Digital Adoption Platforms

Transcription

1 May 12, 2017 REPORT: BIG IDEA Digital Adoption Platforms A New Breed of Software Helps Improve User Adoption of New Technologies Alan Lepofsky Vice President and Principal Analyst Content Editors: R Ray Wang and Courtney Sato Copy Editor: Maria Shao Layout Editor: Aubrey Coggins Produced exclusively for Constellation Research clients

2 TABLE OF CONTENTS EXECUTIVE SUMMARY... 3 FOUR USER EXPERIENCE ISSUES THAT IMPEDE SOFTWARE ADOPTION... 4 TRENDS CONTRIBUTING TO THE EMERGENCE OF DIGITAL ADOPTION PLATFORMS... 6 DIGITAL ADOPTION PLATFORMS: MODERNIZING LEGACY HELP SYSTEMS... 7 CATEGORIZING THE MATURITY OF DIGITAL ADOPTION PLATFORMS GETTING STARTED: FOCUS ON CORE USE CASES CONCLUSION ANALYST BIO ABOUT CONSTELLATION RESEARCH Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 2

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The portfolio of business software, websites and mobile applications employees use to get their jobs done is growing rapidly. With each tool having a different look and feel, different features and different processes, learning how to effectively use all these tools quickly becomes a big challenge. If these hurdles are not overcome, adoption of the tools suffers, support costs go up, and the value of the tools goes down. On the external side, prospects and customers face similar challenges when navigating the wide variety of websites and social media applications required to engage with their favorite brands. This type of friction reduces customer loyalty, hurts sales and creates a bad reputation for the brand. To solve these challenges, a new category of software is emerging that can be integrated into applications and websites to help guide people from right within the context of the task they are trying to perform. Constellation Research refers to this category as Digital Adoption Platforms (DAPs) and organizations of all sizes are using this new type of software to coach people toward more successful adoption of applications and websites. This report, which is part of Constellation Research s Future of Work research theme, defines the business need for Digital Adoption Platforms, discusses their benefits and provides example use cases. Business Themes Future of Work Next-Generation Customer Experience 2016 Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 3

4 FOUR USER EXPERIENCE ISSUES THAT IMPEDE SOFTWARE ADOPTION Planning. There are also industry-specific applications for professions like healthcare, finance or law. Each of these applications looks and behaves differently, with user interfaces Software designers and application developers often joke that there is nothing wrong with what they ve built, but the issue is with the people trying to use it! Technology adoption is influenced by a user s experience with the technology. Thus, in order to ensure employees ranging from inboxes to news feeds, forms to spreadsheets, and user experiences that incorporate different colors, tool bars and menus. Overwhelming people with tool after tool can result in confusion over which tool to use and when and how to use it. are as effective as possible and that customers have top notch web experiences, businesses must recognize and address trends that negatively affect user experience. Below are four key factors that can impede a person s experience with technology: Similar problems occur when customers try to engage with brands online. Do you go to a brand s website, one of a dozen different social media services (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, etc.) or perhaps a dedicated customer support forum? If it becomes too complex Yet Another Tool Syndrome to know where to go to get answers or buy products, customers will move on to a different The portfolio of software that employees use brand that offers a better experience. can quickly become overwhelming. In addition to the variety of communication tools such as Inconsistency, the Enemy of Efficiency , chat and social networks, people use a growing number of business applications specific to their roles such as Customer Relationship Management, Marketing Automation, Inventory Control or Resource In addition to having too many tools, people also use a variety of different devices throughout the day. You may start off using a tablet, move to a desktop or laptop computer 2017 Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 4

