What Is Performance Support?

How Performance Support Drives Productivity in the Flow of Work

A recent study found that 19.8% of an employee’s time (the equivalent of one full day per week) is wasted searching for the information they need to do their job effectively. That’s nearly 400 hours of lost productivity per team member each year.

This problem is only intensifying as companies undergo continuous digital transformation. With the accelerated adoption of enterprise applications like Salesforce, SAP, Workday, and ServiceNow, as the implementation of new AI platforms, the complexity of the employee tech stack has never been higher. These tools promise increased efficiency—but only if employees can use them effectively. When users struggle with workflows, can’t find help, or avoid key features altogether, business outcomes suffer.

That’s why leading organizations are turning to performance support systems: solutions that deliver on-demand, contextual job aids right inside the applications where work happens. Instead of interrupting productivity with external training sessions or lengthy documentation, performance support meets users in their workflows. It offers immediate, self-service access to task-specific guidance, from interactive walkthroughs to tooltips to searchable help widgets, helping users complete tasks quickly, accurately, and with confidence.

This aligns with the well-documented 70-20-10 learning model, which holds that 70% of learning comes from on-the-job experience, 20% from peer interactions, and only 10% from formal training. Performance support directly addresses that 70%, enabling learning in the flow of work and on-demand support without disrupting the task at hand.

Types of Performance Support

Performance support can take many forms, from traditional job aids to advanced digital solutions. Here’s a breakdown of the most common types, along with how they help users access knowledge at the moment of need:

• Peer Support and SME Access: Asking a colleague or subject matter expert for help. Valuable for tribal knowledge, but not scalable and prone to inconsistency.
• Formal Training Programs: Structured sessions via LMS, webinars, or instructor-led training. Necessary for foundational knowledge, but not designed for moment-of-need support or ongoing task guidance.
• Microlearning Modules: Bite-sized training content (under 5 minutes) that targets specific skills or tasks. Effective for refreshers and just-in-time learning, though often accessed outside of the work environment.
• Step-by-Step Instructions or Process Flowcharts: Visual guides or printable job aids that outline workflows or procedures. Useful as reference materials, but static and non-contextual, requiring users to toggle between screens.
• Knowledge Bases and Internal Wikis: Centralized libraries of articles, FAQs, and SOPs. Good for reference but often overwhelming, hard to search, and disconnected from the app experience.
• Video Tutorials: Pre-recorded how-to videos that walk through tools or tasks. Helpful for visual learners, but not interactive and difficult to apply in the moment of need.
• In-App Guidance (via Digital Adoption Platforms): Interactive walkthroughs, tooltips, pop-ups, task lists, and embedded Self Help widgets delivered directly within the application. This is the most effective, real-time support solution—personalized, scalable, and built into the user’s workflow.
• Self-Help Widgets and Contextual Search: Searchable help panels embedded into software that surface relevant knowledge base articles, videos, or SOPs based on what the user is doing. Powered by DAPs, these empower true self-service without leaving the application.
• Chatbot Software and AI Copilots: Conversational interfaces that provide real-time answers or task guidance. When integrated with DAPs, AI copilots can surface help content, answer FAQs, and even walk users through processes using natural language input.

Comparing Modern Performance Support vs. Traditional Employee Support Systems

Modern Digital Adoption Platforms (DAPs) like Whatfix DAP have emerged as next-generation performance support systems. They go beyond passive documentation by enabling interactive, personalized, and analytics-driven support embedded within enterprise applications. According to Everest Group, over 70% of enterprises are now using or actively evaluating DAPs to enable employees with real-time performance support to drive digital adoption across their software stack and achieve their business outcomes.

When compared to traditional support models, like peer-to-peer support from subject matter experts or formal training through workshops or LMS modules, the value of modern performance support systems that enable employees in the flow of work with task-relevant in-app guidance is obvious:

First time hearing the term digital adoption platform? Get caught up with these DAP resources:

• What Is a Digital Adoption Platform?
• Quantifying the ROI of a DAP
• How to Build an Enterprise DAP Business Case

Business Impact of Modern Performance Support Systems

Effective performance support systems are more than simple job aids; they drive meaningful business outcomes. Below are the key ways modern, in-the-flow-of-work support translates into measurable impact for both employees and organizations:

