User Adoption of Cognitive Agents : Identifying success factors from a process perspective

Abstract: With the rise of intelligent solutions such as cognitive agents, many organizations are trying to identify how they can best utilize the benefits of the technology to make advancements as a company and enhance employee job performance. However, the attempts of many organizations are falling short from their expectations and users do not adopt to the technology. To investigate this problem, a qualitative study was performed with the aim of exploring the different phases of a cognitive agent project process to identify key factors and incentives influencing user adoption, by comparing organizational and individual perspectives. The study results show that 94% of managers see added potential and value in this type of technological initiative, while the number is only 60% for the more operational positions. This indicates a gap between the different perspectives which can hinder successful adoption. The results show that involvement of users throughout the process can decrease this gap. With the increasing complexity of cognitive technology, as it learns over time, the study implies that user awareness and clear expectations through a collaborative process enables increased adoption. Further, the study argues that the adoption process starts earlier than organizations might think. This implies that it is important to look at the life cycle perspective and factors influencing adoption. In order to impact the user adoption rate, this study highlights several factors and incentives, emphasizing on context and the combination of the different aspects, which contribute to higher performance and a wider spread of cognitive agent application.