.
A Digital Adoption Platform like Apty is one such investment that ensures employee engagement and maximizes your productivity by as much as three times, and provides support in real-time.
ii. Clarifying goals
Companies should not think of employees only as a revenue generation tool. They should understand every individual employee and must define the goals for that employee.
A goal without a plan can never be accomplished.
Answering employee questions and having a clear plan to achieve the goal will certainly improve employee engagement; some of the basic questions from an employee’s perspective are:
- What am I supposed to do?
- How well am I required to do it?
- What does management think about my performance?
- Will I be rewarded if I perform well?
- What are the growth opportunities?
iii. Listen to your employees.
According to Forbes, Employees whose voices are heard are 4.6 times more likely to deliver their best work. Hearing the voices of employees ensures inclusiveness and equality in the workplace.
Effective leaders must listen to what employees say, and communication should be a two-way street. Inviting more employees to the discussion table and hearing out different opinions is always a win-win situation.
“To win in the marketplace, you must first win in the workplace.”– Doug Conant.
One of the secrets to an effective way of employee engagement is allowing for employee input in a company’s decision-making process. Since the company respects their voices, employees feel happy and actively participate in such sessions.
Furthermore, by listening to your employees, you can get to know the pain points they are facing.
Alternatively, you can leverage a Digital Adoption Platform like Apty that helps to monitor the employee journey within your enterprise applications and provides insights like where, when & how your employees are struggling with the product in real-time.
iV. Gratitude is a key
To unlock employee engagement, expressing gratitude is the secret key. Simply showing gratitude like “Thank You, You’re doing great, Good job” can increase employee engagement in the workplace. Doing this will make your employees happier and also boost employee performance.
More than 80% of employees say they are motivated to work harder and better when the management values and appreciates their work. Unfortunately, in many companies, people are less likely to show gratitude in the workplace. Every individual feels happy when they get appreciated, but this doesn’t happen.
“The struggle ends when the gratitude begins.”– Donald Walsh
Showing simple forms of gratitude will go a long way in improving employee engagement and making them more productive.
For example, today’s workplace would be unimaginable without the use of technology. Companies that utilize the most up-to-date technology are more lucrative when dealing with technological challenges. One such latest technology is the digital adoption platform. With a DAP tool, your employees can be made productive right from day 1, and they feel more inclined to work.
Employee productivity can be boosted by the use of a DAP tool like Apty. Apty can help employees automate certain monotonous tasks, and they can focus on something new and innovative. Apty can help them share the burden and keep them engaged with the help of interactive software walkthroughs.
Apty goes beyond navigation, shows users how to complete a task, prompts them to correct errors, and tracks and proactively manages compliance with your business processes. Apty can handle the unique challenges faced by your employees and offers a robust solution for enterprises looking to improve their software’s productivity and ROI.
Salesforce CRM is a widely used application, with over 150,000 companies using it. While a great CRM solution such as Salesforce makes salespeople’s jobs easier, a company requires much more to get the most out of its Salesforce investment.
Salesforce is constantly updating and expanding its functionality. Therefore, whenever a new version is released, you must be able to respond to your employees’ inquiries. Salesforce is intricate but has limitless potential when used aptly.
Without adequate training, onboarding, and user adoption, it can have adverse effects throughout your company. Here, a DAP, aka Digital Adoption Platform, benefits you in various ways. With DAP like Apty, your employees can learn by themselves, thus helping enterprises maximize Salesforce ROI.
Maximize Salesforce ROI with Apty
Apty focuses on assisting users in navigating and adopting digital technologies, such as ERP, CRM, human capital management systems, and many other web-based applications. Apty can drive your business towards digital transformation by regulating workflows, automating processes, and increasing productivity.
1. Scale end-user adoption quickly
Companies can integrate Apty DAP with their knowledge base to assist employees in finding answers and accessing self-help materials rather than seeking help from the support team, thus lowering their frustrations. Incorporating Apty into your Salesforce ensures quick and effective end-user adoption rates.
Apty can encourage your employees to take advantage of the tech investments to improve their productivity. By providing effective analytics, Apty enables businesses to detect challenges employees face on Salesforce and help them overcome them with customized support content.
Apty Analytics is helpful for:
- Providing quantitative measurement of User Engagement
- Identifying Salesforce end-user roadblocks
- Reducing Salesforce training and support costs
Apty analytics provides insights on the level of user engagement, as well as overall usage of the Salesforce application, for example:
- Launchers actioned vs. displayed
- Workflows completed vs. exited
- Tooltips displayed vs. read
- Announcements displayed vs. accepted
Apty analytics help track users’ behaviors, monitor the adoption of strategies and processes, and examine the effectiveness of metrics. Businesses get a first-hand insight into judging their performances and identifying ROI based on which they can further set certain targets and KPIs to improve their outcomes.
2. Boost Salesforce users’ productivity
With Apty for Salesforce, employee training is made efficient and straightforward. Guided walkthroughs help them easily navigate the system and complete their tasks effectively. Employee engagement and rapid ROI are assured. Data validations, on-demand guidance, and in-app announcements ensure data and task reliability.
For example, let’s say a company has an existing application with 500+ users. The company decides to launch Salesforce and wants the sales reps to leverage this new product to the fullest potential. The company can empower every user with Apty to start using Salesforce right from Day 1 without putting in any extra time or effort from IT staff.
Apty gives on-demand, real-time, contextual help within Salesforce to your end-users, thereby allowing them to easily understand Salesforce while having hands-on experience on Salesforce. It enables end-users to onboard, train, and understand the functions of Salesforce with ease and speed.
3. In-App Guidance for Engagement
Salesforce is an awesome tool, but it can be complex and difficult to master without outside guidance and access to contextualized content. Employees can use Apty’s on-screen guidance to assist them in navigating the system by giving reminders, recommendations, and interactive software walkthroughs.
Apty’s on-screen assistance directs users and instructs them on what to do next. The tool also includes contextual advice in the form of tooltips and enhanced data validations that can encourage users to correct problems as they enter data into Salesforce. Apty improves employee engagement by providing resources to your employees even before they realize they have a need.
4. Automate Business Processes & Improve Outcomes
Apty can maximize Salesforce ROI by automating deploying and managing Salesforce across your organization. Apty can help you get up and run quickly without sacrificing system security or compliance. Additionally, it can help you track usage analytics to measure the impact of Salesforce on your business.
According to Anthony Mixides, Managing Director at Bond Media
“Salesforce is a sophisticated application, and getting the most out of it can be easy with Apty. Apty is a leading Digital Adoption Platform that educates and leads your employees on how to use technology effectively.”
Apty takes a holistic approach to analyze and improving your Salesforce adoption. Apty tracks how end-users interact with Salesforce and provides insights to increase their productivity, and helps you boost the overall outcome.
5. Provide on-demand In-app Salesforce training
Adopting Salesforce using conventional methods requires numerous hours of training and supporting staff. With Apty, new employees can learn Salesforce with the help of in-app guidance.
