Overcoming Common Hurdles in Tech Adoption

To succeed and stand out among competitors, landscaping business owners must be flexible and open-minded about adopting technology. The right tech tools save time, support your crews, and provide better service. 

However, change is intimidating. Your employees and leadership may resist new tech, fearing uncertain job roles or a low return on investment (ROI). You might be worried about data migration security. 

This blog discusses these common hurdles business owners face when digitizing their landscaping businesses. Learn how to overcome these hurdles and set your business up for success.

Managing resistance

Understanding fears and addressing concerns

The first step in handling resistance to technology adoption and change in your small business is understanding its origin.

Talk to your employees. Are they concerned that new landscape software or tools will change their job roles? Are they worried about job training? Are they nervous about the overall future of your landscaping business?

Simply taking the time to listen to your team will alleviate their fears more than you know.

After you’ve gathered feedback, address your team’s hesitations. Be clear from the start about why you’re implementing your chosen software and how it will benefit the company and their jobs.

You can do this via a company-wide meeting or email to your entire team, but whatever you choose, be proactive and transparent. Hiding or neglecting to mention information will only cause more uncertainty.

Offer comprehensive training

Then, provide training for your new tech tools. But don’t stop after the software has been introduced! 

Offer ongoing support to ensure your employees are confident in their skills. Consider offering multiple types of training to cater to different learning styles, too. Think workshops, job shadowing, and an online resource library.

Keep gathering feedback and checking in with your team after training ends on their experiences with your new technology. Your continued involvement is key to overcoming resistance to change.

Over 60% of employees fear the uncertainty of workplace change. Don’t let that be why your landscaping business remains stuck in the past!

Ensuring a seamless transition

The transition from manual systems and paper records to digital platforms can be overwhelming and stressful for any business owner, regardless of industry.

Just as your team has worries and fears about tech adoption, you may worry about:

• The costs of investing in landscaping software

• The time required to implement the tech and migrate data

• The time and resources required to familiarize yourself and your team with the new tech

• The possibility of fewer jobs and lost customers during the transition

• The return on investment (ROI) of investing in tech

These are all valid concerns for business owners. However, keep in mind that digitization is quickly becoming the norm. The longer you wait to adopt technology, the harder it will be to keep up with the competition. 

Over half of companies that haven’t begun digitizing fear that they’re “too late” and that they’ll fall behind the competition. 

There are significant costs to consider when digitizing your systems and records. But as your business grows and data accumulates, it’ll become harder (and more expensive) to transition later. 

If you’re concerned about migrating your data quickly and securely, look for landscaping software that will address your concerns from the get-go.

You should feel comfortable letting your internal power user take the lead on data formatting. An experienced professional services team can also migrate your data, if you wish, from various sources without your involvement, allowing you to focus on other business matters.

Look for a transparent and proactive software provider in terms of data security measures, too. Keeping your information private and safe should be a top priority during migration and beyond.

Securing buy-in from the top

Implementing new technology into your business requires an investment. This investment can make leadership and/or business partners hesitant or resistant to change.

You might hear pushback such as, “This is the way we’ve always done things'' or, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” To address this, make your case by demonstrating the cost savings and benefits of adopting tech.

Present data that shows the long-term costs of:

• Manual data entry

• Traditional schedule management and routing

• Creating, sharing, storing, and accessing records

• Managing employees

Compare this information against performing these tasks digitally — and point out the difference in time required and costs. Your company leaders won’t be able to ignore the numbers.

It also helps to share success stories from other landscaping businesses. Highlight examples of how businesses similar in size, location, or services have experienced better efficiency or increased revenue thanks to tech.

What if you don’t have executives or business partners to appeal to? It’s your decision! Technology doesn’t just benefit large corporations. Over 90% of small and medium-sized enterprises believe tech is crucial for business. 

Choose Aspire for a smooth transition

Technology is essential for the health and scalability of your landscaping business. But if your employee teams, partners, or leadership aren’t on board, adopting it will be much harder.

Some of the most common challenges you’ll face when adopting technology for your landscaping business include:

• Fears around change and uncertainty in job roles or job security

• Disruptions during the transition due to data security, time, or costs

• Hesitation from leadership about ROI or benefits from technology

To overcome these hurdles, it’s essential that you be proactive and speak to these concerns. 

Provide training and support for your team. Be transparent about the changes and open to feedback. Showcase long-term benefits and outline a plan to executives. These actions will help digitization run more smoothly.

Finally, choose a landscaping business software that makes data migration and implementation simple: Aspire. 

Aspire’s commitment to customer success goes beyond initial onboarding. We support you every step of the way, from importing your data to training your team to providing ongoing support.

See what sets Aspire apart from the rest. Book a demo today.