The Adoption Paradox

The institutions with the largest balance-sheet exposure to settlement inefficiency are frequently the slowest to adopt the technology that would reduce it. This is the adoption paradox.

It is rarely a technology problem. It is a combination of risk appetite, regulatory caution, fragmented ownership of the problem and the absence of an internal sponsor whose objectives are served by change.

Where adoption does progress, it usually shares three features: a narrow initial use case, a clear measurement approach, and an executive sponsor accountable for the outcome rather than the experiment.

The practical implication for leadership teams is to stop framing adoption as a technology decision and start framing it as an operating-model decision with measurable value at stake.