Apty DAP combines in-app guidance with effective data validations to increase efficiency, productivity, and data quality. Apty goes beyond navigation and shows Salesforce users how to complete a task and proactively manages business process compliance.
The best way to maximize Salesforce ROI is to offer improved training and learning experiences to the employees. When employees are offered a comprehensive hands-on experience in learning Salesforce, they can bring more profit to the company in the long run. And it has to be done quickly, effectively, and scalable. In such a circumstance, Apty can be of assistance.
Apty is the most effective digital adoption platform for enterprise software and web-based applications on the market today. The distinctive characteristics that Apty provides are reduced support and employee attrition, faster and more effective onboarding, lower training costs, increased productivity and return on investment, and so on. Employee training and adoption on Salesforce becomes simple and effective with Apty.
4 Key Elements of Change Management Communication
Communication is essential for any workplace change, especially when implementing new software or systems. Poor communication can derail a project before it even has a chance to get off the ground.
Communication is an essential aspect of any change initiative, and it should be constant, straightforward, and ongoing all the way through the process. A major mistake to avoid is presuming that people know why the change is required. You are responsible for ensuring your team and stakeholders have a thorough understanding of why this is a necessity, so they do not resist the change.
If you’re preparing to adopt a new enterprise application like Salesforce, Workday, or Oracle, you’ll want to include a change management communication strategy as a part of your overall change management plan.
What is a change management communication plan?
An organizational change management communication plan details the information that will be communicated to the stakeholders and employees of an organization to help them understand why a change is being made and how it will affect them.
Why is communication important in change management?
It is crucial to effectively communicate the details of the change to stakeholders and employees to convince them about the benefits of the change and get them onboard.
Organizations must know beforehand how to communicate change management throughout a change initiative. A change management communication plan helps organizations do this.
Before and during implementation or rollout, your communication should:
- Build a Solid Business Case
- Focus on What Will Be Improved
- Explain the Impact on Every Level of the Organization
- Celebrate Successes
How to communicate change management?
You must be open, specific, and communicate early, such as why the change is required and when it can be effective. Clear and consistent communication throughout the change process is necessary to define the expected change. Employee feedback forums, listening to employee concerns, and answering questions can help you understand the change progress.
Communicate using various communication forms so that the change stays in the forefront of employee’s minds throughout the process and they understand unexpected challenges and solutions being worked. Communicate things like how these changes directly relate to and support the organizational mission, vision, goals, and objectives.
The overriding objective in change management communication is to make your employees understand the change. Points to remember while communicating the organizational change management plan:
- Be clear and straightforward in presenting the message to your employees so that you can avoid ambiguities
- Maintain a two-way street of communication and value employee’s feedback at each stage
- Actively listen, respond to employee questions, and develop a trust factor.
- Choose communication channels that suit both the upper management and employees.
To boost employee engagement, the people involved in implementing the change must see a synchronization between the efforts they put in and the expected outcome. A strategy to initiate and successfully implement any change strategy will fail if there is no transparent communication of the benefits expected from the plan.
4 Key Elements of Change Management Communication
A: Build a Solid Business Case
A solid business case is essential for getting approval and buy-in for your project. When communicating with stakeholders, sure to focus on the highlights of your business case.
- How does the change add value to the organization?
- What is the expected ROI?
- What is the impact on productivity?
B: Focus on What Will Be Improved
While a strong business case will win over stakeholders, the rest of the organization will not be inspired by cost savings or increased productivity. Instead, focus your communications on the benefits that will improve the average user’s day:
- How will this make people’s jobs easier?
- Will it save time?
- How is it better than the old system or process?
- What can be done with the new system that the old system couldn’t?
C: Explain the Impact on Every Level of the Organization
People are naturally resistant to change. Companywide changes cause workers to worry that their jobs could be impacted negatively. In addition to communicating the key benefits of a change, you’ll want to provide adequate information about the timeline and impact of the change for each team or department.
Being transparent about the process and providing information can help put people at ease. Common Change Management questions users may have include:
- How will the change impact my role and team?
- What are the details of what is changing?
- What is the timeline for the change?
- How can I get support or help with the change?
D: Celebrate Successes
Finally, to establish and build momentum for your project, be sure you celebrate successes. With large-scale changes, it may be difficult for the average user to see the project’s impact.
As a part of your communication strategy, be sure to give updates on:
- Reaching a major milestone
- Achieving project goals
- Team and individual successes
Change management communication best practices
A lack of communication can quickly create resistance to change. In the absence of information, people assume the worst about how the change will impact their jobs.
Enabling transparency is the key to overcoming change resistance. Communicate frequently and openly before, during, and after the change. Address employees’ concerns and give them the space to voice their opinions.
Involve employees in the early planning of the change projects since they are the ones who have to adopt the change and ensure its success. Front-line employees need to be educated about the necessity of the change and how it will affect them and equip them with all the tools, resources, and training needed to transition through the process.
1. Enable Transparency
When presenting the change project to your company’s stakeholders, you will have to provide a business case for the change. The business case comprises the reason for initiating the project to convince the stakeholder, who is the decision maker, to take action.
Refer to key 1 to understand what a business case should include. Once you build the business case, use it to communicate it to top level executives and convince them to allocate the necessary budget and resources for the project.
2. Communicate the Business Case
When presenting the change project to your company’s stakeholders, you will have to provide a business case for the change. The business case comprises the reason for initiating the project to convince the stakeholder, who is the decision maker, to take action.
Refer to key 1 to understand what a business case should include. Once you build the business case, use it to communicate it to top level executives and convince them to allocate the necessary budget and resources for the project.
3. Invest in the Right Tools
As a part of your organizational change management strategy, you will also need to identify what tools you will need to carry out the strategy. You’ll most likely need planning and project management tools, communication, training and support, analytics, etc.
You may have existing tools that will support your change management efforts, but as a part of change management plan development, you should consider the need for additional tools.
Apty digital adoption platform supports your communication, training, support and analytic efforts during your change initiative. It enables quick and seamless adoption of new technology and processes.
4. Provide Ongoing Training and Support
Change isn’t instantaneous. It will take several rounds before a new process or software becomes routine for end users. One of the main challenges in training and change management is the forgetting curve.
Employees usually forget most of what they learn within a day of training. They struggle to retain information that they learn during one-time training. To beat this, you will need to provide ongoing support and assistance to ensure that employees continue to adopt the change.
This support can be provided by a DAP which provides employees easy access to training and learning content in the form of in-app walkthroughs that can also be viewed in various other formats. It acts as a central knowledge hub for all your learning content and reduces training and support costs.
Product adoption and system implementation is a long and complex process. Developing an organizational change management plan and communication strategy can make the process smoother and improve outcomes.
With increasing competition, businesses must constantly change their operations and work culture to stay ahead. While organizational change has become commonplace, most companies struggle to drive effective change.
Understanding the different types of organizational change and how to manage them can be the key to maintaining a competitive edge. Change is inevitable, whether due to market conditions, technological advancements, or internal restructuring.
