As companies invest in more software solutions, they often struggle to realize the value and productivity of those applications. When you have thousands of users, training and onboarding can be challenging. As users fail to adopt new technologies and processes, they often resort to using old manual methods or abandoning their software for a different SaaS product. The result is companies waste billions on software they don’t use effectively or don’t use at all.
A new category of software, Digital Adoption Platforms, hopes to address the problems companies face in software utilization, onboarding, and training. To better understand what Digital Adoption Platforms do and how they help with digital transformation, we caught up with Krishna Dunthoori, founder and CEO of Apty, a Digital Adoption Platform built for enterprises.
Q: First, could you explain what Apty does and what a Digital Adoption platform is?
A: We help large enterprises get more out of their business software investments by making it easier for employees to onboard and use the applications. Apty offers on-screen guidance, usage analytics, and actionable insights for improving software and process adoption. Apty works with any web-based application, including the leading enterprise software platforms such as Salesforce, ServiceNow, Oracle, and Workday.
Digital Adoption Platforms grew out of a need to onboard and train users on new software. The most common feature is on-screen guidance that walks users through what to do step-by-step. The on-screen guidance is an alternative to traditional training sessions, videos, or support articles. DAPs tend to serve two markets – SaaS companies who need to onboard new customers/users and businesses who need to onboard employees to multiple applications. Apty focuses on the enterprise segment of the market.
Q: What made you choose to focus on digital adoption for enterprises?
A: We can work with SaaS companies and have a couple of clients using Apty to onboard their customers, but we deliver a more significant impact for enterprises. About two-thirds of all software implementations fail. Companies spend millions on their software and then millions more on training and consulting services to try to implement it. We can help companies implement technology faster and significantly decrease their training and support costs.
Q: What made you decide to tackle the problem of digital adoption for enterprises?
A: I witnessed the waste we’re talking about firsthand. In addition to running Apty, I run a global IT consulting firm focused on helping companies implement or optimize complex business applications. Before that, I worked as an employee or contractor to help implement enterprise applications. I watched so many companies invest money and time in a new system trying to get it operational – only to abandon it because of low or failed adoption. I knew if I could create a product to solve the most common adoption challenges, there would be a massive market for it.
Q: What mistakes do companies make that lead to failed adoption or wasted money?
A: The biggest mistake I see companies make is thinking the more training is the answer to their problems. The two leading causes of poor or failed adoption are people not using your software (low utilization) and people not following your processes (poor process compliance). Companies try to fix those issues with more training, but training isn’t effective. Users don’t retain information from training sessions, and it’s not an engaging way for people to learn. The other problem is that you can’t train the problem away if you don’t know what the problem is. Companies often assume employees aren’t following a process or using software because they don’t know what to do. However, the real issue might be that the processes or software aren’t easy or intuitive enough for people to use even if they know what they’re supposed to be doing.
Q: So how does Apty solve digital adoption problems in ways training can’t?
A: Apty approaches the problem differently. Apty begins by analyzing how people use your software and pinpoints where people are struggling. Then the system gives you actionable insights on how to fix it. For example, let’s say you have a process with five steps. Apty will track how users go through each step and find that most people get stuck on the third step. At that point, you can deploy on-screen guidance to get them through the roadblocks on step 3. That might mean creating a walkthrough that turns the process into a self-guided wizard, or you could just need to add a couple of tooltips to give some additional instructions and context on the page. Training tries to get the user to adapt to the software; Apty adapts the software experience to make it easier to use.
Q: Can you give an example of how Apty helped clients with their digital transformation challenges?
A: We have a tagline – “the problem isn’t your software; it’s how it’s used.” Many clients come to us asking for help with onboarding users to programs like Salesforce for Clarity PPM. But once we start working with them, they realize they need help with more than just onboarding if they want to be successful with digital transformation. To give you an example, one of our first customers was a major Airline that was implementing Clarity PPM to plan all their maintenance projects. They were having difficulty getting projects authored to their guidelines and in a timely manner. The planning phase became a bottleneck where they had teams ready to work on projects, but not enough projects had made it through the process. With Apty, we were able to simplify the process. Apty’s on-screen guidance walked users through each step and checked to make sure everything was complete. Like many complex businesses, they had strict regulatory compliance issues to solve. We were able to help increase both their speed and accuracy. Before Apty, it took them between 60 and 100 days to get a project through the planning phase. Apty got it down to only 25 days.
For most companies, that’s the goal of a digital transformation – to make this smoother and more productive. Apty solves some of the hurdles companies face in trying to achieve productivity gains.
Q: How do you see digital transformation change in the next few years, and how will Apty adjust?
A: I think the most significant change is that the demand for tools like Apty is greater than ever. As more companies switched to remote work due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it became painfully obvious that traditional training methods were no longer viable. You can’t cram everyone into a classroom for an all-day training session. Video conferencing training isn’t engaging. Employees can no longer ask the person sitting next to them how to do something. As a result, companies will invest in more digital adoption tools that allow for employee self-service. If you can empower users to solve their own problems, you can decrease the burden on your IT support teams and stop wasting time and money on the parts of your training programs that aren’t working. I expect more companies to seriously evaluate their software utilization and look for ways to optimize it, and Apty is positioned to solve those challenges for large enterprises.
About Apty
Apty Inc. is a venture-backed SaaS company based in Frisco, Texas. Apty’s product is a Digital Adoption Platform built for enterprises. Apty offers on-screen guidance, usage analytics, and actionable insights for improving software and process adoption. Apty consistently ranks as a top Digital Adoption Platform on G2 and serves several Fortune 100 companies.
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