Organizational challenges

It’s said that culture and transformation are two sides of the same coin in an organization, intrinsically linked and going hand in hand when digital transformation is seen as a cultural change within the business. However, businesses that attempt to digitally transform to adopt new processes, new policies, and new approaches are faced with the challenge of transforming their own culture, attitude to technology, and people, since change is reflected in the needs of employees and customers. In this section, we will look at the factors affecting transformation, taking into account culture and people.

Transformation challenges – business- or IT-driven

A recent study, referenced here, revealed that some organizations’ ability to carry out digital transformation and modernization programs was not geared up for the future.

Factors affecting transformation

Here are the list of factors affecting transformation:

• Talent shortage: we have already discussed the issues with attrition taking place due to the surge in demand since the pandemic. It’s not only that there’s a lack of skills but there’s a lack of the right skills to help with the transformation.
• Adversity to change: It’s a natural phenomenon that our initial reaction to any change is a negative one, and businesses are no different. It can sometimes feel like an uphill battle to change that mindset and move from a headwind to a tailwind toward transformation.
• Re-skilling: Investment is needed, as is the patience to re-skill the workforce to adapt to the new changes that the transformation will bring.
• Cost impact on the bottom line: This is one of the most critical factors in deciding whether the transformation will bring true ROI or TCO to, in effect, deliver the justification that it was all well worth it.
• Lack of stakeholder buy-in: If key sponsors are not aligned at the board level, then no amount of pushing from middle management will make this a success.
• Business versus IT: Transformation has always seen two opposing forces at work. More often than not, transformations are either business-led or IT-led, and the challenge remains to bring both together as no transformation can be a success without business or IT leaders.
• Finding the right transformation partner: Unless the business has the right skills, experience, and knowledge to carry out the business transformation it needs, finding the right implementation partner is vital. In the previous section, we discussed the challenges in finding the right partner.
• Lack of business strategy: It might seem strange to add business strategy as one of the factors affecting transformation, but if there is no clarity on how the organization would like to develop its business locally, regionally, or globally, it will become a hindrance to any investment in IT transformation.
• Transformation fatigue: Previous programs delivering business transformation can lead to resistance to change, and this is one of the key factors why innovating to the latest software and business process innovation is seen as more of the same.