Technology Record - Issue 28: Spring 2023

105 AI-powered chat assistants to help users leverage the solution more effectively. We’ll still need to be mindful of consistency, of course. AI isn’t perfect and still makes mistakes. However, as these solutions become more context-aware, the more potential they’ll have for accelerating workflows in business. It’s not just about technology Transformation isn’t just about implementing new software, though. As powerful as today’s integrated solutions may be, they’re only effective if employees understand their value and know how to use them. Our research showed a strong need for more training and support from topdown in the organisation. In fact, employees not understanding how to use the software was the biggest barrier to both CPQ and document automation adoption in our survey. The flip side of this is that technology vendors also face increased pressure to provide training and support. In fact, one-to-one onboarding was the most-desired vendor quality, even ahead of being a market leader. The bottom line? It’s not just the initial investment that drives outcomes with technology, it takes leadership support and structured training to ensure that employees understand how new processes will work with the solution. Ultimately, any new technology will require processes to change and new processes to be developed to fill in the gaps. It’s important to start thinking early about what those changes could mean for daily workflow; this will also help to inform which solution will be the best fit for your organisation. One of the barriers we often run into when we first partner with a new customer is that current processes aren’t always well-defined or documented. This presents a real problem for implementing technology that is going to transform those processes. Adapting those processes effectively requires an understanding of the current state of things, and where the gaps are. For example, the core problem that CPQ solves is that it automates manual product configuration processes. On the surface, this might sound simple, but when you’re managing thousands of possible variations, things can quickly become complex. The more times a sales representative must switch between platforms or pricing sheets, the more opportunity there is for an error in the order, and the more time there is to lose a potential customer. Photo: Unsplash/Jason-Goodman

RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NzQ1NTk=