• Improved Employee Productivity and Efficiency: When employees have access to contextual help at the moment of need, they complete tasks faster, make fewer mistakes, and stay focused. Performance support systems eliminate wasted time toggling between screens, searching for documentation, or asking colleagues for help, directly improving output and operational efficiency.
• Faster Time-to-Proficiency: Instead of spending weeks or months ramping up through traditional training alone, employees become proficient faster when they learn in the flow of work. Performance support tools deliver step-by-step guidance as users navigate tasks, accelerating their learning curve and reducing their time to become fully productive.
• Better Knowledge Retention: Performance support reinforces learning at the moment of need, helping users retain information more effectively. This aligns with the 70-20-10 learning model, where 70% of knowledge is gained through on-the-job experience. By embedding support directly into workflows, employees retain what they learn because they immediately apply it.
• Increased Self-Service and Autonomy: With contextual help built into applications, employees can resolve issues, complete workflows, and access resources on their own, without relying on trainers, manuals, or support teams. This self-service empowerment reduces dependency on internal experts and boosts confidence across the workforce.
• Reduced Reliance on Subject Matter Experts: Performance support systems lessen the load on SMEs, team leads, and IT support by automating the delivery of answers and guidance. Instead of repeating the exact instructions or correcting user errors, SMEs can focus on high-impact work while the system handles day-to-day enablement.
• Task-Relevant, Contextual Training: Generic training methods often fail because they are not delivered when the user needs them. Performance support flips this model by offering context-aware guidance directly tied to the task at hand. This improves the learning experience and ensures better accuracy and process governance.
• Scalable, Cost-Effective Enablement: Modern performance support systems scale effortlessly across departments, teams, and even global locations. Unlike traditional training models that require repetition, travel, or dedicated instructors, performance support can be created once and reused infinitely, making it far more cost-effective.
• Accelerating Digital Adoption and Maximizing Software ROI: When users feel confident using digital tools and features, user adoption increases naturally. Performance support systems help employees unlock the full potential of your digital transformation and software investments, leading to higher utilization rates, more accurate data entry, and more substantial ROI across your tech stack.
• Better Employee Experience: Ultimately, performance support reduces user friction. Employees don’t have to struggle with unfamiliar interfaces or outdated documentation; they get what they need, when they need it. This leads to less frustration, higher satisfaction, and a better digital workplace experience.

Why Whatfix Is the Best Performance Support System

Traditional performance support no longer meets the demands of the modern digital workplace. Whatfix transforms performance support from disconnected, reactive experiences into an intelligent, embedded layer of just-in-time guidance within your employees’ workflows.

As the leader in digital adoption, Whatfix enables organizations to deliver personalized, task-specific guidance directly inside the applications employees rely on to do their job. Instead of toggling between tools, asking peers for help, or waiting for IT support, users are empowered with real-time contextual help that adapts to their roles, workflows, and needs. Whether onboarding a new team member, managing a complex software rollout, or training partners on new digital systems, Whatfix makes software easier to use and enables employees to work more efficiently.

Whatfix provides a rich toolkit of no-code guidance formats that empower enablement teams to build and manage contextual performance support at scale. With Whatfix, enable your end-users by delivering multiple types of in-app performance support such as:

• Interactive Flows: Step-by-step guides that walk users through tasks inside the app.
• Smart Tips: Inline cues that surface contextual information exactly when and where it’s needed.
• Pop-Ups and Beacons: Attention-grabbing announcements for new features, updates, or changes.
• Task Lists: Guided checklists that track progress and improve user accountability.
• Self Help: Searchable support centers embedded into the UI, surfacing relevant content from your knowledge repositories. Users can trigger in-app Flows and chat with Self Help’s AI copilot to help surface answers, summarize content, and complete tasks.
• User Behavior Analytics: Insights into which users need help, where they drop off, and what guidance is most effective.
• Mobile, Web, Desktop, Citrix Support: Deliver performance support across platforms and environments.

How Organizations Use Whatfix to Enable Performance Support in the Flow of Work

With flexible deployment across web, desktop, mobile, and Citrix environments, Whatfix supports use cases from enterprise software (like ERPs, CRMs, and HCMs), customer-facing applications, and external-facing portals for patients, sellers, and service providers. The result is faster onboarding, reduced support needs, fewer user errors, and better software ROI.

Here are real-world examples of how organizations use Whatfix as a performance support system:

Software Clicks Better With Whatfix

To truly unlock the value of your digital investments, you must empower users with real-time, role-based support that meets them exactly where they work. Whatfix enables organizations to deliver outcomes by turning performance support from a static concept into an intelligent, embedded experience that drives productivity, accuracy, and efficiency.

Unlike point solutions or generic training tools, Whatfix is the most complete, enterprise-ready digital adoption platform, built to scale with your business and evolve alongside your digital transformation strategy. Here’s a few reasons why Whatfix is the enterprise DAP leader:

• No-code, easy-to-deploy content creation.
• Contextual, role-based guidance and help.
• Add-on products like Mirror to create sandbox application environments and Whatfix Product Analytics for comprehensive custom event tracking.
• Multi-format support across web, mobile, desktop, and virtual environments.
• Enterprise analytics to track and optimize user performance.
• AI-powered Self Help and AI Analytics to streamline support.
• Dedicated customer onboarding, content creation services, and success teams.
• Largest pure-play, vendor-agnostic DAP used across industries.

Ready to see Whatfix in action? Request a demo now!