Key Takeaways
According to Gartner, by 2025, 70% of large enterprises will adopt Digital Adoption Platforms (DAPs), highlighting a significant shift in how companies approach software usage. While organizations invest heavily in ERP, CRM, and cloud platforms, many features remain underutilized, leading to a gap between implementation and actual usage. The rapid pace of technological change, particularly with AI-driven tools, exacerbates this issue, as users often struggle to adapt without adequate in-workflow support. This disconnect not only hampers productivity but also increases support costs and risks losing employee engagement. The real challenge for businesses in 2026 will be to prioritize digital adoption as an ongoing strategy rather than an afterthought, ensuring that systems are effectively utilized and delivering expected ROI.
Action Items
- Assess current digital adoption strategies to identify gaps and areas for improvement.
- Implement in-workflow guidance systems to support users during their tasks.
- Shift focus from one-time training sessions to continuous enablement and support.
- Establish clear ownership and accountability for adoption metrics within leadership.
- Regularly review and adapt digital adoption plans to align with rapid technological changes.
According to Gartner, 70 percent of large enterprises are expected to adopt a Digital Adoption Platform by the end of 2025 (1). That number says a lot. Companies are not just buying more software; they are actively looking for ways to make people actually use it.
Enterprises already spend millions on ERP, CRM, and cloud platforms. Implementations are marked as successful. Systems go live. Projects are closed. But real usage tells a different story. Features remain untouched, workflows are bypassed, and teams fall back on old habits that feel safer and faster.
Now look at what 2026 brings. AI-driven tools are becoming standard, not optional. Release cycles are shorter. Updates land more frequently. Each change adds complexity to everyday work. Without guidance, users are left guessing what changed and how it affects them.
This is where most software adoption challenges begin. Not at procurement. Not during rollout. But after go-live, employees are expected to change their behavior without support inside their actual workflows.
The biggest risk going into 2026 is not choosing the wrong technology. It is assuming people will figure it out on their own.
Any serious digital adoption strategy in 2026 has to address this gap. Because the distance between implemented and actually used is where budgets quietly disappear.
Digital transformation is accelerating. Adoption is not.
Every enterprise roadmap today looks ambitious. More cloud platforms. More AI-powered features. More tools promising speed and scale. On paper, this should translate into higher productivity. In reality, it often creates the opposite effect. The gap between transformation and real usage is why many organizations are rethinking how digital adoption actually works in practice.
This is the strategic gap most leaders miss. Digital transformation keeps accelerating, but adoption does not keep pace. That gap is not a tooling failure. It is a planning failure. And it is exactly why a digital adoption strategy 2026 cannot be treated as an afterthought.
More tools do not mean more productivity
Most employees now work across ERP, CRM, HR, finance, and collaboration systems every single day. Each system has its own logic, workflows, and updates. Instead of simplifying work, this creates tool overload.
People constantly switch between systems to complete a single task. That context switching slows execution and increases errors. Over time, cognitive overload sets in. When users feel unsure, they stop exploring features and stick to what they already know, even if it is inefficient.
This is one of the most common software adoption challenges in large organizations. Productivity drops not because tools are weak, but because users are overwhelmed.
AI will not save you if behavior does not change
AI is now built into almost every enterprise platform. Smart recommendations, automated workflows, and predictive insights sound impressive. Yet many of these features go unused.
Why? Because users avoid unfamiliar workflows. Knowing the right features of digital adoption platforms is extremely crucial. If AI alters how a task is completed, but no one explains that change within the system, people tend to ignore it. They often revert to manual steps or outdated processes that feel safer.
Without guidance inside live workflows, AI becomes shelfware. This is another critical software adoption challenge companies face as they move toward 2026.
Technology can evolve overnight. Human behavior does not. And without deliberate enablement, adoption will always lag behind transformation.
This is why adoption challenges are increasingly being discussed alongside AI rollout strategies, not after them.
The Real Cost of Poor Digital Adoption
Most organizations treat adoption issues as minor friction. They often have a few extra tickets. Some training requests. A dip in productivity that will fix itself over time. That assumption is expensive.
