Technology Adoption Readiness in Aged Care: Ten Strategies That Make Change Stick
Aged care providers have access to an expanding range of digital technologies, from care management platforms and mobile workforce solutions to remote monitoring, workflow automation and AI-enabled applications. Yet even well-designed technologies can struggle to gain traction when the people expected to use them are insufficiently prepared.
Implementation plans typically address configuration, testing, training and deployment. What they sometimes underestimate is the complexity of changing how people work, make decisions and deliver care.
The NASSS framework, which examines why health and care technologies are not adopted, abandoned or fail to spread and sustain, identifies adopters as one of seven critical influences. This includes the individuals and groups expected to use, support and integrate technology into everyday practice.
For aged care providers, this means adoption readiness deserves as much attention as technical readiness.
The following 10 strategies provide a practical approach to preparing employees, consumers and other stakeholders for successful technology adoption.
1. Involve Users in Co-Design
One of the most effective ways to improve adoption is to involve users before implementation decisions are finalised.
Care workers, clinicians, operational managers, consumers and informal carers often understand practical requirements that are not immediately apparent to technology teams or suppliers.
Their involvement can reveal how a proposed solution will affect existing workflows, where additional complexity may arise and which features are genuinely valuable.
For example, selecting a mobile care application without understanding how employees document services during home visits can result in a system that creates additional administrative work.
Co-design does not mean every stakeholder determines the solution. It means their experience informs requirements, evaluation, workflow design and implementation decisions.
Early involvement also creates ownership. People are more likely to support change when they understand its purpose and have had a meaningful opportunity to influence it.
2. Map User Roles and Responsibilities
Technology frequently introduces responsibilities that do not exist within current operating arrangements.
Who maintains client information? Who responds to system alerts? Who resolves exceptions in an automated workflow? Who provides support when something fails?
If these responsibilities remain unclear, organisations risk duplicated effort, missed actions and inconsistent service delivery.
A remote monitoring solution, for example, may generate useful information but provide limited value if nobody has clear accountability for interpreting and responding to alerts.
Similarly, a new CRM platform may create uncertainty about who owns client records and who is responsible for maintaining their accuracy.
Before deployment, providers should map the responsibilities of each affected user group and confirm how those responsibilities fit within existing management and care processes.
Adoption readiness requires clarity about who does what, not simply an understanding of how the technology works.
3. Tailor Onboarding to Different Users
A single training approach rarely meets the needs of everyone affected by a digital change.
Frontline employees may need practical guidance integrated into their daily routines. Managers may need to understand reporting, decision-making and performance expectations. Consumers and families may require simpler explanations, reassurance and individual support.
Differences in digital literacy, language, accessibility and cognitive capability can further influence how people engage with technology.
For example, introducing a consumer portal may require very different onboarding arrangements for independent users, family representatives and people receiving assistance with digital services.
Providers should therefore design onboarding around user needs rather than system functionality alone.
This may involve demonstrations, guided practice, written instructions, individual assistance or supported use during initial service delivery.
The objective is not merely to complete training. It is to establish sufficient confidence and capability for people to use the technology effectively.
4. Assess Digital Confidence Before Deployment
Organisations often assume that employees have similar levels of confidence with digital systems.
In practice, capability varies considerably, even among people performing similar roles.
A short readiness assessment can identify where additional support is needed and where experienced users may be able to assist others.
This does not require a complex formal assessment. Targeted surveys, interviews, demonstrations or discussions with team leaders can provide useful insights.
The assessment should consider more than general computer literacy. Employees may be comfortable using everyday applications but uncertain about technology that influences clinical decisions, client information or service accountability.
Understanding these differences allows providers to tailor support and avoid unrealistic assumptions about workforce readiness.
It also helps identify potential peer champions who can support colleagues during implementation.
5. Start with Manageable, Low-Risk Use Cases
Confidence develops through experience.
Introducing every capability of a new platform simultaneously can overwhelm users, particularly when the technology changes established routines or introduces unfamiliar responsibilities.
A staged approach allows organisations to validate workflows, build confidence and resolve problems before expanding implementation.
For example, a provider introducing workflow automation might begin with routine administrative activities before progressing to processes involving complex funding rules or care-related decisions.
Similarly, a monitoring solution might initially focus on lower-risk information gathering before introducing more complex alerting arrangements.
However, staged deployment should not be confused with avoiding essential safety controls. Even limited implementations require appropriate governance, privacy protections and risk management.
The objective is to create a manageable learning environment while maintaining safe and accountable service delivery.
6. Establish Visible Peer Champions
Employees often look to trusted colleagues when deciding how to respond to change.
Peer champions can help translate formal implementation messages into practical guidance, demonstrate how technology works in real situations and provide informal support.