70% of change programs fail to achieve their goals, largely due to employee resistance and lack of management support. According to Deloitte, if an organization scores high on Organizational Culture overall, it is 4.5X more likely to have superior performance on all combined business outcomes. Additionally, organizations that implement open-source change strategies are 14X more likely to achieve change success.
In this blog, we will explore various types of organizational change and provide practical strategies to manage them effectively. By implementing these strategies, businesses can ensure smoother transitions and better outcomes.
What is Organizational Change?
Organizational change refers to the steps an organization takes to alter major components of its day-to-day functioning, such as its culture, infrastructure, internal processes, or technologies.
A change in leadership or organizational structure, introduction and adoption of new technology, or change in the business model could all be reasons for organizational change. Organizational change management helps a company move from its current operations to a new vision for the future.
Companies must leverage the latest trends in change management to streamline the process and stay ahead. This involves adopting strategies that align with the company’s goals and values, such as implementing effective change management strategies and understanding the impact of different types of organizational change.
Why Is Organizational Change Management Crucial?
Organizational change management is crucial for several reasons. At its core, it ensures that changes are implemented smoothly and effectively, minimizing disruptions to operations and maintaining productivity. Here are a few benefits of Organizational Change Management:
- Improves Employee Adaptation: When change is managed properly, employees are more likely to adapt quickly and efficiently. This reduces resistance and enhances the overall acceptance of organizational change initiatives. Effective change management structure and change management types are essential for this process.
- Increases Success Rates of Change Initiatives: Studies have shown that organizations with effective organizational change management processes are significantly more likely to achieve their desired outcomes. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) highlights that transformation leaders—companies that manage change effectively—see up to 66% greater realized value and lower transformation costs than less successful companies.
- Reduces Costs and Risks: Poorly managed changes can lead to increased costs and risks, including loss of productivity, decreased employee morale, and customer dissatisfaction. Effective organizational change management helps mitigate these risks by ensuring a transparent, structured approach, often leveraging various models of organizational change.
- Enhances Organizational Agility: In today’s competitive environment, agility is critical. Organizations that manage change well are better positioned to respond to market dynamics and structural change in organizations, giving them a competitive edge. This includes understanding the different types of organizational change that might be necessary.
- Supports Continuous Improvement: Change management isn’t just about handling one-time projects; it’s about fostering a culture of continuous improvement. This ongoing focus helps organizations remain innovative and forward-thinking by implementing organizational change and development initiatives and adopting new corporate change management best practices.
Organizations that focus on organizational change implementation and change within an organization can better prepare their teams for transitions. This preparation involves not only training but also clear communication about the benefits and impacts of the change.
Furthermore, adopting organizational change models and corporate change management initiatives can drive significant improvements in efficiency and productivity. These changes often require a thorough understanding of various models of organizational change and the ability to implement organizational change management strategies that align with the company’s goals.
According to Prosci, companies that effectively manage change are 7X more likely to meet or exceed their objectives. Additionally, organizations that focus on organizational change management practices can see a return on investment (ROI) up to 143% higher than those that do not.
Effective organizational change management and managing organizational change are essential for navigating changes. These processes provide a roadmap for managing transitions, ensuring that all change aspects are addressed systematically. Additionally, understanding the different organizational change types is crucial, from structural shifts to changes in technology or business processes.
Strategic change often leads to significant adjustments in the structural change in the organization, influencing overall performance and competitive edge.
What Are the Types of Organizational Change Initiatives?
Organizational change can take many forms, each addressing different aspects of a business. Here, we will explore five types of organizational change initiatives:
- Strategic Change
- Structural Change
- Technological or Process-Oriented Change
- People-Oriented Change
- Transformational Change
1. Strategic Change
Strategic change refers to a shift in the organization’s overall direction to achieve long-term goals and address new threats or opportunities in the market. This type of change affects the organization’s strategy and various other components, such as the organizational structure change, management style, or overall ideology. It often involves redefining the company’s mission, vision, and values and realigning resources and capabilities.
Types of organizational change, such as strategic change, are crucial for adapting to market dynamics and technological advancements. Implementing strategic change requires a clear understanding of the organizational change definition and the process of organizational change. For example, Toyota implemented a strategic change to become a leaner organization, enabling decentralized decision-making and proactive strategies.
Organizations must develop effective organizational change strategies to successfully implement strategic change and ensure that all stakeholders are aligned with the new direction. This involves setting specific goals, developing action plans, and coordinating efforts through a well-defined change management structure.
Strategic change often leads to significant adjustments in the structural change in the organization, influencing overall performance and competitive edge. Understanding the different types of organizational change and employing appropriate change management types are essential for the success of such initiatives.
Effective strategic change helps organizations stay competitive by leveraging new opportunities and mitigating threats. It requires thorough planning, clear communication, and ongoing support to smooth the transition. Companies can enhance their adaptability by adopting strategic change and driving long-term success.
2. Structural Change
Structural change refers to a change in organizational hierarchy, chain of command, management systems, job structure, or administrative procedures. This type of change is often driven by mergers, acquisitions, or the need to improve operational efficiency. For example, if Company A merges with Company B, numerous changes are necessary, such as realigning job functions, implementing new policies, eliminating duplicate departments, and reassigning or relieving employees.
Types of organizational change, such as structural change, are essential for adapting to new strategic directions and improving efficiency. Structural change involves significant modifications in the organizational structure, which can impact employee roles and responsibilities, management processes, and overall organizational dynamics.
Implementing structural change requires a clear understanding of the process of organizational change and developing a detailed plan to address potential challenges. This includes assessing the current structure, identifying areas for improvement, and designing a new structure that aligns with the organization’s strategic goals.
An effective change management structure is crucial for managing structural change. This involves setting clear goals, communicating changes to employees, and providing necessary training and support. Organizational change strategies must be developed to ensure the transition is smooth and the new structure is effectively integrated into the organization.
Organizational change types, like structural change, can significantly impact employee productivity and morale. Engaging employees in the process and addressing their concerns is essential. Change management types should include strategies for managing resistance and ensuring employees understand the benefits of the change.
Examples of structural change also include relocating offices to accommodate new staff, save costs, or move closer to customers. Such changes require effective change management and organizational change strategies to ensure successful implementation.
Understanding the definition of organizational change and employing appropriate strategies and change management types are critical for the success of structural change initiatives. Organizations can enhance efficiency, adapt to new strategic directions, and improve overall performance by effectively managing structural changes.
3. Technological or Process-Oriented Change
Technological or process-oriented change involves implementing new technologies or improving existing processes to enhance efficiency, productivity, and competitiveness. This type of change is essential for organizations to keep pace with technological advancements and market demands. It relates to how an organization runs its operations, assembles its products, or delivers its services.
Organizational change, such as technological or process-oriented change, can include the adoption of new software systems, automation of manual processes, or the integration of innovative technologies into business operations. For instance, implementing a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system can streamline operations and improve data accuracy across the organization.