5 while at work and all the while also be using your smartphone. Each of these devices offers a different experience based on variables like screen size and input methods and if the features are not consistent, customers become unsure what they can do on each device. Learning to use multiple applications, each in a different way on different devices, can generate frustration in customers and have a very negative impact on employee productivity and customer loyalty. Updates That Confuse Most applications have very poor help systems and while some tools provide a What s New page, rarely does a user take the time to read the help content or new content. Similarly, employers find it difficult to train their staff on the steady stream of updates. In the past, organizations would restrict the rollout of new applications or updates, but with the rise of cloud-based applications, updates can occur quite frequently and often without warning. In order to avoid problems, people often just stick to what they know, using the same features and not taking advantage of new things from which they might benefit. In other words, One of the greatest strengths of cloud-based applications is that new versions are available instantly, without the need for any downloads status quo is the greatest barrier to change. Custom Changes or product rollouts. However, the downside is that software companies frequently update applications by adding new features and changing or removing existing features. Organizations rarely have the time or money to train employees on each new release. Similarly, websites are constantly being updated with new content, new navigation and new features, which can confuse and frustrate customers. One of the common attributes of today s cloudbased software applications is how easy it is to customize them. Many tools allow each person to change the layout, colors and navigation, resulting in scenarios where different people experience the same application in different ways. This can cause frustration as groups of people try to work together but don t have a consistent experience Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 5

6 TRENDS CONTRIBUTING TO THE EMERGENCE OF DIGITAL ADOPTION PLATFORMS assistants can improve the way employees and customers engage with the applications they use, guiding them to a better experience and improving adoption of tools and websites. Fortunately, new trends are evolving that can Natural Language Processing help improve the way people interact with business applications and brand websites. Here are some of the trends: The digital assistants mentioned above use Artificial Intelligence (AI) that allows people to ask them questions just as you would ask Personal Digital Assistants a human being. That means a person can submit a query without providing specific In people s personal lives, what do they do when they need help? They ask an expert. That could be a friend, family member, colleague or teacher that has experience that the individual doesn t. It could be a professional coach, guide or mentor that can explain what people need to know. Today, digital versions of these helpers are showing up on devices and applications, offering help at any time. Some examples include Apple Siri, Google Assistant, Microsoft Cortana, and Amazon Alexa. These assistants (as well as several others) enable people to look up information, get answers, schedule tasks, order products and hundreds of other things. At work and in business, these inputs in a specific order - the way traditional computer programs work. For example, to get the weather, a person can simply ask what s it like outside today or how s the weather outside or do I need to take an umbrella today? Each of these questions will result in the assistant providing today s forecast. This style of interaction is called Natural Language Processing (NLP), which is making it far easier for people to interact with applications. Many of these assistants are always on, meaning they are there waiting to help the user, who doesn t have to open a new program in order to get help. As these digital assistants become more advanced, they will evolve from being 2017 Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 6

7 reactive to proactive, providing information and advice without the user having to ask. Mass Personalization DIGITAL ADOPTION PLATFORMS: MODERNIZING LEGACY HELP SYSTEMS Although people are becoming more One of the main characteristics of applications that leverage AI is that they learn and improve the more they are used. One of the ways this cycle of improvement manifests is in personalization. AI can learn a person s preferences and habits, then provide assistance that is specifically tailored to that individual. AI-powered digital assistants will soon know things like seating preference, hotel or airline preference, the most productive time of a worker s day and more. Using this knowledge, digital assistants can reduce comfortable with personal digital assistants in their personal lives, digital assistants have yet to be widely used at work. That is about to change. A new breed of software seeks to provide automated, personalized help to employees and customers within the context of the actions they are trying to perform. This new breed of software is called Digital Adoption Platforms (DAP). Typically, DAPs are integrated into existing web and mobile applications by adding just a few simple lines of JavaScript. the steps necessary to get things done, automate some tasks completely and make recommendations on next steps. DAPs provide personal digital assistants in business. Companies can use a DAP to help new employees learn to use the company intranet, sales representatives to properly enter CRM information (see Figure 1), customers to find the products they are looking for on a brand s website and much more (see Figure 2). DAPs modernize the way people get assistance when using software 2017 Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 7