Poor adoption does not stay contained. It spreads across teams, systems, and quarters. The cost of poor user adoption shows up quietly, long after the implementation project is marked complete.
Wasted software investments
Enterprises pay for full-featured platforms, but only a fraction of those capabilities get used. Licenses sit idle. Advanced features are ignored. Teams build shadow systems in spreadsheets or side tools because they feel easier to use.
This is the most visible part of the cost of poor user adoption. You pay for value you never realize. And the more complex the platform, the more value gets left on the table.
Productivity leakage across teams
When users do not know how to complete tasks confidently, work slows down.
Employees stop using systems as the source of truth. They ask colleagues for help. They search old manuals. They guess the next step and fix mistakes later. Each action feels small, but repeated across hundreds or thousands of users, the time loss adds up fast.
This is where software adoption challenges turn into operational drag.
Support and IT burnout
Every major update triggers a wave of support tickets. Most of them are not defects. They are how-do-I questions.
IT and support teams spend their time answering the same queries again and again instead of improving systems or enabling new initiatives. Over time, burnout sets in, and response quality drops.
Support overload is a downstream effect of the cost of poor user adoption, not a staffing problem.
Change fatigue sets in
After enough failed rollouts, employees stop engaging. New tools are met with skepticism. Training invites get ignored. Adoption becomes something people endure, not something they participate in.
This is where trust erodes. And once trust is gone, every new system faces resistance before it even launches.
The hidden cost here is not just time or money. It has lost momentum. And once momentum is gone, recovery becomes harder with every update.
2026 Raises the Stakes for Adoption
What already feels hard today becomes harder in 2026. Not because enterprise systems suddenly get more complex, but because the pace of change keeps accelerating. Adoption gaps that were manageable in the past now turn into real business risk.
Faster release cycles increase risk
Enterprise software no longer updates once or twice a year. Most platforms now release changes monthly, sometimes even more often. Interfaces shift. Steps move. New features appear without notice. Documentation becomes outdated almost as soon as it is published.
This is where many ERP implementation challenges resurface after go-live. The system technically works, but users struggle to keep up with how it keeps changing. Without guidance embedded inside live workflows, every update quietly resets the learning curve.
As a result, many organizations are reassessing how they support users after implementation, not just during rollout. There is a visible shift away from static manuals toward in-context guidance and continuously updated learning, a trend reflected across recent digital adoption research and practice
Global rollouts are now the default
Most enterprises are no longer rolling out systems one region at a time. Global deployments across teams, roles, and geographies are now standard.
This introduces new complexity:
- Multiple languages
- Regional process variations
- Different levels of digital maturity
A single training deck or recorded session does not scale in this environment. It leads to inconsistent usage, local workarounds, and uneven outcomes. This is a common ERP implementation challenge that often surfaces months after rollout, when leadership realizes the same system is being used very differently across regions.
Sustainable digital adoption in global environments depends on scalable enablement and localization, not repeated retraining. Many organizations are now exploring automated and role-based approaches to keep guidance consistent without multiplying effort
CFO pressure is rising
By 2026, tolerance for low adoption will be thin. CFOs are asking harder questions:
- Why are we paying for licenses that are barely used?
- Why did productivity not improve after rollout
- Where is the return?
These are no longer IT questions. They are business questions tied directly to digital adoption ROI. And ROI discussions do not wait for the next training cycle. They happen every quarter.
Without clear visibility into how people actually use systems, it becomes harder to defend spending, harder to justify upgrades, and harder to secure future budgets. That is why adoption metrics, enablement strategy, and value realization are increasingly part of financial conversations, not just transformation plans.
Why digital adoption must be a board-level priority
Digital adoption fails most often because it is treated as an execution detail. In many organizations, it is pushed to IT, L&D, or change teams after a system goes live. By then, patterns are already set, and resistance has already formed.
In 2026, adoption is no longer an operational issue. It is a leadership issue.
Adoption equals value realization
Every business case assumes that people will use the system as intended. When that assumption breaks, value stays theoretical.
No adoption means no ROI.
No behavior change means no business change.
