A technology adoption questionnaire is an essential tool when adopting new technology or software.
In this article, we’ll explore:
- What questions to ask on your questionnaire
- Why a questionnaire is important
- How to use one
First, let’s answer the obvious question – what is a technology adoption questionnaire?
The questionnaire itself is simply a survey that you conduct before, during, and after you adopt new technology.
It is used to gather information that can help you during your technology adoption process, as we’ll see below.
The Purpose of a Technology Adoption Questionnaire
A questionnaire helps you do a number of things, including:
- Discover the limitations of the current technology
- Decide whether or not you should adopt new technology
- Assess employees’ wants and needs
- Gauge readiness for the adoption of new technology
- Estimate employees’ capabilities and skill levels
- Prepare workers for the evolving workplace
- Determine what solutions could work – and which ones wouldn’t
- Choose the most appropriate technology for your needs
- Design an effective digital adoption program
For these reasons, your technology adoption questionnaire is a critical tool in your arsenal.
It provides much-needed data that will inform your decisions and your digital adoption strategy.
Without it, in other words, you’ll be flying in the dark.
Questions to Ask
The following questions will help you gather targeted data for your digital adoption process.
Here are the types of questions to put on your questionnaire:
- What do you like about the current technology?
- What do you dislike?
- How easy or difficult is it to use?
- How well does it perform its function?
- Are there any additional features you would like to see? If so, please list them.
- How would you rate your skill level with this technology or software?
- Do you enjoy using it?
- Why or why not?
- How often do you use it in your workflow?
These types of questions can help you understand the effectiveness of your current technology.
It can also help you gauge workers’ skill levels.
This information can be used to help you decide which technology or software to adopt next.
The following set of questions can foreshadow your plans for digital adoption.
And they can offer more specific information to help guide your onboarding, training, and communication efforts.
- Would you be open to trying new software or technology?
- Why or why not?
- Are there any specific applications or tools you would like to explore?
These questions are a good place to start.
The key point to remember is that you want to leverage this information in your digital adoption process.
Let’s explore a few ways to do that.
How to Use the Questionnaire
When and how should you distribute the questionnaire?
Here are a few tips:
- Distribute the questionnaire when you identify a need or problem. The earlier you distribute it, the sooner you can gather the needed data – and plant the seeds of change in workers’ minds.
- Use online forms for quick data collection. There are plenty of online survey applications, such as Google Forms, which allow you to quickly and easily collect information online. Results can be automatically compiled, which is convenient for large organizations.
- Collect data periodically to keep up-to-date with the pulse of the organization. The organization doesn’t stop evolving, so it’s important to keep watch. You can use questionnaires such as this one to monitor an ongoing adoption program – or to keep tabs on the company’s overall health.
Here are a few ways to use the information you collect in the questionnaire:
- Choose the right technology for your business needs … and your workers’ needs. One of the best uses of the questionnaire is to help you choose the right product, the right features, and the right vendor. Remember that not only should you evaluate the product, you should also evaluate your employees’ skills – if the skills gap is too great, your employees won’t be able to use the technology.
- Design an effective onboarding, training, and digital adoption program. Another main aim of the program is to help you create a successful effective digital adoption program. Without this information, you won’t know your employees’ skills, needs, or personal goals. That information will help you mitigate risk and fallout.
- Make a case for digital adoption to leadership. Every change initiative, including digital adoption endeavors, require executive backing. A technology adoption questionnaire can help you gain that support. It can prove the need, indicate a solution, and justify an investment.
- Prove the value of change to employees and mobilize support. Support from employees is just as essential as support from above. Questionnaire data can be used to sell your digital adoption program to employees in the same way. Demonstrate the need, indicate a solution, then paint a vision of what the future will look like.
- Assess digital maturity and readiness, then prepare a change initiative if necessary. Inevitably, employees will need training on new technology. The questionnaire can act as a “readiness gauge,” telling you how digitally mature employees are right now. This will help you develop a training program that bridges the skills gap and maximizes their productivity.
In any business endeavor, data is critical for success – there are certainly other ways you can find to use the information you collect.
Conclusion
Digital adoption is becoming more and more common.
However, as with any change program, you need to prepare carefully.
A technology questionnaire is an essential first step in that preparation. The information you gather will help you choose the right technology, gain support from stakeholders, and design a great adoption program.