8 Figure 1. An Example of How a Digital Adoption Platform Can Guide Employees Through the Steps of Entering a CRM Record. Source: Constellation Research Figure 2. An Example of How a Digital Adoption Platform Can Help Customers Find What They Need on a Website. Source: Constellation Research 2017 Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 8

9 by providing popup notifications onscreen, directly within the context of the task people are trying to do. That s instead of requiring them to go to a help file, training video or chat window to get assistance. These pop-up notifications can contain text, images, videos, and in some cases, even have avatars of virtual assistants that can visually guide you through Context Awareness: The problem with legacy help systems is that they were simply a collection of tips and answers, but did not filter content to address specific situations. Effective DAPs provide guidance tailored to the current task, from high-level advice to granular assistance for a specific field or value. the process. Key Characteristics of Digital Adoption Platforms Intelligence: By leveraging artificial intelligence, DAPs learn from errors and roadblocks and offer guidance that improves over time. The following are some of the key traits that DAPs must have in order to provide the optimal help experience: Personalization: The most effective DAPs will make each person feel as catered to as possible. Different people learn in different Seamlessness: Effective DAPs will smoothly provide people the information they need, within the application they are using. For example, if a customer is looking through a product catalog and is having problems ordering an item, DAP-powered help should pop up and easily guide the customer to the next steps. ways. Some people like to be criticized, some like to be coddled. Some people learn by detailed theories, others by highlevel demonstrations and visualizations. Sentiment analysis can be employed to see how people react to the advice, and like a world-class coach, the DAP can learn over time and modify the way it provides assistance Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 9

10 For Administrators: Using Insights to Fix Problems site or ordering products, then designers can update the layout of a page to improve customer engagement. The more data a DAP While it s the end users that ultimately benefit can gather, the more insights it can generate. from the help that DAPs provide, the novel power of these platforms is that they ultimately help businesses identify problems with the design and business processes associated with their websites and business applications. By identifying the main areas where people have problems, businesses can then fix the issues to create better user experiences that reduce frustration, improve support and result in more effective employees and happier customers. Collecting data and creating dashboards represent just the beginning of the benefits generated by DAPs. Effective DAPs do more than just display analytics. They bring out insights that recommend actions administrators can take to reduce future user experience problems. Effective DAPs will also make recommendations by leveraging artificial intelligence to find patterns and trends, thereby reducing an organization s By collecting data on user behavior in both web and mobile applications, administrators of DAPs are able identify the main sources of problems in their business applications and websites. For example, if salespeople frequently have problems filling in the opportunity score on customer records, then the DAP can be configured to provide assistance specifically in that field, offering examples and recommendations on how to proceed. Similarly, if visitors to a website are getting stuck when navigating around the dependency on data scientists. For example, imagine a business has a website, with each webpage representing a different product. Page One has been accessed 1,000 times and five percent of the time, people have problems finding what they need. Page Two has been accessed 100 times and 20 percent of the time, people have problems. Which of these pages should the business first focus on fixing? The one accessed more often or the one with a higher error rate but less usage? An effective DAP should be able to analyze historical data 2017 Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 10

11 and help predict the outcome of fixing each page using not only the company s own data, but anonymized data from similar companies, industries and geographies. CATEGORIZING THE MATURITY OF DIGITAL ADOPTION PLATFORMS 1. Static: This type of DAP allows administrators to create various paths for assistance that are only triggered when specific events or errors occur - for example, the first time the user visits a website or when a new version of software is deployed. These DAPs present people with a series of steps they can take, like a tour of new features or the steps of a workflow. They DAPs have different levels of sophistication and maturity. Constellation Research uses the following tri-level framework to rate the are the same for every person, regardless of job role, skill level, or preference in coaching style. maturity of DAPs (see Figure 3): Figure 3. Digital Adoption Platform Maturity Model Source: Constellation Research 2017 Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 11