Digital transformation and innovation rapidly change the business landscape, increasing the need for technology-oriented change. Organizations may re-engineer processes to optimize workflow and increase productivity. For example, enterprises might use digital adoption platforms (DAPs) like Apty to speed up the adoption of new technologies or improve their business processes.
To successfully implement technological or process-oriented change, organizations must develop effective organizational change strategies and ensure that all stakeholders are aligned with the new direction. This involves setting specific goals, developing action plans, and coordinating efforts through a well-defined change management structure. Additionally, understanding the process of organizational change and the various types of organizational change is crucial.
Implementing technological or process-oriented change often requires significant investment in new tools and employee training. To help, a DAP like Apty provides software training in the form of in-app guidance with walkthroughs, tooltips, and data validation, helping employees accommodate the new technology or process effectively.
Effective organizational change management and change management structure are crucial for managing technological or process-oriented change. This involves setting clear goals, communicating changes to employees, and providing necessary training and support. Organizational change strategies must be developed to ensure a smooth transition and that the new technologies or processes are effectively integrated into the organization.
Organizational change types like technological or process-oriented change can significantly impact employee morale and productivity. Engaging employees in the process and addressing their concerns is essential. Change management types should include strategies for managing resistance and ensuring employees understand the benefits of the change.
Technological or process-oriented change is vital for organizations to remain competitive and efficient. By understanding the definition of organizational change and employing effective organizational change strategies and change management types, companies can successfully implement technological changes that enhance performance and support strategic goals.
4. People-Oriented Change
People-oriented change focuses on the individuals within the organization, aiming to change behaviors, skills, attitudes, or roles. This change is essential for improving employee engagement, developing leadership capabilities, and enhancing organizational culture.
Organizational change, such as people-oriented change, is crucial when organizations need to address issues related to workforce development, team dynamics, or cultural transformation.
Employees are the main propagators of change and are involved in every step of the process. However, people-oriented processes refer to changes in employees’ skills or performance or the hiring process. This requires transparency, communication, and effective leadership. It may involve changing how problems are solved in the workplace, training employees to acquire new skills or knowledge, or bringing new hires to the organization.
To successfully implement people-oriented change, organizations must develop effective organizational change strategies and ensure that all stakeholders are aligned with the new direction. This involves setting specific goals, developing action plans, and coordinating efforts through a well-defined change management structure. Additionally, understanding the process of organizational change and the various types of organizational change is crucial.
The change managers must effectively communicate the benefits of the change to the employees to get them on board with the process. If they fail to do so, employees will resist the change. Effective organizational change management and change management structure are crucial for managing people-oriented change. This involves setting clear goals, communicating changes to employees, and providing necessary training and support. Organizational change strategies must be developed to ensure a smooth transition and that the new behaviors, skills, or attitudes are effectively integrated into the organization.
This change also occurs when a company undergoes mass hiring or layoffs, forcing the organization to change its culture and operations. Organizational change types like people-oriented change can significantly impact employee morale and productivity. Engaging employees in the process and addressing their concerns is essential. Change management types should include strategies for managing resistance to change and ensuring employees understand the benefits of the change.
If the company is laying off employees, it must ensure they have enough time to rehabilitate and move out without any financial or emotional turbulence. Examples of people-oriented change can include implementing new performance management systems, introducing flexible working arrangements, or developing employee wellness programs. Understanding the definition and employing appropriate organizational change strategies and change management types are critical for the success of such initiatives.
5. Transformational Change
Transformational change involves a fundamental shift in how an organization operates, often requiring a complete overhaul of its strategy, structure, processes, and culture. This type of change is driven by the need to respond to significant external pressures or opportunities, such as technological advancements, market shifts, or regulatory changes. Organizational change, such as transformational change, is crucial for organizations seeking long-term growth and sustainability
Digital transformation has taken over the world and changed every aspect of our lives. The business world has changed drastically by introducing new and innovative technology, processes, and frameworks. Nonprofits are a great example, where digital transformation is helping smaller teams work smarter and reach more people. Transformational change combines all the above changes implemented to alter an organization’s fundamental elements, including culture, values, and operations.
Transformational change requires a clear organizational change definition and a thorough understanding of the reasons for organizational change. It often involves significant modifications in the organizational structure change, processes, and culture, which can impact all levels of the organization. Examples of organizational change include adopting new business models, entering new markets, or implementing enterprise-wide technology platforms.
Organizations must develop comprehensive organizational change strategies to successfully implement transformational change and ensure that all stakeholders are aligned with the new vision. This involves setting ambitious goals, developing detailed action plans, and coordinating efforts through a robust change management structure. Understanding the process of organizational change and the various types of organizational change is essential.
An organization planning to implement such a change will need all the help it can get, whether from new technologies, higher-skilled employees, better management, or leadership. Transformational change completely reshapes your business strategy and processes. This type of organizational change can significantly impact the organization’s performance and competitive position
A Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) like Apty helps organizations carry out transformational change initiatives by speeding up the adoption of new technology and processes. Enterprises can quickly onboard employees to their tech stack and help them master it in a matter of days. A DAP provides employees 24/7 guidance and support with its in-app help deck.
Effective change management types are crucial for managing transformational change. This includes strategies for managing resistance, ensuring clear communication, and providing employees with the necessary training and support. Engaging employees in the process and addressing their concerns is essential for the change initiative’s success. Managing organizational change effectively involves leveraging examples of organizational change from other successful transformations to guide their efforts.
The Role of Digital Adoption Platforms (DAPs) in Organizational Change Management
Digital Adoption Platforms (DAPs) have become essential tools in managing organizational change effectively. As organizations undergo various types of changes, including transformational change, structural change, and technological or process-oriented change, DAPs provide the necessary support to ensure smooth transitions and successful outcomes.
Digital transformation has taken over the world and changed every aspect of our lives. The business world has changed drastically by introducing new and innovative technology, processes, and frameworks. DAPs help organizations implement these changes by providing in-app guidance, walkthroughs, and tooltips that enable employees to learn and adapt quickly. This is crucial for managing organizational change and ensuring employees are comfortable with the new systems.
Benefits of DAPs in Organizational Change Management:
- Enhanced User Experience: DAPs simplify the user experience with real-time guidance and support directly within digital tools, eliminating confusion, reducing learning curves, and increasing user confidence, thereby accelerating adoption. Apty offers real-time guidance and support with digital tools, simplifying the user experience and boosting user confidence.
- On-demand Training and Support: DAPs offer self-paced training modules and contextual support resources that employees can access whenever needed, empowering them to learn at their own pace and reinforcing their understanding of the change. Apty provides self-paced training modules and contextual support, enabling employees to learn at their own pace and strengthening their knowledge of the change.
- Personalized Learning Paths: DAPs provide customized learning paths based on individual roles and responsibilities, ensuring employees receive relevant training and support, thus increasing engagement and adoption of the change. Apty designs personalized learning paths based on roles and responsibilities, ensuring employees receive relevant training and support to enhance engagement and adoption.
