Digital Adoption: What It Is and How to Truly Embrace It—Is a Cultural and Mindset Shift Necessary?

The push toward digitalization among Italian companies is now unstoppable. Over the past year, we’ve heard a lot about digital transformation and digital adoption.
Digital adoption refers to the implementation of technological solutions within business processes, with the aim of optimizing and streamlining operations through a shift that also involves changes in behavior.  Through on-the-job and unconventional digital learning methods, people adopt new behaviors that, over time, become good habits, thereby improving both their personal lives and those of the entire organization.

Digital Adoption in 2021

Due to lockdowns, the global pandemic, and remote work, the need to make the best use of digital tools has become increasingly evident, both for citizens and for businesses. However, are Italian companies ready for this change? According to a Unioncamere survey published in Il Sole 24 Ore at the end of the year,“Nearly 50% of Italian companies can be considered ‘beginners’ or ‘novices’ in the field of digital technologies.” This means that one in two companies still adopts a traditional approach.  

It is clear, then, that we have a problem, but how can we solve it? The shift toward Industry 4.0 requires us to view companies as flexible, lean, and collaborative ecosystems. But this vision can only be realized through a transformation that goes beyond technological assets to focus, above all, on corporate culture, mindset, and the habits of every single person.

Change

In many contexts, change can be perceived and experienced as something complex, especially when it happens as quickly as it did in 2020. In fact, as Marshall Goldsmith also notes in his book *Triggers*, behavioral change in humans is one of the most difficult things to achieve. This is a far-reaching challenge, but one that can be made easier if approached in small, steady steps. It is essential to work on many small tasks while simultaneously addressing people’s habits, since—as we have already noted—digital adoption can only be achieved if it is underpinned by systemic, cultural, and mindset changes—and thus behavioral changes—in a circular and incremental process.

Change According to Digital Attitude

From Digital Attitude’s perspective, technology is not merely the ultimate goal toward which a company should direct its efforts, but above all a vehicle for digital change. As Francesco Pozzobon, Head of Sales & Marketing, also noted during an interview on SIA on-air, “Digital transformation means encouraging every person in every organization to achieve something better, and digital technology is the starting point for making that change exponential.”

How can this be done? Through hi – Habit-Inspiring Platform, a platform that enables the virtuous cycle described above by increasing digital dexterity—that is, the level of knowledge of digital technologies.  hi embodies what Gartner has termed an “unconventional way of learning”—a non-traditional approach that leverages the principle of “learning by doing” through contextual tips, triggers, and nudges. hi enables you to practice changing your habits while going about your daily work, so you can work better, feel better, and navigate the ongoing process that is today’s digital transition.  

This is the challenge we must take on, even at the semantic level: no longer just “transformation,” but “transition”—a process that each person interprets and experiences for themselves.

Transformation, as a concept, inherently involves a closed horizon—a shift from one state to another—while human beings and their activities are in constant evolution and transition within the digital realm, which has become the stage on which all of this unfolds today.
Part of the appeal of a transition lies precisely in the fact that it involves continuously experiencing and engaging with change (one nudge at a time), approaching it without fear.
This, in turn, leaves room for interpretation and requires imagination, creativity, and trust.

We at datters strive to do this every day with empathy, curiosity, and innovation, working alongside the companies of the future.

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