This is why digital adoption ROI cannot be measured only through access logs or usage counts. Real value shows up when employees complete tasks faster, make fewer mistakes, and rely less on manual workarounds. Many organizations are now shifting toward behavior-based metrics such as time-to-proficiency and task success rates, which are increasingly discussed in broader digital adoption research and practice
It is not a training problem. It is an enablement problem.
Most enterprises still depend on classroom sessions, PDFs, and recorded videos to drive adoption. These formats assume people will remember what they learned long after training ends.
That is not how work happens.
Real work happens inside systems, under time pressure, with real consequences. Employees need support while they are completing tasks, not before or after. In-workflow guidance, contextual prompts, and step-based assistance help reduce hesitation and build confidence over time.
This shift from event-based training to continuous enablement is becoming central to change management 2026 conversations, especially as systems evolve faster and roles become more fluid
Ownership defines outcomes
Adoption breaks down fastest when ownership is unclear.
IT owns the system.
L&D owns training.
Business teams own outcomes.
When everyone owns adoption, there is a risk that no one is accountable for it. That is why adoption needs executive sponsorship and clear governance. Leaders must define who owns adoption metrics, how progress is reviewed, and what success actually looks like beyond go-live.
This is what elevates adoption from a support activity to a strategic discipline. And it is why forward-looking organizations are bringing digital adoption into board-level discussions around execution, risk, and return.
Core pillars of digital adoption in 2026
By 2026, digital adoption cannot rely on best effort or hope. It needs structure. The companies that succeed are not doing more training. They are designing adoption into how work actually happens.
These are the core pillars shaping effective digital adoption in 2026.
In-workflow enablement, not event-based training
People do not struggle because they forgot their training. They struggle because work is complex and time is limited.
Learning needs to happen inside the system, while tasks are being completed. Step-by-step guidance, contextual prompts, and real-time help reduce hesitation and prevent errors. This approach supports users at the moment of need, instead of expecting recall days or weeks later.
In 2026, enablement that lives outside the workflow will continue to be ignored.
Continuous adoption, not one-time rollout
Adoption does not end at go-live. It resets with every update.
New features, UI changes, and process adjustments constantly reshape how systems are used. Without continuous support, users fall behind quickly. What worked last quarter may no longer apply today.
Winning organizations treat adoption as an ongoing capability. Not a project. Not a phase. A constant layer that evolves alongside the system.
Adoption by design, not assumption
Many adoption failures share the same root cause. Adoption was not planned early on. It was assumed.
Implementation timelines focus on configuration, testing, and launch. User behavior is expected to catch up later. In 2026, that assumption no longer holds.
Adoption must be designed alongside implementation. Critical workflows, high-risk tasks, and user roles need intentional enablement plans from day one. Behavior change does not happen accidentally.
Scalable governance and clear ownership
Adoption improves when ownership is explicit.
Someone must be accountable for outcomes. Not just system uptime or training completion, but real usage and task success. Adoption metrics need to be reviewed like any other business KPI.
In 2026, digital adoption succeeds where governance exists. Without it, efforts stay fragmented and progress stalls.
What Winning Companies Do Differently
Organizations that succeed with digital adoption do not rely on luck, motivation, or repeated training cycles. They change the system around the user. Over time, a clear pattern emerges in how these companies approach adoption.
They design learning into everyday work
Winning companies stop treating learning as a separate activity.
Instead of asking employees to pause work and attend sessions, they bring guidance directly into the flow of work. Support shows up when a user starts a task, not days earlier in a slide deck. Instructions are specific to the action being taken, not generic to the system.
This reduces hesitation and prevents errors before they happen. Users build confidence through repetition inside real workflows, which leads to faster proficiency and more consistent usage.
They remove documentation as a bottleneck
Static documentation breaks down in fast-moving environments.
Manuals age quickly. Recorded sessions lose relevance after every update. Employees stop trusting written guides because they know something has probably changed. As a result, documentation becomes a reference of last resort instead of a source of truth.
Winning organizations reduce reliance on static content. They focus on guidance that reflects how the system works today, not how it worked at launch. This keeps enablement aligned with reality and reduces the need for constant rewrites.