- Performance Tracking and Analytics: DAPs deliver valuable insights into user behavior, allowing organizations to track engagement, identify bottlenecks, and make data-driven decisions to refine the change management plan and optimize training efforts. Apty offers insights into user behavior, helping organizations track engagement, spot bottlenecks, and make data-driven decisions to improve change management strategies and training efforts.
A Digital Adoption Platform is integral to successful organizational change management. They provide the necessary tools to support changes and ensure employees adapt quickly and efficiently. Companies can leverage Apty’s digital adoption platofrm to enhance performance, achieve ROI, and improve employee productivity. It also ensures that technology adoption and software adoption are streamlined, leading to better operational efficiency and business process compliance. Through value realization, Apty helps organizations maximize the benefits of digital transformation initiatives.
Emirates President Tim Clark – ” A digital transformation is happening in every organization, whether they realize it or not.”
Today, airlines are investing in technologies to provide a better customer experience. There is also a strong focus on safety and security, with more rigorous screening procedures to ensure passengers have a safe and secure journey. Their employees also expect the same advancements, ease of use, and efficiency as their customers. Airlines continue to streamline manufacturing, maintenance, and operations behind the scenes with more effective oversight, process compliance, communications, and real-time data with the help of advanced software, unifying their global processes.
This transformation has profoundly impacted the airline industry, making it more efficient and customer-focused. Digital transformation has also led to smart airports that use technology to improve the traveler experience. A report from MarketsandMarkets estimates that the market for smart airports will grow from $14.9 billion in 2020 to $22.6 billion by 2025.
In the upcoming years, the airline industry will embrace the latest software trends to revolutionize how airlines do business. The airline industry can continue to evolve and thrive in an ever-changing digital landscape by staying up to date with the latest software trends and solutions.
Most enterprises do not fail at buying software. They fail at proving that employees are using it in ways that deliver real business value. User logins and training completion reports may suggest progress, but they rarely show whether critical processes are followed, errors are avoided, or productivity has actually improved. This is where digital adoption measurement becomes essential.
Digital adoption measurement focuses on tracking how effectively users interact with software in real workflows and whether those interactions translate into operational efficiency, compliance, and ROI. In this blog, we look at the most important digital adoption metrics and KPIs enterprises should track to move beyond surface-level usage and measure real adoption outcomes
Can Digital Adoption be Measured?
The recent changes in the business landscape have immensely impacted employee performance and business outcomes. This is mostly in the form of companies introducing new and innovative technologies to optimize business processes.
However, an organization cannot just roll out new software and expect smooth and successful change. The software has to be fully adopted by the end-users for it to have an impact on the organization’s growth. But adoption without outcomes is just surface-level success. That’s why Apty doesn’t just guide users—it measures what matters, offering real-time insights into process efficiency, error reduction, and ROI uplift.
But how do you really understand the rate at which digital technologies are being adopted? Or if they’re being adopted at all?
To measure digital adoption accurately, focus on the right digital adoption metrics, such as process completion rates, task success ratios, and user engagement time. These are the KPIs that reflect whether employees are merely using software or actually leveraging it to deliver real business value.
What is not measured cannot be improved. As companies undergo digital transformation, it is crucial to keep track of certain metrics that can be used to get a better understanding of your transformation journey. The adoption rate of your company’s tech stack is the biggest indicator of the success or failure of your digital transformation initiatives.
Key Digital Adoption Metrics Every Enterprise Should Track
- Keep Track of Usage and Outcomes
- Measure Your Software ROI
- Get Feedback from Employees
1. Keep Track of Usage and Outcomes
Once you deploy any software within your organization, keep track of how the software and its features are being used by your employees. Try to understand if your employees are using it for the intended purposes.
For example, if your company invested in an automation tool to increase productivity, find out if productivity has changed since implementing the software. Real-world business outcomes are more important than any other metric that you set to measure digital adoption.
Although software usage doesn’t directly translate to software adoption, measuring usage with context can be a good indicator of it. The intent of software usage is the most important factor you have to pay attention to.
Segment users by department and role and understand what features of the software are being used by each segment. Find out how effectively each segment is using its tools to perform their daily tasks.
With Apty, software adoption measurement goes deeper than tracking clicks. You can monitor how employees complete tasks and whether they’re following optimized workflows. These insights help you track employee software usage in context, identifying gaps that impact productivity.
Apty’s activity tracking lets you segment users on department, location, type of browser, device, or OS and keep track of each segment’s activity. With the goals feature, you can track the completion rate of each process by each segment of employees and identify the ones who lag, which could result in slowing down your digital adoption rate.
A notification can then be sent to these users to prompt them to complete tasks and get a 100% completion rate.
With Apty’s walkthroughs, tooltips, in-app knowledge deck, analytics, and goals, you can ensure that your employees have the support that they need, and that the organization’s digital adoption is being audited and the initiative is on its way to success.
2. Measure Your Software ROI
When you invest in new technologies, you also have to make sure that these tools contribute to the revenue of the company. ROI from the tools and technology that you invest in, is the best indicator for the state of digital adoption at your organization. You may have invested in trending tools that may have worked for a lot of organizations but that doesn’t mean they will work for you.
Why did you invest in the software? What changes in business outcomes did you expect the software to bring in? It is important to answer these questions and dig deep into how the software is really impacting your business.
Return on investment (ROI) is a measurement of the profit generated from an investment that an organization made. There are 2 types of ROI: anticipated ROI and actual ROI.
- Anticipated ROI: This value is calculated before a project begins, to determine how much profit investment is likely to generate. It helps organizations understand if an investment (in this case, a software application) is worth it.
- Actual ROI: This value is calculated after a project has concluded, and uses final costs and revenues to determine the true profit generated from an investment.
When the actual ROI is more than the anticipated ROI, then the investment has yielded a positive ROI. If it is less than the anticipated ROI, the investment has yielded a negative ROI and is a loss to the company.
Needless to say, your objective should be to yield a positive ROI, and to do that, you need to calculate your software ROI. There are many ways to go about this but the standard approach in project management is to use this formula to calculate software ROI:
ROI = [(Financial Value – Project Cost) / Project Cost] x 100
Financial Value: Amount of money you could gain from implementing the
Project Cost: Amount of money you spend on implementing and maintaining your new software system.
Want to estimate your software adoption ROI before making a decision? Use Apty’s free ROI calculator to understand your potential business gains.
Apty Digital Adoption Platform helps employees quickly master new software with the help of on-screen guidance and significantly boosts ROI from your entire enterprise web-based tech stack. It also contributes to an increase in ROI by greatly reducing training, maintenance, and support costs for all your enterprise software.
The key to sustainable transformation is visibility. Apty provides digital adoption platform analytics that helps you measure software implementation success across every app, role, and process—so you can fix what’s broken and scale what works.
3. Get Feedback from Employees
At the end of the day, your employees are the ones who are going to use these new systems and it is crucial to understand their perspective on the changes being made to the organization.
