Understanding the Shift in Evaluating Technology Investments

By Jared Haleck, Chief Product Officer, Kantata

In the past, most technology investment decisions made by professional services organizations came down to direct financial benefits, with companies looking at the most direct return on investment possible from the software solutions they considered purchasing. However, this one-to-one financial evaluation largely discounted or excluded nonfinancial gains, such as improved employee experience, labor retention, and low-engagement costs.

As businesses in the professional services industry face increasing economic tightening and labor volatility, it is more important than ever to make tech decisions more holistically and strategically. During a recent LinkedIn Live session, “The Shift in Evaluating the Right Technology Investments,” that was hosted by my colleagues Brent Trimble, Kantata’s Managing Director of Marketing Service and Agency Practice, and Banoo Behboodi, Kantata’s VP of Advisory Services, I was asked about these technology trends and how businesses can optimize employee experience and maximize productivity.

The following is just one of several topics we covered in the LinkedInLive session – click here to watch the entire session recording.

How Should You Evaluate Your Professional Services Technology?

During our LinkedIn Live, Banoo asked what key steps professional services leaders should take to build a successful business case for technology investment that stands up to the extra level of scrutiny many investments are currently facing.

As an experienced technology leader, I’ve spent a lot of time with buyers as they consider new technology investments. I’ve seen the technology landscape shift, as buyers move toward a more balanced approach that evaluates ROI-based decisions alongside the imperative to drive success at the individual user experience level.

In my experience, companies could previously get team members to adopt software solutions through company mandate, but that has changed. I’ve dug into generational dynamics amongst Millennial and Gen Z workers and their expectations and, as one emblematic data point that speaks to where work is heading, nearly half of Millennials have said they would quit over sub-standard technology in the workplace. This is a generational change that represents the rise of different generations who have had different technology experiences growing up than the experiences shared by the generations that are often in charge of companies.

Evaluating return on investment (ROI) of technology investments will always be critical in purchasing decisions, but the practical element of a strong ROI from a technology investment is 100% dependent on your users not rejecting your new solution. If team members don’t use your new software, the ROI will simply not materialize.

Find Success in Evaluation and Adoption

Change is hard. Anyone who is telling you it is not is not telling the truth. There are certain key actions that every business should do to improve their evaluation and eventual adoption processes.

1. Build Trust With Users

Before adopting new software, a business should know the problem they’re trying to solve and make sure the proposed solution can actually provide the answer. You should also make sure your users can trust the solution. Humans have a natural resistance to blind trust, so people need to understand why a solution is being presented to them and how it will directly benefit them – if they don’t, businesses will face a large barrier to adoption.

Managers in charge of software adoption should involve employees. Consider the challenges they are facing and how a new technology solution will help them, not just how it will benefit leadership. Take an employee point of view in the buying process by taking 10 people out of the user population that will best represent your employees. Their perspectives will help you better understand the positives and negatives of what the potential new technology will do for your business.

Managers should set up a framework for the adoption process and the metrics you want to measure. This should include a behavioral metric, attitudinal metric, and a value metric.

• Behavioral Metric: What are your key adoption metrics?
• Attitudinal Metric: Provide simple surveys to user populations. Ask them “if we took this technology away from you, how would you feel?” You will want at least 40% to say they’d be extremely disappointed if you took this tech away.
• Value Metric: What is the monetary value of the software solution, such as improved utilization, less time wasted, and improved project timelines?

Having these measurements in place will help you track the overall value of the software solution you are adopting.

2. Understand Current Maturity and Highest Potential Value

Managers should be realistic about how much you can do at one time. Consider a phased approach to technology adoption instead of trying to implement everything at once. As you pilot new technology, ask your users, “What would you give up or lose if you don’t move forward with a tech investment?”

Keep in mind that most organizations are often in the early stages of their maturity journey, starting at the low end of the maturity curve. Companies should build a maturity model that measures their organization’s current capabilities against capabilities needed at peak maturity. Then, using this maturity model and understanding key gaps, determine what will get you to value your business needs for the cost of software adoption, and focus your adoption efforts on unlocking the most value. Once you reach your value point, you can move on to the next gap.

3. Focus on Vertical and Purpose-Built Solutions

To maintain the competitive edge in your market, start evaluating purpose-built vertical solutions because your competition already is. Organizations need to think about how to meet the needs of the people who are using the solution on a daily basis. A vertical or purpose-built solution matches the needs of today’s professional services organizations most closely. When done right, a 375-person organization using a purpose-built solution over 5 years can achieve an ROI of $32 million net profit on a ~$1M investment.

Build Success on Technology You Can Depend On

In a time of economic uncertainty, the right technology can provide the support your business needs to excel and make the most of your current teams. Watch “The Shift in Evaluating the Right Technology Investments” session now to learn more about what technology is right for your professional services needs and watch the entire four-part LinkedIn Live series from Kantata right now.