14 November 2025
Anyone who has ever worked through a failed new-technology rollout knows that even the most polished, exciting tech stack additions can quickly turn into disasters if employees don’t adopt the new technology. New technology requires careful planning, with employees set as the prime concern of the new project.
Avoiding adverse outcomes like these comes down to your ability to plan and execute a successful organisational change. In this blog, UASA encourages the following technology adoption strategies to help ensure the successful implementation of a new technology product for employees in the workplace.
Choose tech tools carefully
Ensuring employee adoption doesn’t begin with training programs after you have rolled out a new solution. The success or failure of a new program rollout starts with the technology you have chosen and the reasons you chose it. When you are shopping around for a new technology – be it a customer relationship management program or software to better manage employee timesheets – bear your team’s interests in mind. Functionality is critical, but so is user-friendliness. Technologies that require multi-day training programs and hefty user manuals are a recipe for disaster for employee setbacks and stalled adoption.
Identify all involved employees
The only real way to know who needs to be involved in a new technology adoption plan is to engage with your team. Don’t assume – especially if you are not a day-to-day user of the tool. Ask every department and thoroughly document the specific ways they use the tool you are thinking about replacing before making any final decisions.
Once you have decided upon a new piece of technology, use the information you have gathered about organisational benefits, pain points and involved stakeholders to create a rollout plan. The scope of your plan will vary based on the type of technology you have selected.
Ultimately, the goal of your rollout plan should be to have a general roadmap for the who, what, where, why and how of the new technology application. Keep it flexible and listen to your team’s feedback. Don’t be afraid to alter course based on what your team tells you they need.
Make training fun
Think back to the last time you got a new piece of technology you were genuinely excited to use – maybe your latest smartphone, tablet, computer or TV purchase. While you may not be able to get your employees as excited about a new tech tool as they had been about a new personal gadget, that’s the feeling you want to inspire. There are several things you can do to make this happen:
- Use fun training formats—host a lunch-and-learn rather than a mid-afternoon PowerPoint review.
- Offer incentives – Show employees that you value their efforts to learn your new tech tool by rewarding them with small gift cards or other perks. When departments hit adoption milestones, recognize their efforts publicly with a company-wide memo or other award.
Follow-up appropriately
Finally, recognise that a rollout is never really “done” – even after your employees have fully switched to your new technology.
A final step in the successful introduction of new technology into an organisation is to evaluate its performance once installed. There may be actual problems with the way the technology works or there may be perceived issues for some users. An evaluation identifies both types of problems.
In any case, remain open to employee feedback and prove that you are willing to act on their suggestions. Employees who feel that their concerns are heard and respected will ultimately be happier and more engaged with the rollout than those who think they aren’t valued throughout the adoption process.
Ref: www.interactsoftware.com www.uasa.org.za