Meet six winners of the first-ever Top 100 Digital Adoption (DAP) Professionals list, DAPP100
Learn what this recognition means to them and get their advice for aspiring DAP Professionals
The Digital Adoption (DAP) Professional career path is exploding in popularity, and the first annual Top 100 Digital Adoption Professional (DAPP100) 2022 list recognizes and celebrates the individuals leading the industry, transforming user experiences, and driving business outcomes. Entirely crowdsourced, the winners represent DAP Professionals from across the world, spanning numerous industries, company sizes, and use cases.
What’s a DAP Professional?
DAP Professionals enable the adoption of new technologies and features so that people can fully use the technologies at their fingertips. Along with the right digital adoption platforms (DAPs), they maximize the value of digital transformation investments while elevating the end user experience.
These individuals have a direct impact on the success of both these critical digital projects and their company’s bottom line. There is even a holiday in their honor, International Digital Adoption (DAP) Professionals Day, celebrated annually on the last Thursday of July.
We invited select winners to share more about their experiences as a DAP Professional, their advice for individuals who want to make the DAPP100 list next year, and more. Read on for their responses and check out the full list of this year’s top DAP Professionals.
Q: What does making the list mean to you?
“I am honored to be recognized as a top DAP Professional. I love what I do and I’m constantly excited with what we’re able to accomplish with WalkMe. To be recognized for something I enjoy and love means a lot to me and it’s something I’m very proud of.”
– Robert Holland, Digital Adoption Team Lead at CrossCountry Mortgage, LLC
“I feel really proud of this award. Creating automation solutions is a really important part of my job, and using WalkMe is part of my automation toolkit. I worked to bring WalkMe in as a tool for automation a couple of years ago and now lead on the creation of new DAP solutions in Network Operations Transformation.” – Lilly Dobbs, Transformation Specialist at BT Group
“This award puts me in a really good place in the community and opens the door for me to take the next steps towards making more connections, guiding more people, and becoming one of the torchbearers in the DAP community in future.” – Diptonil Majumdar, Digital Adoption Consultant at Deloitte Consulting LLP
“Being in the DAP Professional Top 100 is such an honor and proves that hard work and drive reaps rewards and benefits. It gives me even more motivation to keep pushing and building my DAP skills and abilities.” – Sarah Schleusner, Training Operations Lead at Rosnet
Q: Do you think a particular accomplishment influenced you winning a spot on the list?
“Implementing WalkMe in a record time to be ready to support SFDC commercial launch.” – Carla Gonzalez Suarez, AVP Digital Transformation at AT&T
“Whilst we certainly had some builds that touched a lot of users – such as journeys that supported COVID-19 vaccination recording across the organization – I think it’s less about the large builds, and more likely that there are lots of smaller improvements that made a difference to individuals and prompted them to vote. Often, something as simple as a SmartTip at the point of use results in less support requests and frees up employees to work on higher value activity.”
– Shaun Kenny, Operational Excellence Lead at Origin Energy
Robert: “I don’t believe there was any one accomplishment that influenced being recognized as a Top DAP Professional, but rather the whole body of our work at my company. I am always excited to find new and inventive ways to use WalkMe; WalkMe provides you with the tools to accomplish the obvious, but there is so much more to it. If you think outside of the box a little, you’ll be surprised with what you can accomplish.”
Lily: “Building the business case to quantify the benefits of a DAP to deliver transformation and automation – and then leading and helping others to create the solutions to deliver these benefits.”
Sarah: “I think the biggest reason I received a winning spot is because in less than a year, I single-handedly went through the WalkMe implementation – while learning our Rosnet system – and was able to create a substantial amount of material for our clients.”
Q: When you decided to become a DAP Professional, what was your background and why did you decide to become one?
If you’re reading this and thinking about transitioning your career, DAP Professionals come from extremely diverse backgrounds, as the answers below demonstrate.
Carla: “My background is in system integration and I became a DAP Professional because of the need for help in the digital transformation journey.”
