22
CIO OUTLOOK
10 REASONS
WHY DIGITAL TRANSFORMATIONS
FAIL
Partha Banerjee, Group IT Manager at Al Safeer Group offers us an expert view on why some digital transformation journeys tend to fail and how avoiding the listed mistakes would be vital to ensuring successful digital transformation
D
igital transformation is the latest trend in the market. CIOs are stitching together cloud, APIs and micro services into platforms to augment business processes. Agile architectures, they believe, help streamline operations and better serve customers. More than 50% of the business and tech leaders claim that their organization is advancing digital transformation plans across the enterprise. The harsh reality is that such transformations often feel like mirages: cool and inviting from afar, but less real as they progress along the path. Often the biggest misstep is the inability to account for the cultural change required to pull off enterprise-wide transformation. Getting blindsided by COVID-19 isn’t doing organizations any favors on their transformation journeys, but even for those who keep most of their budgets intact, there are very specific impediments to driving wholesale enterprise change. Here are 10 stumbling blocks that are considered to be responsible for derailing digital transformations.
SMARTSMB / June 2020
1.
Culture shock: For many organizations, the culture change required for transformation can prove insurmountable. A large number of organizations say that their organizational structure is not aligned to support transformation. Technology is at everyone’s fingertips but realizing how to optimize its potential is complicated. That narrow mindset — lacking a common vision and failing to consider the entire ecosystem — is exactly where digital initiatives go wrong.
2.
Lack of CEO sponsorship: Digital transformation efforts are coming up short on intended ROI, in part because digital transformation is as much a leadership issue as it is a strategy, technology, culture and talent issue. Transformation starts from the top — in theory, at least. But, according to a 2017 Wipro Digital survey, the lack of a clear transformation strategy was cited by 35 percent of executives as a key barrier to achieving its full digital potential, according to Rajan Kohli, global head of Wipro Digital, the CEO is often to blame.
3.
The problem with siloes: Many technology leaders cited too
many competing priorities as a transformation hurdle they are struggling to clear. It is critical to secure consensus among senior leaders and stakeholders regarding business goals and minimize conflicts in expectations. COVID-19 has highlighted these disconnects in the organizations. A product owner who can’t see inside the supply chain because they aren’t allowed access will find it difficult to serve customers. Moreover, a siloed organization isn’t going to respond nimbly in a crisis such as the coronavirus pandemic. It's about success in transcending or traversing the organizational siloes and the organization layers to transform all of the business processes to get the outcome you desire.
4.
Trouble with ‘what and how’: Assuming they get over their resistance to change, most companies don’t exit the ‘wait-and-see’ mode until lackluster financials and pressure mounts from the board and rivals. Still, most leaders struggle to figure out what they need to change and how to go about it. This indecision can create inertia or, worse, wrong decisions. A major stumbling block for transfor-
