There’s no getting away from it. Almost everything we do nowadays, directly or indirectly, has to involve ourselves, our colleagues or our loved-ones using a computer for almost everything we do.
Even an elderly lady being sent hot food from a community care service provider will only get that help because she’s listed on a computer somewhere, and that list will have been sent electronically to a delivery driver. Like it or not, computers almost completely dictate how we live, work and play. It’s one of the reasons for futurists predicting that the next world war won’t involve nukes and tanks, but governments hacking into the software that runs our daily lives, bringing entire countries to a standstill.
There’s no denying that computers are an integral part of our existence. And someone, somewhere, has to operate them. Those people constantly must keep up with software updates, which can cause operators to make mistakes. But the good news: it doesn’t have to be a pain to learn software skills and keep up to speed, when using a Digital Adoption Platform (DAP) like WalkMe.
A DAP can be ‘bolted-on’ to almost any software package. Think of it as a secondary layer of software, a teaching platform, driven by artificial intelligence (AI) that can hyper-personalize its help on a per-user basis. When users first encounter a new or updated screen, they may be hesitant to proceed, nobody wants to enter erroneous information or key in something that could have potentially disastrous consequences. The DAP ‘knows’ where users are likely to make mistakes and offers on-screen help whenever an unfamiliar tool or field is selected. But the beauty of the DAP is that once the user has mastered that particular aspect of the process, it learns not to offer help where it’s no longer needed. This way, each and every software user is presented with a slightly different help experience depending on how quickly they can pick up on required changes. It’s like ‘hyper intelligent tooltips’ that only appear when you need them.
There are so many aspects of our working lives where unfamiliarity with software causes delays and lack of productivity. You only have to go into a group Zoom meeting with a couple of people who don’t know what they’re doing and everything starts to go to pieces!
“You’re muted!” – someone will shout, whilst the rookie ploughs on and talks into a dead microphone.
What’s more, think about going on a business trip or vacation. That hotel booking you made almost certainly will not have been processed or even viewed by a human until the minute you reach the check-in desk. Hospitality software is now becoming one of the hottest growth areas within the technology market, and someone has to use all this stuff so you don’t get booked into a double room at the same time as another couple. Not the best start to your conference or weekend break!
Then how about when you get home from your vacation, with all the great photos you’ve taken on your phone? Many people use some sort of image editing software and constant updates to these can be frustrating. With Adobe having acquired phone-app photo editing provider Aviary into its suite of tools, pretty soon it’s likely that every instance of Aviary or Adobe’s Photoshop or Lightroom will probably come packaged with a DAP.
With such issues in mind, and DAP becoming more commonplace in larger companies, it won’t be long before software designers, when creating new packages for enterprises, will start to rely on DAPs and subtly alter the User Experience and User Interface (UX and UI) for CRM systems and the like. The need for software documentation and A/B style UX and UI testing should be greatly reduced, as should the need for so many personnel on any company’s IT help desk.
Of course, it’s not just CRM systems and large enterprises that can take advantage of the DAP revolution. As mentioned above, AI is also bringing the use of software increasingly into every aspect of our lives at home, too. The Internet of Things (IoT) whereby you can send your house a text message to turn on the heating and close the blinds before you get home is encouraging people to use a mobile device app for almost anything.
Even your healthcare is affected by software advances. It’s likely nowadays that even your medical consultant will have had your diagnosis made for them by a computer. The number-crunching website Statista has found that predictive analysis diagnostics software in healthcare in more technologically advanced countries like Singapore now have a staggering 92% adoption rate of AI being used in medical diagnostics.
But even highly qualified consultants have to learn to use these software packages; you’ll be glad to know that a DAP can help them to make the world a healthier and a happier place.
