The Rapid Rise of
the Early Adopters
O
ne of the main inhibitors to technology acceptance,
and the moving of it from an idea to mainstream, has
always been the rate of technology adoption.
This has been categorised into 5 main customer types:
Innovators, Early Adopters, Early Majority, Late Majority and
Laggards. This theory has been in place since 1962 when
E.M Rogers defined his “Diffusion of Innovation” theory.
However, perhaps it’s time to question whether this theory
still holds true in today’s rapidly advancing
technological world.
Not so long ago, if you were
an IT manager in a company
and you wanted to investigate some new technology,
the process was complex.
One needed to do research
and find out what options
were available in the market.
Then you would engage with
either a partner or with a vendor in a typical sales process
that became a major part of
each vendor’s
modus operandi.
It’s a world where this linear sales process no longer exists.
Customers are informed and educated. They are reading
or hearing about your company and solution long before
they even engage with you. Their sources are no longer
your website, but rather blogs, analyst reviews, tweets, peer
reviews, user groups and a myriad of other sources where
the information finds them, rather than the other way round.
In the cloud-first world, the customer also has the ability to
try out your solution, usually without even engaging with
your business from a sales process. This offers the benefit
of many customers experiencing your solution. However,
the down side is it does not
leave much room for customisation and the nuances of a
typical solution sales process. By the time a potential
customer decides to actively
engage with you, they have
probably already made their
decision. The ultimate aim of
this method of ‘try before you
buy’ is to provide the customer with a taste and the ease of
experiencing the solution.
IN MY
OPINION...
Kevin Derman
These had various names
- IBM called theirs SSM or Signature Sales Methodology,
Microsoft has the MSSP or Microsoft Solution Selling Technique, etc. What these had in common was a very linear
approach to sales and the process that the customer was
going through.
If you were lucky you would be offered a POC or Proof of
Concept, where the vendor or reseller would actually do a
mini-implementation in your environment so you could test
it out, but even these would take months to implement and
required the installation of hardware and software into your
environment and weeks of configuration and testing. Most
sellers would discount the cost of the POC into the sale if it
went through, or charge the customer if it didn’t.
Fast forward to the world we live in today.
Old
This ease of experiencing the
technology, coupled with the myriad of information available, in my opinion has to accomplish two things.
Firstly, there is an acceleration of the sales cycle. Information, coupled with an ability to trial, puts an individual in a
powerful position to make an informed decision. Secondly,
the ease of experiencing the solution can only shift the
adoption curve in favour of early adoption. If something
new comes out, there is very little that stands in the way of
experiencing if this is a better feature or product.
In summary, I think it’s time for an adoption curve revision.
We have moved into the era of ‘ease of experience’. It’s
time for the late majority and laggards to shift aside. Let
the early adopters lead the way on this accelerated journey
towards our digital future.
New
5%
Innovators
Early
Adopters
20%
Early
Majority
40%
Late
Majority
20%
Laggards
15%
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