12 2. Dynamic: Instead of waiting for specific events, these tools proactively present people with assistance. For example, if customers are looking at products on a website, the system can offer to help guide them through the purchasing process. examples from an existing customer the sales representative frequently engages with. GETTING STARTED: FOCUS ON CORE USE CASES Assistance can be tailored to select audiences based on factors such as an employee s job role, a customer s lead score, the geography a person is in and the type of device the person is using. These assistants Organizations can gain wide-reaching benefits by using DAPs. They help organizations optimize experiences for both their employees as well as their prospects and customers. provide assistance that can contain customized messages, styles and tones Empowering Employee Experiences appropriately suited to a group s needs. Organizations can dramatically improve the 3. Algorithmic: Using artificial intelligence to find patterns and trends in data, these DAPs create personalized assistance that caters to the needs of each individual user. The messages displayed take into account the person s history with the application or website and can provide a personalized experience, closely emulating a human to efficiency, effectiveness and productivity of their employees by reducing the friction they have with the tools they use to get their jobs done. DAPs can speed up education and training on business processes and application features, improve the accuracy and consistency of data in systems of record and reduce internal help desk call volume. human interaction. For example, algorithmic DAPs can guide a salesperson through the creation of a new customer record by using 2017 Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 12

13 Here are four department-specific examples: development teams can get real-world insights into how their applications and Human Resources: When new employees join, often they are unfamiliar with the tools and processes they need to get their jobs done. DAPs provide in-context guidance that helps reduce onboarding and training time (and costs), enabling new hires to be websites are being used. By discovering where the hurdles and bottlenecks are, they can focus on the areas that need to be improved in the next version, reducing development type and increasing user satisfaction. more productive. It s important to note that DAPs are not Sales: Entering information into a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system can be complex, time consuming and inconsistent. DAPs can guide salespeople through the necessary steps and provide tips that help ensure consistency in the way data is entered and reduce the length of the sales cycle. limited to providing assistance just within the silo of one specific use case at a time. One of the most powerful use cases is actually in providing cross-functional or cross-application support. For example, a DAP could reduce the challenges salespeople face when transferring data between CRM, financial and supply chain software as they win a new account. Marketing: DAPs can help marketing Enhancing Customer Engagement professionals understand their organizations processes in areas such as campaign generation, lead scoring, and audience segmentation. Improving how your organization interacts with prospects and clients can have a dramatic impact on brand reputation, customer satisfaction and ultimately revenue. Engineering: By studying the data DAPs collect on user behavior, product design/ Here are some ways DAPs can help in engaging customers: 2017 Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 13

14 Company website(s): If prospects or customers cannot easily find the information they are looking for on a website, they will leave and go to a similar but simpler site. DAPs can help people navigate a website, leading to a better customer experience. experience. Similarly, on the external side of business, customers expect simple hasslefree experiences in finding the information, products and services they want. If they find a website complex or frustrating, they will immediately go elsewhere. Digital Adoption Platforms use compelling visual coaching to E-commerce: DAPs can help reduce the errors that occur filling out forms when making product purchases. Improving the guide people past problem spots, ensuring consistent and engaging customer and employee experiences. successful completion rate leads to the sale of more products. As DAPs mature, they will make more use of artificial intelligence to find patterns and Support: When customers and prospects can be guided through how-to instructions and FAQs, it decreases the need to contact customer support, thus reducing call center costs, improving customer satisfaction and boosting brand loyalty. CONCLUSION DAPs represent a nascent market and the timing of their emergence could not be better. make recommendations, gauge sentiment to create personalized coaching and more proactively eliminate problems before they happen. As DAPs mature, they will incorporate more video, augmented and virtual reality and one day even holograms as they strive to provide engaging and personalized coaching experiences. As new devices such as wearables become more mainstream, DAPs will expand to provide support across an ever-growing portfolio of applications, websites and devices. In the hyper-competitive battle for talent, companies need to do everything they can to ensure employees have the optimal work DAPs quickly provide return on investment as they reduce support costs, enhance employees 2017 Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 14

