Don't Lose Money on Your Technology Investment: What's Your ROI?
You purchased technology for your office some time ago to help improve work processes and make your practice more efficient. But you discover after a year or so that it is not being used effectively, or at all. How can you determine the effectiveness of your new technology investment?
The first, and probably most important, aspect of ROI on your technology is to look into the adoption rate across the office to gauge if it's being used, how it's being used, and who are the ones using it. The best bang for your buck is undoubtedly when all users are employing the technology the way it was intended, to complete the most important tasks that the technology was designed to facilitate. Too often, we run across firms who focus so heavily on the deployment and implementation of technology and lose sight of actual
ly taking advantage of the new benefits. According to Dider Bonnet of Harvard Business Review, ". . . true ROI of digital investments is collaboration among actively engaged users, smarter decision making, increased sharing of best practices and, over time, sustained behavior change."
Overall adoption of digital technology in the firm needs to be led. But what are the tools to do so? Taking bits from Didier's article, we look at some key components to get employees excited about using new technology:
- Lead by example: As your employees notice communication or processes begin to change due to your own adoption of the technology, they will most likely follow suit. Let them know how vital this new technology is to the success of the firm, and make it a priority to use it yourself.
- Plan for it from the beginning: Training is a critical part of adopting new technology, so make sure it has been budgeted for and executed before the technology is fully deployed. This will make your employees more comfortable when it's time to go live.
- Identify your power users and commit them to influencing others in the firm. The individuals in your organization who are most likely to champion change throughout the office and influence others to engage in the new technology should be identified early on.
Make sure your digital assets are being used the way they were intended, in helping the organization through technology that will move processes forward. The worst result of deploying new technology is having employees stick to their own status quo, resisting developments that have been instituted to ease processes and better serve clients.
