Gartner: Digital Adoption Platforms Can Reduce ‘Digital Friction’

Digital transformation depends on digital dexterity. That notion was the focus of an insightful presentation by Gartner senior director Melissa Hilbert at Gartner’s Digital Workplace Summit last week. 

Digital dexterity refers to the ability for an organization’s employees to gain productivity benefits from digital systems. Technocratic leadership will frequently add technology systems to internal portfolios to drive progress. These systems, however, can in fact create more problems than they solve.

Unwieldy Tools Create Digital Fiction

Tomes of evidence collected by Gartner suggest employees often find digital systems difficult and inconvenient to use, Hilbert said. Employees report that they are overwhelmed and confused by the growing number of digital systems they must use for their jobs. Poor employee experience leads to dissatisfaction, frustration, and even abandonment of digital systems.

Furthermore, employees who find it easy and convenient to adopt digital systems are twice as likely to stay at an organization, compared with those who suffer from “digital friction,” according to Gartner. 

Digital friction -- the combined result of many factors that make it difficult for employees to benefit from digital systems -- can produce significant wastage. Gartner found that about 8% of employee time can be spent on dealing with digital tools and toggling between systems.

Related:How to Build a Digital Work Hub

Digital Adoption Platforms

Gartner recommends that organizations use digital adoption platforms (DAPs) to facilitate the uptake and use of digital systems. DAP initiatives, which should be led by the CIO, can lead to an increase of up to 13% in digital adoption. Adding gamification to digital adoption platforms can be useful.

With digital adoption platforms, employee acceptance and satisfaction grow and digital transformation is accelerated. This learning is important for IT leaders to consider as they build out their technology strategies and plans.