7 of 10 Digital Transformations Fail !!! 3 Actions to improve the Odds
I had the honor of delivering the keynote address at the CIO EU Summit yesterday, thanks to the GDS Group and Sophie Charnaud for the opportunity. It was a privilege to be amongst peers of high calibre CIOs / CDOs / CTOs across many well known organisations.
In the session, I shared my own practical experience of running large, complex digital transformation programmes over the last 6 years, where we have got it right, but equally where we had stumbled, learned and pivoted.
It is stunning that typically only 3 of 10 end up as successful “Unicorn Digital Transformations”. In an audience poll, the Top 3 challenge cited was around culture, team siloes and organisational structures that tend to impede execution.
In my experience, there are 3 consistent traits of any successful transformation, what I’ve termed as the “Digital Transformation Flywheel”. Making sure, you have the right STRATEGY / supported by right CAPABILITIES / sustained by right CULTURE
There are no magic silver bullets, you’ll need to make all 3 happen, otherwise …
- Right Strategy that lacks Capabilities → leads to inability to EXECUTE
- Right Capabilities that lacks Culture → leads to inability to SUSTAIN
- Right Culture that lacks Strategy → leads inability to make an IMPACT
Right Strategy —> a digital strategy CANNOT stand in isolation, it needs to ladder back up to the organisation’s mission. As you boil down any organisation’s strategy, it ultimately comes down to leveraging digital to help with a few fundamental outcomes – Customer Xperience Up, Cash Up, Cost Down, Carbon Down
Right Capabilities (Process, Data, Systems) —> we easily get excited by the shiny new toy and get into the “An Aspirin Looking for a Headache” syndrome, where you start with the technology (and AI comes to mind 😉), then look for problems to solve. Instead, if you’re clear on the customer/business problem to solve, then be really targeted on the specific processes you need to fix, the data you need to curate and the systems to assemble
Right Culture (People) —> incremental change is already hard. Transformational change, feels like you’re triggering an organisations anti-body to go into over-drive. Culture is perhaps the most important thing to get right and in most cases where it is hardest and where things go wrong
The challenges of digital transformation are real, but the rewards are substantial. Keep in mind that, at its core, digital transformation is about people, and creating a culture of innovation, adaptability, and continuous improvement is essential for success. Let’s keep learning together!