Resistance to New Technologies Hinders Enablement Adoption Among Multi-Generational Workforces, Seismic Survey Finds

A new study from Seismic, the global leader in enablement, has found that almost two thirds (61%) of UK business leaders have experienced resistance to new technologies from various generational cohorts at their company.

“In an era defined by rapid technological advancement and evolving workplace dynamics, the most mature organisations are utilising enablement to tackle generational differences”

Exploring the adoption, use and effectiveness of enablement technology in particular, the research discovered that enablement leaders have experienced reluctance from all generations, from Baby Boomers to Generation Z. Specifically:

• Generation X came in high with 74% of enablement users recalling this generation’s resistance to enablement technology adoption at work.
• Millennials are also resisting with almost half (46%) of respondents noting their resistance to adapt or change.

Overcoming this unwillingness is crucial for businesses aiming to attain higher levels of organisational success and maximise the potential of their go-to-market (GTM) teams. This is imperative as 84% of respondents plan to either increase or retain their investment in enablement technology in 2024, with 83% of those saying it is key to weathering difficult economic times.

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Solving integration and workflow issues

According to the study, 42% of those who use enablement technology reported organisational struggle to fully adopt enablement technology, with one of the main reasons being that not enough of their internal workflow has been integrated with their enablement tools.

As more than half (54%) of multi-departmental enablement users record inconsistent and varying levels of technology adoption across GTM teams, business leaders need to tackle various factors they cited as reasons for this imbalance:

• Varying levels of technology readiness (64%)
• Lack awareness of how they could use enablement technology (51%)
• More resistant to change than others (42%)

The need for custom training programs

Looking for a solution, 87% of respondents believe that comprehensive training programs, which cater to various learning styles and preferences, are critical when adopting new technology. While 91% agreed these programs are beneficial for all generations, the research highlighted the benefit for Generation Z in particular with respondents noting the speed of learning and adapting to new technologies as this generation’s top challenge, with a fifth (21%) experiencing trouble in this area.

Investing in custom training programs becomes even more critical as:

• 86% of respondents believe that more generations will utilise enablement technologies in the workplace in the next five years.
• 46% of respondents stated they would not work for a company that doesn’t use enablement tools.
• Almost a quarter (22%) of respondents are currently considering leaving their company due to a lack of tools to support their success.

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“In an era defined by rapid technological advancement and evolving workplace dynamics, the most mature organisations are utilising enablement to tackle generational differences,” said Paige O’Neill, Chief Marketing Officer, Seismic. “Custom training, powered by enablement technology, empowers workforces of all ages. It is clear enablement holds the keys to the most significant challenges we see today: engaging customers, scaling GTM teams, adopting new tech, improving productivity, and integrating AI-powered workflows. Moreover, the data in our latest report reveals that enablement helps bring people together and is crucial for fostering an agile, innovative workforce.”

“Technology, enablement or otherwise, is only as good as its adoption,” said Patricia Peral, Senior Director of GTM Enablement, Beeline. “As enablement leaders, one of our core responsibilities is to ensure that those who we expect to benefit from any new technology understand both how to use it, and the value of using it – no matter their generation. Additionally, we must ensure that we enable on tools not only at launch, but continuously, as people learn and adopt at different times in their journey.”

The new Generation Enablement Report: The Rise of Enablement’s Influence explores how attitudes and actions towards enablement technology adoption, use and effectiveness vary across Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millennials, and Generation Z. To learn more about the defining characteristics of Generation Enablement and dive deeper into regional and generational differences