“Technology alone doesn’t create value. People using it differently do.” Even after a successful implementation, every day that employees continue to use old processes, find ways to work around new tools or fail to change decision-making behaviors, the organization loses a portion of the return it expected from its technology investment, argued Eagle Hill researchers. “When organizations fail to change workflows, decision-making processes and employee behaviors, they leave significant value on the table and risk undermining the return on major technology investments,” Jezior continued. And the value leakage tends to start immediately, said Eagle Hill researchers. Successful organizations, on the other hand, focus not only on deploying technology but also on redesigning workflows, reinforcing behavioral changes and measuring whether employees are working differently to achieve desired business outcomes. “Many organizations treat technology change management as a training and communications exercise,” Jezior said. “The organizations that realize the greatest return on technology investments take a different approach. They start by understanding how work must change, align technology to those workflows and measure whether new behaviors are actually taking hold. That’s what drives business value.” Indeed, the missing discipline is not more communications or training. Rather, organizations should take a technology adoption approach that creates visibility into how workflows, decisions, management routines and behaviors must change to realize value. That should be complemented with a measurement system that triggers intervention when those changes fail to take hold. Value leaks when change management fails to operationalize changed work, warned the consultancy. It’s a complete shift in mindset around implementation success, said Eagle Hill researchers, from: “Did we deploy the technology?” to: “Are people working differently in ways that create value?” Organizations that consistently realize value from technology adoption start with work, not technology, said the research firm. Value is created when technology supports improvements in how the work happens. “Successful organizations reframe strong technology adoption from simple usage numbers to whether people work differently to produce positive outcomes,” continued the study. Organizations that generate strong technology ROI also tend to treat technology adoption as an entire management system and not as a one-time rollout activity. They embed the behaviors that lead to true adoption into leadership routines, governance, execution, training, communications and measurement, Eagle Hill researchers concluded. And these considerations should be made concurrently with business case definition, technology selection, design and implementation. o Reasons Technology Investments Fail to Generate Hoped-for Returns Human side 01 Organizations assume an "if you build it, they will come" mentality. 02 Leadership never connects for employees how day-to-day work will play out. Workers have no clarity on what each role must do differently, how workflows should operate, or how decisions should be made. 03 Organizations under-plan for the work changes required to realize value, then rely on after-the-fact nuts-and-bolts tech training that just doesn't cut it. Organizational systems side 01 Organizations assume a strong technology business case guarantees ROI. 02 The connection between technology, behavior, and outcomes is never made explicit. 03 Business objectives are not translated into functional performance targets with role-specific expectations and measurable behaviors. Usage becomes activity, not value creation. Source: Eagle Hill Consulting The shift from implementation to adoption for better benefits realization 1. Start with work, not technology. For the successful, the work comes first. Work drives the technology, and value is created through improved workflows, decisions and roles. Technology always supports improvements in how the work happens. 2. Measure changed behavior, not just usage. Successful organizations reframe strong technology adoption from simple usage numbers to whether people work differently to produce positive outcomes. 3. Manage adoption as an operating system. Organizations that generate strong technology ROI treat technology adoption as an entire management system, and not as a one-time rollout activity. They embed the behaviors that lead to true adoption into leadership routines, governance, execution, training, communications and measurement. And they do all this concurrently with the technology selection, design and implementation. Source: Eagle Hill Consulting 41 FALL 2026 | CHANNELVISION
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NTg4Njc=