15 consistency, productivity and accuracy, and improve customer satisfaction. Constellation Research recommends that organizations begin with one or two use cases for both employees and customers, then expand from there Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 15

16 ANALYST BIO Alan Lepofsky Vice President and Principal Analyst With almost two decades of experience in the collaboration software industry, Lepofsky helps organizations improve the way their employees work together to get their jobs done more effectively. His primary research area, The Future of Work, includes: Integrating collaboration and business processes, or Purposeful Collaboration Structuring work with Social Task Management Leveraging analytics and digital assistants to work more productively The strategic impact of mobile computing on business transformation Measuring workforce culture based on Digital Proficiency instead of age Since 1993, he has been designing, marketing and helping customers deploy software solutions that enable people to connect with their peers and openly share information. Prior to joining Constellation, Lepofsky spent three years as Director of Marketing at Socialtext and, before that, 14 years in a variety of roles at IBM/Lotus. He is an active blogger and speaker in the Social Business and Future of Work communities, where he shares his thoughts on the business benefits of open communication and collaboration. He graduated from the University of Toronto with a B.A.Sc. in Engineering. His major was Mechanical Engineering with a minor in Business and ca.linkedin.com/in/alanlepo 2017 Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 16

17 ABOUT CONSTELLATION RESEARCH Constellation Research is an award-winning, Silicon Valley-based research and advisory firm that helps organizations navigate the challenges of digital disruption through business models transformation and the judicious application of disruptive technologies. Unlike the legacy analyst firms, Constellation Research is disrupting how research is accessed, what topics are covered and how clients can partner with a research firm to achieve success. Over 350 clients have joined from an ecosystem of buyers, partners, solution providers, C-suite, boards of directors and vendor clients. Our mission is to identify, validate and share insights with our clients. Organizational Highlights Named Institute of Industry Analyst Relations (IIAR) New Analyst Firm of the Year in 2011 and #1 Independent Analyst Firm for 2014 and Experienced research team with an average of 25 years of practitioner, management and industry experience. Organizers of the Constellation Connected Enterprise an innovation summit and best practices knowledge-sharing retreat for business leaders. Founders of Constellation Executive Network, a membership organization for digital leaders seeking to learn from market leaders and fast followers. info@constellationr.com sales@constellationr.com Unauthorized reproduction or distribution in whole or in part in any form, including photocopying, faxing, image scanning, ing, digitization, or making available for electronic downloading is prohibited without written permission from Constellation Research, Inc. Prior to photocopying, scanning, and digitizing items for internal or personal use, please contact Constellation Research, Inc. All trade names, trademarks, or registered trademarks are trade names, trademarks, or registered trademarks of their respective owners. Information contained in this publication has been compiled from sources believed to be reliable, but the accuracy of this information is not guaranteed. Constellation Research, Inc. disclaims all warranties and conditions with regard to the content, express or implied, including warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose, nor assumes any legal liability for the accuracy, completeness, or usefulness of any information contained herein. Any reference to a commercial product, process, or service does not imply or constitute an endorsement of the same by Constellation Research, Inc. This publication is designed to provide accurate and authoritative information in regard to the subject matter covered. It is sold or distributed with the understanding that Constellation Research, Inc. is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting, or other professional service. If legal advice or other expert assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. Constellation Research, Inc. assumes no liability for how this information is used or applied nor makes any express warranties on outcomes. (Modified from the Declaration of Principles jointly adopted by the American Bar Association and a Committee of Publishers and Associations.) Your trust is important to us, and as such, we believe in being open and transparent about our financial relationships. With our clients permission, we publish their names on our website. San Francisco Belfast Boston Colorado Springs Cupertino Denver London New York Northern Virginia Palo Alto Pune Sacramento Santa Monica Sydney Toronto Washington, D.C 2017 Constellation Research, Inc. All rights reserved. 17