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8 KPIs for Tracking Tool Adoption

The world of freight is changing at a remarkable pace. Expectations are shifting — and companies that leverage technology to offer more visibility and transparency, faster data availability, and better customer care communication are reaping the bounty of their forward-looking investments.

Many carriers are adopting new technology to keep up with the competition and provide better services for their customers. However, growing pains associated with bringing new technology on board tend to be a challenge for some businesses, even with strategies to help adoption rates in place.

Common roadblocks to a successful rollout include:

  • Skill gaps
  • Lack of enthusiasm among stakeholders
  • Resistance to new workflows
  • Lack of specialized talent to manage onboarding and training

So, as your organization implements a new tool — an application, algorithm, platform, integration, or something else — how do you measure how well it’s been incorporated into your team’s processes?

What does the successful rollout of new technology look like?

Before a rollout even begins, you must know your idea of "success."  When you have set goals and objectives, as well as specific deadlines for achieving them, you’ll be able to select the right KPIs to track to identify areas of improvement.

Progress can be monitored using a rollout plan that includes training, check-ins, and details on management and individual employee buy-in.

You’ll also need to decide who will be in charge of the rollout (or, if you’re working with an implementation partner, who will be the primary point of contact between the two organizations). This will often be an operations or IT leader, but could be someone in another role, depending on the purpose of the technology in question.

Ample communication is necessary throughout the rollout period to ensure that the technology and any related new processes meet your team's needs. The earlier you can identify potential red flags, the easier it is to make adjustments.

A successful step-by-step rollout ultimately looks like this:

  1. Creating a new vision
  2. Getting people to champion the new product
  3. Onboarding and training
  4. Documenting where bottlenecks are occurring and finding solutions
  5. Establishing and documenting success criteria
  6. Establishing a plan to achieve the criteria
  7. Acknowledging wins throughout the adoption process

What KPIs should you use to track tool adoption?

Here are eight KPIs to monitor throughout the rollout process and beyond to measure success and identify potential issues.

Product adoption rate: Out of everyone who has access to the new technology, how many of your team members are using it? The product adoption rate is one of the most important KPIs for assessing how well your rollout is progressing.

Feature adoption rate: This is similar to the product adoption rate but is more granular and looks at the individual features your team members are using. With that knowledge, you can determine if your team isn’t using a feature due to lack of training, awareness, or interest — so you can find solutions to blockers.

Time to first action: This measures the time it takes for a team member to engage with a specific feature of the new technology post-onboarding. The metric is commonly seen as a reflection of the training process, especially if it takes them a long time after onboarding to use a feature.

Time to first action can help you determine which features are seen as immediately beneficial and which may need more support in onboarding to improve use rates in the future.

Onboarding completion rate: When you have a large team, especially a global one, scheduling onboarding sessions can become complicated. The onboarding completion rate is a way to document and track how many trainees have completed the process and identify bottlenecks that may present an issue for future tech rollouts.

This also can be coupled with the support tickets that come in to see how you can improve onboarding to address frequently asked questions before they become an issue.

Usage frequency: Usage frequency offers visibility into how often people engage with the new technology and how they view its use. For example, is it only used in dire situations when it should be used frequently throughout the day?

Usage frequency is a valuable trendline that can track how often a tool is used over a set period. Is a user logging into the platform more frequently than they did initially? Why might that have improved? This number can also show you who may be struggling to engage, which can allow for intervention and support.

Gamification engagement rate: With gamification, you can reward success and encourage friendly competition, motivating team members to use the new tech more often (and improve their skills in the process). A high gamification engagement rate can be a good sign of adoption rates, as it adds a layer of fun to the product's functionality.

Error rate: Look at how often mistakes are popping up. Are the same ones happening frequently? It may be time to revisit training or provide extra assistance to those who struggle with specific features.

Support frequency: How often is your team reaching out for support? This should reduce gradually over time, but if it remains consistently high, it may be time to review the onboarding process, implement additional training, or modify the technology.

Conclusion

Implementing new technology is not a “set it and forget it” process; it takes time and fine-tuning to achieve ROI for your investment. Use these KPIs to identify opportunities to deliver additional support where needed and get your desired adoption rates.

A new tool, application, or platform should make your team's lives easier (and yours). If you're coming up against blockers, ensure you have the proper support to help make the new technology work for everyone.

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