At the end of the day, your employees are the ones who are going to use these new systems and it is crucial to understand their perspective on the changes being made to the organization.
Apty’s activity tracking lets you segment users on department, location, type of browser, device, or OS and keep track of each segment’s activity. With the goals feature, you can track the completion rate of each process by each segment of employees and identify the ones who lag, which could result in slowing down your digital adoption rate.
A notification can then be sent to these users to prompt them to complete tasks and get a 100% completion rate.
With Apty’s walkthroughs, tooltips, in-app knowledge deck, analytics, and goals, you can ensure that your employees have the support that they need, and that the organization’s digital adoption is being audited and the initiative is on its way to success.
Apty’s AI engine doesn’t just surface problems—it suggests solutions. Its automated notifications, tooltips, and in-app flows help resolve bottlenecks without additional support tickets, speeding up adoption and reducing frustration.
When you invest in new technologies, you also have to make sure that these tools contribute to the revenue of the company. ROI from the tools and technology that you invest in, is the best indicator for the state of digital adoption at your organization. You may have invested in trending tools that may have worked for a lot of organizations but that doesn’t mean they will work for you.
Why did you invest in the software? What changes in business outcomes did you expect the software to bring in? It is important to answer these questions and dig deep into how the software is really impacting your business.
Return on investment (ROI) is a measurement of the profit generated from an investment that an organization made. There are 2 types of ROI: anticipated ROI and actual ROI.
- Anticipated ROI: This value is calculated before a project begins, to determine how much profit investment is likely to generate. It helps organizations understand if an investment (in this case, a software application) is worth it.
- Actual ROI: This value is calculated after a project has concluded, and uses final costs and revenues to determine the true profit generated from an investment.
When the actual ROI is more than the anticipated ROI, then the investment has yielded a positive ROI. If it is less than the anticipated ROI, the investment has yielded a negative ROI and is a loss to the company.
Needless to say, your objective should be to yield a positive ROI, and to do that, you need to calculate your software ROI. There are many ways to go about this but the standard approach in project management is to use this formula to calculate software ROI:
ROI = [(Financial Value – Project Cost) / Project Cost] x 100
Financial Value: Amount of money you could gain from implementing the new software system.
Project Cost: Amount of money you spend on implementing and maintaining your new software system.
Apty Digital Adoption Platform helps employees quickly master new software with the help of on-screen guidance and significantly boosts ROI from your entire enterprise web-based tech stack. It also contributes to an increase in ROI by greatly reducing training, maintenance, and support costs for all your enterprise software.
At the end of the day, your employees are the ones who are going to use these new systems and it is crucial to understand their perspective on the changes being made to the organization.
When starting your company’s digital adoption journey, you will need to make several changes to your operations in order to facilitate adoption. Not all employees will welcome these changes immediately.
Employee feedback can be a great indicator of your digital adoption progress when you use this feedback to identify actionable insights. Whenever an employee has a grievance with a new system or process, understand its cause. There is usually an inhibiting factor that causes resistance among employees.
With Apty’s analytics, you can pinpoint exactly where in the process, each employee is dropping off. Apty’s AI engine then recommends resolutions to these friction points in the form of on-screen guidance, tooltips, and much more.
Once you listen to your employees and understand the real-world impact of your new software investments, you start to get a granular understanding of the state of digital adoption and transformation at your organization. Leverage employee feedback to draw insights along with Apty’s powerful analytics to fix issues in your systems and flows to improve adoption.
Digital adoption and transformation efforts are necessary in today’s world and companies that ignore them, eventually end up losing their competitive advantage. With Apty’s best-in-class digital adoption platform, you can kickstart your digital adoption journey and measure its progress every step of the way, and you will be well on your way to a successful digital transformation.
So here’s the answer to the rather complex question “Can digital adoption be measured?”
“Yes. With Apty, you can.”
Yes, digital adoption can be measured—and improved.
Apty gives you the tools to track, analyze, and improve every aspect of software adoption—so you’re not just launching software, you’re unlocking ROI.
FAQs
What is Organizational Development Training and how a DAP Simplifies it
Organizational development is the process of improving an organization’s capabilities in terms of people, strategy, process alignment, and more.
Organizational Development training is a way to prepare the team to handle operations and contribute towards the development of the company. It involves multiple aspects like upgrading skills, introducing new technology, and hiring key professionals. Adoption of this training methodology allows organizations to be future-driven and empowered.
Organizational Development training aims to teach employees how to work in groups, lead group activities, and solve problems. Organizations use this kind of training because it boosts employee morale, which is important for increasing productivity at the workplace.
What is Organizational Development Training?
The “training” aspect of organizational development is the process of training employees and leaders to understand how to achieve and go about the development, overall.
Organizational Development Training takes a holistic approach to improving workforce effectiveness and achieving the organizations’ bottom-line goals.
Organizational Development training program focuses on the enhancement of a company’s abilities to coincide with the strategy, structure, individuals, rewards, metrics, and management methods.
Top 3 Organizational Development Certification
Organizational Development Certifications can help make a difference and scale new heights in one’s career.
- Human Resources Certified Professional (IPMA-CP)
- University of Denver Organizational Development Certificate (ODCP)
- SHRM Senior Certified Professional (SHRM-SCP)
Organizational development strategy
The organizational development strategy incorporates an ongoing process that works on helping employees to learn problem-solving techniques and effective leadership capabilities.
The steps to organizational development strategies fall into the following 5 categories – Entry, Analysis, Feedback, Solution, and Evaluation.
Adapting to the organization’s latest tech stack is a major change management issue that needs to be addressed. A Digital adoption platform, at its simplest, facilitates digital transformation and helps businesses seamlessly shift to transforming processes.
How does a Digital Adoption Platform simplify it?
Technology evolves at a rapid speed so organizations must adapt to remain competitive. A Digital Adoption Platform helps businesses stay competitive in today’s fast-paced business environment.
A. Provide the best employee experience
DAPs break down even the most intricate business processes and workflows into straightforward and simply executed actions. It simplifies the whole software experience lifecycle from onboarding through training, ongoing support, and change management.
A Digital Adoption Platform helps employees by offering necessary training to them in the quickest way possible. It helps them quickly unlock the full potential of an enterprise tech stack. It provides a very intuitive on-demand, on-the-job employee learning experience. It enables organizations to deliver real-time, in-app contextual help tailored to every employee’s needs.
It also provides employees access to resources from anywhere at any time. This eliminates redundant processes and reduces the overall cost of employee training while increasing the level of engagement between employees and trainers.
B. Accelerate Software Adoption
The Digital Adoption Platform helps execute organizational development training as it assists in promoting software adoption.
The onboarding of customers and employees is automated using this platform as it provides in-app software training and guidance. A DAP allows quick and easy collection of data to analyze when creating your OD strategies while giving access to proactive support to solve any challenges that may arise.
A DAP can accelerate software adoption by promoting employee experience across business applications. It provides on-demand learning that aids employees in real-time, improving their productivity through interactive software walkthroughs. It also enables reduced support overhead by delivering personalized assistance.
