Creating the Perfect Storm Part V: Overcoming Resistance to New Technology

So far we’ve learned about the relationships that are affected by a new technology, how to choose a technology that minimizes the negative effects, and how to maximize returns on the information gathered using that new technology. Then we learned how perceptions affect a sales team and how to mediate negative backlash by building relational currency.

The next task is to move from resistance to acceptance, both in and outside of the organization. Recent research by Dr. Arun Sharma at the University of Illinois and Dr. Jagdish Seth of the University of Pittsburgh suggests an appropriate framework for overcoming resistance to the introduction of new systems within a sales team.


The technology resistance paradigm was originally developed by Dr. Seth for the purpose of examining consumer habits, but is equally useful in examining the habits of sales people. There are two factors which contribute to resistance: the level of risk of the innovation and the level of habit to be overcome in order to implement the innovation. Seth and Sharma go as far as to say that technologies that are dual resistant (high in both categories) are usually not adopted at all.


Returning to our article from last week, it is important to realize that risk is a perceived concept. By maintaining relational capital, the perception of risk can be mediated, and tough habits that would be impossible to break can be softened. But I digress…

The model extends to include the customer, forming a new matrix of items:
The dual resistance sector is still almost impossible to implement, as before, and between selecting appropriate technology (link) and proper communication (link), sales force resistance should be manageable. However, there is still the potential for resistance among consumers where habits or risk are involved. Customers are increasingly reluctant to risk giving out personal information, which can be seen as a risk in today’s world of identity theft. Thus, the best technologies are ones that do not change a customer’s habits, and can generate useful (link) intelligence. Again, trackable data is one of the best ways to fly under a customer’s radar in order to transform the natural activity of searching for information into data on what their particular interests are.


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