They focus on behavior, not just completion
Many companies measure adoption by attendance, completion, or login counts. Winning companies look deeper.
They pay attention to whether users complete key tasks correctly, how long it takes to become productive, and where people struggle repeatedly. These signals reveal friction that usage metrics hide.
By focusing on behavior instead of surface-level activity, leaders can identify where adoption breaks down and intervene early.
They localize without losing consistency
Global organizations face a difficult balance. Teams work in different languages, follow regional processes, and operate under different constraints. At the same time, leadership needs consistency to manage risk and performance.
Winning companies standardize core workflows while allowing localized guidance at the point of use. Employees receive help in their own language and context, without fragmenting the underlying process. This approach supports scale without sacrificing control.
They treat adoption as a capability, not a phase
The biggest difference is mindset.
Winning companies do not view adoption as something to complete. They treat it as a capability that supports every system change, update, and rollout. Adoption becomes part of how the organization operates, not something it revisits only when problems appear.
This is what allows them to move faster, adapt with less disruption, and extract value from technology investments over time.
Without ClickLearn
- Manual work is time-consuming
- Long learning curve for trainers and authors
- Documentation goes quickly out of date
- Lost or misplaced resources
- Need several tools to create materials
- Resource-heavy on IT and implementation team
With ClickLearn
- Automated creation of documentation
- Quick onboarding for trainers and authors
- Always up-to-date training materials
- Custom eLearning portal
- Record across multiple apps easily
- Resource-light with no server-side implementation
The digital adoption gap, the danger zone
Most leaders believe adoption is a curve. Roll out the system, expect some resistance, run training, and things stabilize over time.
That belief is wrong.
The digital adoption gap is not a temporary dip. It is a persistent state where systems are technically live, but behavior never fully shifts. And once an organization settles into this state, it becomes normal.
Why the gap is easy to ignore
The adoption gap does not trigger alarms.
Systems are up. Transactions go through. Reports still get generated. From a distance, everything looks functional. The problem is not failure. It is underperformance.
Users complete tasks, but not in the intended way. They skip steps, avoid advanced features, and rely on memory or peer support instead of the system. Because work still gets done, leadership assumes adoption is “good enough.”
This is how software adoption challenges stay hidden in plain sight.
Why training alone never closes the gap
Most organizations respond to adoption issues with more training. More sessions. More decks. More recordings.
But the gap does not exist because people lack information. It exists because information is disconnected from real work. Training happens outside the system, while problems happen inside it.
As systems evolve, training becomes outdated faster than it can be refreshed. The result is a widening disconnect between how work is taught and how work is actually done. This pattern is especially common in large programs dealing with ERP implementation challenges, where scale makes manual reinforcement impossible.
The strategic cost of living in the gap
The real danger of the adoption gap is not inefficiency. It is stagnation.
Organizations stuck here stop improving how systems are used. New features are ignored. Process changes take longer to land. Innovation slows because teams do not trust that changes will stick.
Over time, leadership lowers expectations. Instead of asking why the value is missing, they accept partial returns as the cost of complexity. This is where long-term competitiveness erodes, quietly and steadily.
Why the gap becomes critical in 2026
In 2026, the pace of change removes any buffer.
AI-driven updates alter workflows continuously. Global teams operate around the clock. Systems no longer stay stable long enough for slow adoption to catch up.
In this environment, living in the adoption gap is no longer sustainable. Every delay compounds. Every workaround spreads. And every missed behavior change weakens the return on technology investments.
This is why the adoption gap is the danger zone. Not because it breaks systems, but because it prevents organizations from moving forward.
Three uncomfortable questions leaders must ask
Most adoption issues do not survive direct questions. They survive because no one asks them out loud. If 2026 is about getting real value from digital investments, leadership teams need to pause and answer these three questions honestly.
1. Are people really using your systems, or just surviving them?
Logins and activity reports can be misleading.
Employees may be accessing systems daily, but still avoiding core workflows, advanced features, or recommended processes. Work gets done, but not in the way the system was designed to support.
