From Software Spend to Business Value: The Case for Application Adoption

From Software Spend to Business Value: The Case for Application Adoption

I know that many of the organisations I speak to invest heavily in business-critical applications, but often struggle to realise the full potential of that investment. The gap between spend and value creation isn’t just frustrating—it’s costly, especially when budgets are under pressure.

It’s not just the experience of my network either.

The statistics are stark:

80% of software features are rarely or never used

(Pendo, The Hidden Cost of Bad Software) and;

37% of software spend is wasted

(1E, The Real Cost of Unused Software).

It’s important to note that this gap is not only financial but experiential too. When employees don’t use applications effectively, productivity and satisfaction suffer—a situation that impacts both staff and customers.

The plan is clear: to improve application adoption so we can deliver stronger ROI and better digital experiences across the board. In this article, I’ll look at why this is the case and how we can make it happen.

The Impact of Low Application Adoption

The Financial Impact

When application adoption is slow, organisations experience:

• Wasted licence spend

• Missed productivity gains

• Higher support and training costs

• Delayed ROI

Take a typical line-of-business application rollout. Organisations often invest heavily in licences, configuration, and integration, but if adoption is slow, much of that spend remains unrealised while employees continue using manual workarounds and inefficient processes.

The Experience Impact

We also see that poor adoption frustrates users:

• Workarounds replace intended processes

• Inconsistent usage damages data quality

• Frustration leads to resistance

• Digital frictions increase stress

In many enterprises, employees face multiple disconnected systems that complicate workflows rather than streamline them. This leads to inefficiency, frustration, and diminished productivity.

Making the Case for Adoption Strategies

Effective adoption creates a dual benefit: reduced costs and increased value.

• Cost savings come from reduced training hours, fewer support tickets, and a reduction in manual work.

• Value growth comes through improved customer satisfaction, higher sales conversion, and better compliance.

So, how can we ensure more effective application adoption across our organisations? By developing adoption strategies that encourage engagement and transform digital friction into digital flow. This human-centred approach recognises that technology adoption isn’t merely a technical challenge—it’s about creating experiences that empower people to work more effectively and with greater satisfaction.

Three Pillars of Effective Application Adoption

To bridge the gap between software implementation and genuine adoption, we need a balanced approach that places equal emphasis on measurement, learning, and experience.

1. Data-Driven Adoption Management

Data provides the visibility and insights needed to understand where your adoption strategy is working and where targeted interventions could create breakthrough value. Use data to track:

• Usage patterns across teams

• Feature adoption rates

• Workflow efficiency

• Support ticket trends

2. Contextual Learning in the Workplace

Contextual learning delivers guidance when and where employees need it, making learning an organic part of their workflow rather than an interruption. Replace classroom sessions and static e-learning with in-app, real-time guidance to:

• Align learning with actual work

• Speed up time-to-proficiency

• Improve knowledge retention

• Lower training costs

3. AI-Supported Digital Experience

AI transforms adoption from a one-size-fits-all approach to a personalised journey that adapts to individual needs. By understanding patterns and preferences, AI creates more intuitive, responsive digital experiences that reduce friction and accelerate proficiency by:

• Tailoring personal learning plans

• Improving knowledge repositories

• Speeding up training content delivery

• Streamlining processes through better data

Implementation Framework: From Strategy to Value

Adoption is a journey, not an event. A clear framework helps organisations manage this effectively:

• Phase 1: Assessment – Capture current usage, ticket volumes, satisfaction, inefficiencies, and ROI gaps to understand the present situation.

• Phase 2: Strategy Development – Set financial and experiential goals, secure stakeholder buy-in, and define measurement and responsibilities.

• Phase 3: Implementation – Build role-based journeys, integrate in-app support, enable feedback loops, and apply change management consistently.

• Phase 4: Optimisation – Track adoption, quantify ROI, collect feedback, and refine plans while sharing best practices.

The Path Forward

Application adoption isn’t just about usage—it’s about unlocking value. By understanding the barriers to adoption and applying data-driven management, contextual learning, and AI-enabled experiences, organisations can transform their software spend from a sunk cost into a driver of efficiency, satisfaction, and resilience.

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About the Author 

I'm Terry Chana. I am an innovation strategist that connects customer, employee and brand experiences. My passion lies in building ecosystems to solve business problems by combining creativity and technology.