Sarah: “I wore many different hats in the corporate world. I worked my way up to an Assistant Branch Manager on the Enterprise Rent-A-Car ladder. I was a Client Financial Specialist & Learning Consultant at Cerner (now Oracle) before moving over to R1 RCM as a Training Coordinator.
Once I transitioned into the training space, I knew I was exactly where I was meant to be. I became a DAP Professional because I am truly passionate about employee education and development and have seen the benefits of using digitally geared training firsthand. To be able to create WalkMe content that gives our clients the real-time help they need right within our site is very fulfilling and gratifying.”
Diptonil: “I come from a UX/Front End development background and worked as a UX Developer with the Learning & Development team of an organization. That’s where I started building courses using WalkMe. Gradually my interest towards product adoption and user experience grew stronger. I started enjoying the solution engineering work for digital adoption projects and that enjoyment continues.”
Lily: “I worked across operations, network, and software engineering before becoming a Transformation Specialist leading automation. I’m always looking at ways to automate, simplify and improve processes to get things done quicker and more easily – using DAPs is one of these ways.”
Shaun: “My background is in continuous improvement methodologies like Lean and Six Sigma. Being a DAP Professional compliments this, as WalkMe Analytics makes it easier to both identify friction points in existing processes as well as validate that the DAP changes we make are working and adding value.
Shaun: “My background is in continuous improvement methodologies like Lean and Six Sigma. Being a DAP Professional compliments this, as WalkMe Analytics makes it easier to both identify friction points in existing processes as well as validate that the DAP changes we make are working and adding value. I find that being able to build DAP solutions myself shortens the time to realise value, which allows me to move on to the next opportunity. It’s also immensely satisfying to take an unsolvable, time-sensitive problem and provide a solution in an hour or two.”
Robert: “My background consists of banking, customer service, graphic design and IT security. I ended up enlisting in a C# programming bootcamp in 2019 and that opened the door to my future in technology. I didn’t actually choose to become a DAP Professional. I knew I wanted to be involved with new technologies and jumpstarted that path through a programming bootcamp. I was lucky to be approached by a company that had newly implemented WalkMe and I am now part of an amazing company and team that is fully invested in our WalkMe program.”
Q: What’s your advice for DAP Pros who want to make the list next year?
Sarah: “I have always embraced utilizing all the resources available to make sure I can be as successful as possible. Request help or assistance, ask the questions, schedule those meetings with the Customer Success Team, SMEs, whoever is going to help you create the best material and get you across the finish line.”
Diptonil: “Stay updated with the knowledge about the DAP platform and stay connected with communities like WalkMe World.”
Lily: “My main piece of advice is to keep learning – I am really passionate about personal development, and I love learning new things and expanding my knowledge and skillset. I would never have found my passion for automation without this.”
Robert: “You have to love what you do. WalkMe provides you with the tools to accomplish so much. Find out how you can use those tools to best meet the needs of your organization and become passionate about the projects you work on. If you’re ever unsure about anything, WalkMe provides you with a wealth of knowledge via WalkMe World Community, the WalkMe employees assigned to your account, and the always available customer support.”
Carla: “Choose the right project and time, that is key to build credibility and reach success.”
Shaun: “Focus on the user journey and for every step keep asking yourself “is there a better way?” Also, keep an eye out for change (new processes, features, services) as well as those processes that run infrequently (like annual campaigns), as these are great opportunities to add value using WalkMe.”
Want to learn more about becoming a DAP Professional?
While no formal degree or certification is required to be a DAP Professional, the Digital Adoption Institute is designed to develop and grow the skills required for a successful career. Whether you’re just getting started, want to brush up on existing skills, or tackle a new initiative, the Digital Adoption Institute has you covered with constantly evolving educational coursework designed to keep you ahead of the curve.
Learn more about development opportunities with the Digital Adoption Institute, including The WalkMe Digital Adoption Fellowship, which is a paid fellowship for diverse individuals from underrepresented communities.
Already a DAP Professional and hope to make the top 100 list next year? Follow the above advice from these six pros and those in the WalkMe Community – and we hope to see you on next year’s list!
Finally, a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone who nominated, voted, and made the first-ever DAPP100. You continue to inspire us every day here at WalkMe!