Technology friction is a real cost
A global study finds enterprises lose the equivalent of 51 workdays per employee each year to technology friction, suggesting adding AI without simplifying workflows backfires. Vendors are responding with platform updates that prioritise friction reduction and smarter support rather than just new AI features. (globenewswire.com) (fulfilmentcrowd.com)
Big companies are pouring money into artificial intelligence, but WalkMe says the average employee still loses 51 workdays a year fighting software, switching tools, and redoing tasks that technology was supposed to simplify. The company’s April 9, 2026 study surveyed 3,750 executives and workers across 14 countries at enterprises with at least 1,000 employees. (walkme.com) WalkMe uses “technology friction” for the extra effort people spend clicking through clunky systems instead of doing the job itself, like taking three elevators to reach a desk that should be one room away. Its glossary defines digital friction as unnecessary effort caused by the tools employees use every day. (walkme.com) The sharpest number in the report is not the 51 lost days but the refusal to use the new tools at all. WalkMe says 54% of workers bypassed artificial intelligence tools and did tasks manually at least once in the past 30 days, while another 33% had not used artificial intelligence at all. (walkme.com) The people buying the tools and the people using them are not describing the same workplace. WalkMe says 61% of executives trust artificial intelligence for complex business decisions, but only 9% of workers do, which leaves a 52-point trust gap inside the same companies. (walkme.com) That gap helps explain why adding one more assistant, chatbot, or dashboard can make work slower instead of faster. If employees do not trust the answer, they check it by hand, repeat the task in another system, or ignore the tool completely, which turns “automation” into extra steps. (walkme.com) Vendors are starting to respond by selling less magic and more cleanup. In its April 2026 platform update, fulfilmentcrowd highlighted enhanced search tools and a rebuilt version of its artificial intelligence support agent, Fai, and described the release as “cutting friction and building smarter support.” (fulfilmentcrowd.com) That is a different pitch from the first wave of artificial intelligence software, which often promised a brand-new copilot for every screen. Fulfilmentcrowd says its earlier post on Fai focused on reducing response times, removing friction, and improving consistency inside customer support rather than simply adding another chat window. (fulfilmentcrowd.com) WalkMe is making a similar argument from the buyer side. Its report says the problem is not just whether companies own advanced tools, but whether workers can actually use them without training gaps, workflow confusion, and constant context switching. (walkme.com) The practical lesson is boring in the way expensive problems usually are. A company that adds artificial intelligence on top of messy workflows is like a restaurant buying robot waiters before fixing the kitchen printer, because the orders still come out wrong and the staff still has to run back and forth. (walkme.com)