C. Personalize the training program
For Organizational development plans to be effective, you must ensure that every employee is properly equipped and given the support and attention they require.
A DAP can provide easy-to-follow on-screen guidance that makes it much simpler to keep track of employee progress and the effectiveness of the training program. This, in turn, allows you to support your employees’ growth much more proactively.
Companies can effectively customize the training experience for each individual by leveraging the capabilities of a digital adoption platform to deliver the right information and resources to the right employee at the right stage.
For instance, each individual can be segmented based on their life cycle within the OD program. This way the content is personalized to suit the varying needs of each employee, which helps them to quickly bridge any gaps in knowledge.
D. Provide Support at the moment of need
Digital adoption platforms are a great way to help your employees learn more effectively and streamline the organizational development training process.
Digital adoption platforms remove the need for managers and leaders to constantly watch over training employees. This enables the managers to move on to more important tasks for business improvement, while the employees are guided by the software.
DAPs integrate with pre-existing systems and educate new users through hands-on experience. It helps employees retain new information better and show them how systems operate in real-time.
Organizational development training is how an organization evolves and improves the efficiency and effectiveness of its systems and processes by transferring knowledge. Employees are taught about the organization’s specialized systems, processes, and tools through organizational training.
The Digital Adoption Platform like Apty provides a better user experience to reduce technology adoption issues, streamlines employee onboarding & training, and creates a more productive and efficient workplace.
A successful OD training requires a user-friendly tool, and the Apty DAP provides you with just that. Apty has been awarded the ‘Easiest-to-use Enterprise DAP’ badge by G2, which also explains why many Fortune 500 companies trust Apty to power their digital transformation initiatives.
Apty can ensure the effectiveness of your OD training and allow your employees to make the most of it. If your employees aren’t 100% sure on how to effectively navigate through and leverage their tech stack, Apty’s in-app guidance feature is just what they need to independently master the software at a pace that works for them.
We’re so dependent on technology and software to power our businesses that it is almost impossible to imagine a time when this was common. But for all the time and money spent on the R&D, there often remains a gap between the capabilities of the application deployed versus the value generated from it.
Think about this, for example.
17% of the major IT implementations go so wrong that they put the existence of the company at risk.*
For instance, In 2001, Nike spent $400 million updating their ERP and overall supply chain. The goal was to reduce the manufacturing cycle to match the increasing demands on time. They launched a new demand-planning solution with minimal testing and consequently, the solution failed miserably in the real environment.
It cost them $400 million on its software failure with an additional $100 million in revenue and another 5 years to get the implementation right.
A successful software implementation plan begins with getting a granular understanding of how you define success. It is possible by identifying the challenges that could put the projects at risk and then deciding where the business wants to go with the implementation. These factors will not only help the organization to avert risks but also determine the success of the overall business.
What is Software Implementation?
Software implementation is a process of adopting and integrating software or an application into a business process.
It enables organizations to optimize their existing processes, enhance user experience and achieve higher efficiency levels. Regardless of how big or small the software implementation, it will have a significant impact on the bottom line.
It is wise to acknowledge that most implementations are challenging but they can also significantly fuel the growth of the organization. At first, it could look daunting but successful implementation will enable you to reap the benefits – both from a people and a financial standpoint.
5 Software Implementation Challenges
- Misaligned expectations
- Data Maintenance
- Lack of readiness
- Internal resistance
- Improper post-deployment planning
1. Misaligned expectations
When planning software implementation, the organization needs to assemble a project team that involves a variety of stakeholders who will drive the software deployment in the right direction.
The team usually consists of product managers, project heads, team leads, business analysts and subject matter experts. This team coordinates with the vendors, service partners, implementation experts, consultants, and developers.
Each implementation is different and, in some cases, the software cannot be customized to your specific business needs. In this case, service partners should provide a realistic assessment that ties back to the organization being encouraging transparency so that all stakeholders can be informed about the limitations of the project.
With any software implementation, not all expected functionalities can be realized. Be it internal or external stakeholders, clear communication is a must during the planning and implementation phase. Investing in effective cross-team communication helps set the right expectations from the project.
2. Data Maintenance
Poor data could cripple any business. To put this seemingly obvious phrase in perspective, consider this – On average, organizations lose $15 million per year because of poor data quality.
This will prove to be worse when businesses implement multiple software simultaneously, which will only add to the complexity. Companies that operate in multiple geos stand the risk of facing severe data quality issues.
Ensuring data integrity and maintaining it throughout the process will be crucial for success. It is important to know what kind of data can be passed through the system and what cannot.
This will help you to not only map the system correctly but will also ensure that no data loss occurs during the process and it is secure at all times.
Another problem that stands in the way is forgetting to map data that is necessary for the business. Just imagine during the migration process if the organization forgets to fetch data of a potential customer! This could potentially cost the company millions of dollars, if not more.
3. Lack of readiness
Every member of the implementation team must understand their role and should represent their respective department or team and create a plan that puts the best interest of their team and that of the organization.
It is also important to define when and how support from the vendor would be provided. The team should focus on identifying the gaps and issues that users might face, post the software deployment. It can be achieved by having a robust communication plan which should include several channels to reinstate the information.
All this will help you to overcome user adoption challenges and ensure software implementation success.
Pro tip: Apty comes with an in-built announcement feature that not only informs your employees about the changes within the software but also guides them from there on how to complete their tasks within that software.
4. Internal resistance
New software brings an environment of uncertainty with it. It could make your employees uncomfortable about the change because they don’t know what to expect.
It is critical to clearly demonstrate well in advance the advantages of using the new software. This helps with easing them onto the new software and getting their buy-in, allowing the organization to have addressed any issues that come up, in advance. It also helps them to understand and experience for themselves how the software will empower them to do their job efficiently.
5. Improper post-deployment planning
Typically, organizations use a variety of tools and frameworks to support software implementation and increase the chances of success.
It starts with planning the onboarding and then a training program to ensure software implementation success. While this approach is correct, the journey towards a successful implementation will be short-lived, unless a software adoption strategy is in place.
A Digital Adoption Platform helps you to plan onboarding, training, and software adoption which will help in making the overall software implementation a success, even after the deployment phase.
5 Steps to Creating a Successful Software Implementation Plan
- Define the scope of the project
- Define roles and ownership for the process
- Test the software
- Stitch a structured training program
- Focus on software adoption
i. Define the scope of the project
The first problem is that enterprise software is decorated with a lot of features and can entice leaders to use all of it to maximize the impact. But this can also potentially derail the original vision and you might find yourself trapped in feature hell.
Another problem is customization. Some businesses have complicated and unique processes. The focus should be to optimize the processes and keep them as simple as possible, as there are several technical difficulties involved in revamping an application.
To counter all these issues, it is a must to centralize all the documents and provide vendors with a clear picture of what the organization wants to achieve. This will help the vendors to give their honest opinion of the scope of the project.
