The siloed DAP trap
Your organization has invested in digital adoption platforms. Sales built one for Salesforce. Sales built automations for Salesforce. HR set up onboarding for SuccessFactors. IT deployed guidance for ServiceNow. Each project worked on its own. Together, they didn’t move the needle.
The problem:?
Forrester found that siloed deployments of DAPs limit their effectiveness. Many are restricted to a single application or department and focus only on basic adoption needs.
The shift:
Functional CoEs remove these barriers. They connect people, process, and technology so teams can reuse what works, manage budgets more efficiently, and demonstrate enterprise-wide impact.
To realize the full value and impact of DAPs, technology leaders should invest in a Center of Enablement: a lean team of experts that defines use cases, manages technology, and builds best-practice frameworks to prioritize and measure enterprise-wide DAP initiatives.
— Forrester
Scale Your DAP Initiatives With a Functional Center of Enablement, Vasupradha Srinivasan, 2024
Forrester research provided with permission. © 2025 Forrester, Inc. and/or its affiliates. Forrester is a registered trademark of Forrester, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
41% of organizations remain at the earliest stage of digital adoption maturity.
71% of leaders struggle with coordination and executive buy-in, even when strategies are clearly defined.
How a functional CoE changes the game
Forrester identifies the biggest challenges that keep digital adoption programs from scaling — and how a functional CoE turns them into enterprise strengths.
Share knowledge and use it everywhere
Capture best practices once and create shared resources that turn tribal knowledge into enterprise standards.
Use people and budgets wisely
Define roles clearly, share resources where possible, and make budgets visible so leaders can manage spend with confidence.
Align business and IT on outcomes that matter
Connect, track, and measure every DAP initiative to enterprise goals that both business and IT leaders value.
What you’ll learn
This research gives leaders a clear path to building a DAP CoE that delivers measurable results.
- How functional CoEs save time and resources while increasing impact
- The four-part framework for process, governance, measurement, and technology
- What to avoid: heavy hierarchies, overstaffing, and cost-only thinking
- The five considerations to build a foundation for success
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