Their effectiveness depends on credibility rather than position alone.
A respected care worker who understands operational realities may have more influence over adoption than someone appointed solely because of technical expertise.
Champions should be involved early, receive appropriate preparation and have sufficient capacity to support others.
They should also provide feedback to the implementation team about emerging problems, misunderstandings and opportunities for improvement.
This creates a connection between project delivery and everyday operations that formal communications cannot always achieve.
7. Provide Support When People Need It
Training usually takes place before or during implementation. Many practical questions, however, only emerge when employees begin using technology in real situations.
A system may appear straightforward during a demonstration but become more challenging when users encounter unusual client circumstances, incomplete information or competing operational demands.
Providers should establish accessible support arrangements that continue beyond go-live.
These might include local champions, short instructional resources, practical coaching, service desk assistance and clearly defined escalation pathways.
Support should also reflect the operating environment. Employees delivering care outside normal business hours may need different arrangements from office-based teams.
The effectiveness of support is determined not simply by its availability, but by whether users can obtain useful assistance when problems arise.
8. Recognise the Emotional Dimensions of Change
Technology adoption is not exclusively a technical or procedural challenge.
Employees may worry about losing confidence in their work, making mistakes, increased monitoring or the possibility that automation will change their responsibilities.
Consumers may have concerns about privacy, independence or the replacement of personal contact with digital interactions.
These reactions should not automatically be interpreted as resistance.
Leaders need to explain the purpose of the change, acknowledge legitimate concerns and create opportunities for discussion.
Where technology introduces new ways of monitoring performance or supporting decisions, transparency becomes particularly important.
People need to understand what the technology will do, what it will not do and how their professional judgement and responsibilities will be affected.
Trust develops when organisations address concerns openly and demonstrate that technology is being introduced to support meaningful outcomes.
9. Align Technology with Everyday Workflows
Even capable technology will struggle to achieve sustained adoption if it creates unnecessary complexity.
A new application that requires duplicate documentation, additional logins or repeated entry of information may be technically functional but operationally ineffective.
Before implementation, providers should examine how work is currently performed and how the proposed technology will change it.
This is especially important for care management systems, workforce platforms and workflow automation.
Automating an inconsistent or poorly understood process can reinforce existing inefficiencies rather than resolve them.
Providers should identify unnecessary activities, clarify process ownership and understand exceptions before deciding which activities should be digitised or automated.
Integration with existing systems is also important, but technical integration alone does not guarantee effective workflows.
Successful adoption depends on aligning technology, processes and responsibilities around how care and services are actually delivered.
10. Reinforce Adoption Beyond Go-Live
Technology adoption is not complete when a system becomes operational.
Initial enthusiasm can decline, informal workarounds may emerge and users may revert to familiar practices when difficulties arise.
Providers should therefore establish structured follow-up after implementation.
Reviews at approximately one, three and six months can help identify changes in usage, confidence, process compliance and operational outcomes.
These reviews should combine system information with feedback from employees, consumers and managers.
Low usage may indicate insufficient training, but it may also reveal poor usability, inappropriate workflows or a solution that does not address a meaningful operational need.
The response should be based on understanding the cause rather than simply directing people to use the system more frequently.
Continuous reinforcement allows providers to refine processes, strengthen capability and sustain the value of their investments.
Adoption Readiness Is an Organisational Responsibility
These ten strategies demonstrate why successful technology adoption requires more than a training plan.
It depends on involving users, establishing clear responsibilities, understanding workforce capability, building trust and ensuring technology fits the realities of care delivery.
It also requires organisational commitment beyond the implementation project.
Business leaders must take ownership of changed processes, managers must support new ways of working and technology teams must provide reliable systems and ongoing assistance.
For aged care providers investing in digital transformation, this has an important implication: adoption readiness should be assessed before implementation commitments are finalised, not treated as an activity that begins shortly before go-live.
Whether the investment involves remote monitoring, a care management platform, workforce technology or AI-enabled automation, the underlying principle remains the same.
Technology may enable change, but people, processes and organisational capability determine whether that change delivers lasting value.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Hubert van Dalen is the founder of eHomeCare, an independent digital strategy, governance and technology advisory business supporting Australian aged care and disability providers. His work focuses on helping organisations make informed technology decisions and translate digital investments into meaningful operational and care outcomes.
REFERENCES
Greenhalgh T, Wherton J, Papoutsi C, et al. Beyond Adoption: A New Framework for Theorizing and Evaluating Nonadoption, Abandonment, and Challenges to the Scale-Up, Spread, and Sustainability of Health and Care Technologies. Journal of Medical Internet Research. 2017;19(11):e367.
Hubert van Dalen. Adoption Readiness Strategies for Smart Care Technology. LinkedIn, 14 July 2025.
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