The documentation mentions the primary goals and in a way, freezes them so there are no distractions. Isolate the original vision from the new ideas as mixing it could cause scope creep. Add these new ideas in another document and consider them during the subsequent iterations.
It enables the project team to focus on the project at hand. It pays to invest in a project management tool that will help to achieve your goals in the shortest period and keep a track of all the changes made during the process. This type of approach keeps the software implementation on track.
ii. Define roles and ownership for the process
Having the right team will determine the success of your entire implementation. Start by analyzing the number of departments or business units that will end up using the new software. Then, chalk out the specific requirements of each team within that unit.
With this, the organization will know the number of people who will be affected by the implementation. Involve at least one stakeholder from each department who will act as a representative of their business unit and the business case of their respective group. They can also be the core team if the implementation is not in line with their department requirements.
Apart from these representatives, the project team must include:
- Project Owner: They are the departmental heads who can also be a group of executives. The job of representative and project owner is taken care of by business unit managers or heads.
- Project Manager: They handle the budget and systematically organize the whole implementation process.
- System admin: This could be one person or a group of people depending entirely on the scale of the project. Their job is to create, organize and manage the technical setup.
- Delivery owner: The person who acts as a communication channel between the project team and vendors.
Having the right mix of people will help in gaining different perspectives but remember the saying “too many cooks can spoil the broth”? It’s true even with this. You can assign more than one role to the same person – the only criterion is that they are equipped with all the skills required and understand the importance of the implementation.
iii. Test the software
Conduct a thorough software testing by considering every business scenario possible and checking its efficacy.
During this phase, involve the project team as well as the end-users and maintain a checklist that the deployment should pass on.
If some issues are uncovered during the testing phase, then a complete software configuration before the go-live is a must.
In previous steps, check the system readiness in a control group as it will help you to immediately track back the source of the problem.
iv. Stitch a structured training program
Training and onboarding programs are the hidden forces that ensure a successful software implementation.
These programs must be created before even deploying the software. It is advisable that you work in tandem with the L&D team to stitch a customized training and onboarding program for every business unit.
Each department has specific needs and their learning material should cater to those exact needs, without being generic. They need to be trained on how to navigate through the software in a way that helps them accomplish their specific tasks on time.
A customized program enhances the employee experience and will help them to get up to speed in record time.
The program should also focus on reducing the load on the support team by deploying tools like a Digital Adoption Platform. A DAP sits right inside the application and acts as a repository of information containing videos, pdfs, knowledge base links, and walkthroughs. It guides the employees at the point of need, without being intrusive.
It also helps the L&D teams to reduce their content creation time as the walkthroughs can easily be created and converted into several other formats with just one click.
v. Focus on software adoption
Top Change Management Challenges and How to Overcome Them
Change is never easy, especially in a large organization. Whether you’re changing software, processes, or organizational structure, change can make your team members feel uncomfortable.
People are naturally resistant to change as described in the classic book “Who Moved My Cheese?” So before you start moving the cheese inside your company, you’ll want to review these tips to overcome the most common change management challenges.
Key challenges in change management
Here are the top challenges faced while managing organizational change:
- Tracking project health
- Evaluating change management efforts
- The Willingness of Employees to Change
- Incorrect Planning
- Insufficient resourcing and Change management buy-in
A. Tracking project health
To understand the overall performance of your change management project, you must track the progress of the project at every step of the way. A thorough understanding of the project’s health over the course can enable the organization to identify areas that need to be improved in order to get better outcomes.
B. Evaluating change management efforts
Improvements and modifications to the change management plan must be made in real-time by continuously analyzing your change management efforts. Continuous improvements will result in better adoption rates, which will result in compounding benefits.
C. The Willingness of Employees to Change
The biggest change management issue or challenge is convincing your employees to accept the change and put them on the same track as the senior management in order to foresee its prevailing benefits. The senior management must communicate the change process with the employees effectively and make them aware of their benefits with it.
Related Read:- Resistance to Change: How to Overcome Employee Pushback
D. Incorrect Planning
Incorrect planning of the change management project might contribute to its failure. To avoid this, proper planning must be done before executing the change. The higher management must stay alert and resolve conflicts among staff members by identifying their needs and requirements.
E. Insufficient resourcing and Change management buy-in
Managing change is not a task that can be completed just with a few employees’ efforts. Change management must be resourced according to the scope and size of the project in order in order for it to be accepted and adopted.
It can be difficult for your employees to overcome change management challenges without proper support and guidance. Change leaders must have the expertise to support their employees at the right time and dedicate them to roles via effective communication.
Having a majority of people working in your favor will help you remove the main friction point between the current state of your business and a future where the change is effectively implemented.
How to Overcome Change Management Challenges
Tip 1: Develop a Change Management Plan
Making a major change in your business requires planning. Your plan should address:
i. Change Scope
- How big is the change?
- Who does it impact?
- What is and is not going to be a part of this rollout?
ii. Timeline
- When should the change be fully implemented?
- What dependencies are there in the rollout plan?
iii. Responsibilities
- Who is responsible for each part of the rollout?
- Who is responsible for ensuring compliance with the changes after rollout?
iv. Training
- What training will employees and managers need for this change?
v. Analysis
- How ready is the workforce for this change? A readiness assessment will help identify training deficiencies and common objections to the change.
- What metrics will be used to determine if the change was successful?
- How and when will the metrics be collected and reviewed?
Ensuring that your change management plan covers these topics will help avoid some of the challenges organizations face. Clearly defining the scope and responsibilities will help ensure the project stays on track.
Identifying dependencies and training needs will help alleviate frustration and confusion for end-users, and making a plan for how to track and measure the project will allow you to make more informed decisions.
Tip 2: Invest in the Right Tools
As a part of your Organizational Change Management strategy, you’ll also need to identify what tools you’ll use. You’ll likely need tools for:
- Planning and project management
- Communication
- Training and Support
- Analytics
You may have existing tools that will work to support your change management efforts, but as a part of developing your change management plan, you should consider if you need to acquire additional tools.
As a product adoption platform, Apty supports your communication, training, support, and analytic efforts.
Tip 3: Communicate
A lack of communication can quickly create resistance to change. In the absence of information, people assume the worst about how the change will impact their jobs.
The key to overcoming resistance to change is to communicate frequently before, during, and after the change.
Tip 4: Provide Ongoing Support
Change isn’t instantaneous. It will take several rounds of repetition before a new process or software become routine for end users. One of the main challenges in both training and change management is the forgetting curve.
Unless someone does something on a daily basis, they’ll struggle to retain the information they learned. You’ll need to provide ongoing support to ensure employees continue with the change. That support should include both in-person and on-screen guidance and feedback.
Apty helps you solve data quality issues and ensure compliance. Apty’s validations ensure that your employees enter clean data in the right format while performing tasks after you have implemented changes as part of your initiative.
Apty’s analytics help you identify where your employees are struggling and recommends on-screen guidance and training content to overcome those specific challenges.
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