How Micro Digital Transformations Can Cause Macro Disruption

WalkMe Team
By WalkMe Team
Updated May 2, 2023

What comes to mind when you see the words “digital transformation”?

Many people think of one big overhaul — a complete redesign of the business model, an entirely new approach to the customer experience, or a sweeping reorganization to make room for advanced automated technology.

But for the vast majority of businesses, digital transformation is not one colossal, enterprise-wide initiative. It’s dozens of “micro digital transformations” occurring throughout the organization, often at the same time.

Failing to account for the sum effect of these micro digital transformations is why digital change can feel so chaotic — and why so many transformation efforts fail.

As organizations race forward in pursuit of digital maturity, the need for a refined approach to digital change is essential, both on the micro and macro level. Without it, true digital adoption will always be out of reach.

Dive Deeper: Digital Transformation 2.0 — What’s Holding You Back?

Micro digital transformation is everywhere

Micro digital transformations are a near-constant occurrence in the digital age. These initiatives may be smaller in digital adoptionscale, but their combined impact on employees is profound.

Imagine your marketing team is undergoing a transition to a new BI software, a version upgrade in the CRM, a new platform for analyzing content trends online, another for tracking reader journeys, and yet another for assessing the quality of leads.

Each of these systems promises to provide top-notch insights and productivity-boosting benefits. But each requires a high degree of customization and onboarding to fully maximize its capabilities.

Taken together, all of these micro changes wage massive power of disruption.

Rocky implementations, poor onboarding, and inadequate employee training can make one micro transformation a headache. Multiply this by five or a dozen, and it becomes easy to understand why overwhelm and resistance to change are so rampant.

The sum of your micro digital transformations is unchecked overwhelm

If you zoom out and look at how many micro digital transformations are taking place in each department, you can calculate how many changes are taking place across the whole organization.

With more change comes greater micro- and macro-level effects.

At the micro level, the main consequence is employee overwhelm. The average employee uses 9.39 apps on a routine basis. The task of navigating unfamiliar software interfaces and gaining proficiency is a challenge, especially without adequate digital learning tools. Meanwhile, employees are still responsible for maintaining high levels of productivity in their daily role.

Organizational overwhelm is combined effect at the macro level.

Large firms across all industries have increased the number of software apps by 68% over the last four years, averaging out to 129 apps per company as of the end of 2018, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Other studies have identified even higher figures.

Each micro digital transformation is a step forward in the race to digital maturity. But without an infrastructure to support employees’ needs, minimize disruption, and achieve digital adoption, each micro change will contribute to frustration and overwhelm, not progress.

Constant change demands continuous support

On some level, we’re all used to being in a state of constant digital evolution. Digital transformation is occurring micro digital transformationeverywhere, both at work and in our personal lives.

We buy the latest smartphones, upgrade our personal computers, and seek new gadgets that can give us greater digital capabilities. But that doesn’t make the learning curve for enterprise software any shorter.

Without adequate onboarding, training, and support, effectively managing micro digital transformations will continue to challenge your organization.

Unless you have a scalable digital adoption strategy, it will be impossible to mitigate the effects of employee and organizational overwhelm.

Instantly simplify digital change with WalkMe. Request a demo.

Many transformations, one solution

Even if they seem small in the scope of things, micro digital transformations demand just as much support as larger change initiatives.

The good news is you only need one solution to achieve digital adoption across the board.

Digital learning tools that enable “learning in the flow of work” and provide real-time guidance make micro digital transformations exponentially easier.

With contextual learning solutions, employees with zero prior experience can complete tasks easily and access support instantly. The need for lengthy onboarding and training is eliminated, while users gain competency faster than ever.

Digital transformation may consist of more moving parts than you realized, but achieving digital adoption doesn’t need to be a chaotic feat. With one comprehensive solution, you can alleviate the overwhelm and push forward in the race of digital supremacy.

WalkMe’s Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) transforms the user experience in today’s overwhelming digital world. Using artificial intelligence, engagement, guidance, and automation, WalkMe’s transparent overlay assists users to complete tasks easily within any enterprise software, mobile application or website. Discover how a DAP can revolutionize your business.

WalkMe Team
By WalkMe Team
WalkMe pioneered the Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) for organizations to utilize the full potential of their digital assets. Using artificial intelligence, machine learning and contextual guidance, WalkMe adds a dynamic user interface layer to raise the digital literacy of all users.