Abhishek Rungta

Why are some of the most amazing products not delivering ROI?

Keyword is adoption
The question is WIIFM (What’s in it for me?)

Most of the time software is bought by senior management, who want the frontline workers to key in information from ground zero, and get all insights in their glass office to make decisions.

How is the life of the majority of employees of the business benefited?

Example: Field force management – where the software is mostly used for tracking and monitoring of the team members. If the software is only serving the objective of the management, people on the field will try to avoid usage at the slightest pretext. And even if they use it, they will just do enough to not get fired.

Now, imagine a product which gives the frontline worker a system which tells him/her:

– How far is he from his target?
– How is he performing compared to others?
– What should s(he) pitch to the client to improve the numbers?
– What time should he visit the client, and how often?
– Learn about the best features of the product
– Learn the pitch that has worked best for other members

In short, we are helping the sales representative do his job better, and hence, help him progress better in the company.

This solves for the frontline workforce. It gives him an opportunity to perform, instead of just telling the boss that this person is not performing. This results in better adoption, and finally unlocks the value that you invest in your digital transformation initiatives.

The bottomline is that – the software/process should simplify the life of the user, and deliver benefit at the ground level. This enables you to “empower the frontline” to take decisions, do their job better, and get results.

If this basic principle is ignored, one cannot get account retention, expansion and advocacy in long term. And at a more basic level, it won’t provide intrinsic motivation to use the software/system that you are investing in.

This has been one of the founding principles of
Loka Viveka, which I started with Sakshi Kapahi a couple of months back.