This question forces leaders to look beyond surface usage and ask whether systems are actually making work easier, faster, or more reliable.
2. How many support tickets are actually training failures
Most support teams spend a large part of their time answering how-to questions.
These are not technical problems. They are signals that users lack confidence in the system. Every repeated ticket represents lost time, frustration, and a missed opportunity to enable users earlier.
Leaders who track this closely start to see adoption issues long before they show up in productivity metrics.
3. When systems update, who updates the way people work?
Software changes constantly. Processes rarely do.
If systems evolve but guidance does not, users fall behind by default. Old habits resurface. Workarounds spread. The gap between intended and actual usage widens with every update.
This question exposes whether adoption is actively managed or left to chance once the system goes live.
Why 2026 belongs to companies that enable, not just implement
For years, success in digital programs was defined by delivery. Systems were deployed. Projects were closed. Timelines were met. What happened next received far less attention.
That definition no longer holds.
In 2026, advantage comes from what happens after implementation. It comes from how quickly people adapt, how confidently they work, and how consistently systems are used as intended.
Organizations that focus only on rollout move fast once and then slow down. Organizations that focus on enablement keep moving.
- They absorb change with less disruption.
- They onboard new employees faster.
- They turn updates into improvements instead of interruptions.
Most importantly, they treat digital adoption as part of how the business runs, not as a side activity that appears only when something breaks.
Digital adoption is not a project. It is an operating model.
The companies that recognize this will extract real value from their technology investments. The ones that do not will keep spending more to get the same results.
So, can you afford not to prioritize digital adoption?
By 2026, the question is no longer whether you invest in new systems. That decision is already made. The real question is whether those systems will change how work actually gets done.
- Every new rollout increases complexity.
- Every update reshapes workflows.
- Every AI feature changes expectations.
Without deliberate adoption, each of these adds friction instead of value.
What makes this dangerous is not the cost of a single failed initiative. It is the compounding effect. Small inefficiencies repeated across teams, regions, and months quietly erode productivity. Partial usage becomes normal. Leaders stop expecting full value. Technology investments deliver less impact with every cycle.
The organizations that break this pattern do not wait for adoption to fail before reacting. They plan for it up front. They design enablement alongside implementation. They treat user behavior as a strategic lever, not a training problem to solve later.
This shift changes outcomes in very practical ways:
- Systems deliver value faster after go-live
- Updates create less disruption
- Support teams spend less time firefighting
- Employees gain confidence instead of fatigue
Most importantly, leaders regain control over return on investment. Adoption becomes visible, measurable, and manageable.
In 2026, the cost of inaction is not static. It grows with every system you add to the tech stack and every update you push. The longer adoption is left to chance, the harder it becomes to recover momentum.
So no, the real question is not whether you can afford to prioritize digital adoption. It is whether you can afford to keep assuming it will happen on its own.
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FAQ
A digital adoption strategy for 2026 focuses on helping employees use enterprise systems correctly and consistently as software changes faster. It prioritizes enablement in the flow of work, continuous support, clear ownership, and measurable outcomes. Unlike past approaches, it treats adoption as an operating model, not a one-time training activity.
The cost of poor user adoption includes unused software licenses, lower productivity, higher support tickets, and delayed ROI. Over time, these issues compound, leading to stalled transformation efforts and reduced confidence in digital investments. Most of these costs remain hidden because systems still function, even when they are underused.
ERP implementations often fail at the adoption stage because training does not keep up with system complexity, frequent updates, and diverse user roles. After go-live, users revert to workarounds when guidance is missing. These ERP implementation challenges grow over time if adoption is assumed instead of actively managed.
Digital adoption ROI should be measured through behavior-based outcomes, not just logins or course completion. Key indicators include time to proficiency, task success rates, reduction in errors, and lower support dependency. When adoption is measured this way, leaders can clearly link system usage to business performance.
In 2026, the biggest software adoption challenges include faster release cycles, AI-driven workflow changes, global rollouts, and change fatigue among employees. Without continuous enablement and strong governance, each update widens the gap between implemented systems and actual usage, increasing risk and cost.
