How to avoid Digital Transformation failure

Your digital transformation project is more likely to fail than it is to succeed.

In fact, publications from Forbes to McKinsey, BCG, KPMG and Bain and Company have assessed the risk of digital transformation failure to fall somewhere between 70% and 95%. [https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbescoachescouncil/2022/03/16/12-reasons-your-digital-transformation-will-fail/?sh=362296531f1e]

But the quality of the technology is only a very minor part of the equation. By embracing the latest digital technologies, you can see results from improved efficiency to reduced costs and enhanced customer experiences.
However, despite the potential benefits, digital transformation projects can be challenging to implement successfully, due to three core reasons:

1. Lack of Clear Strategy & Goals
2. Resistance to Change
3. Lack of Collaboration

Here’s why:

One – Lack of Clear Strategy & Goals

Don’t digitally transform your company for the sake of doing it, do it because you believe a digital tool is going to provide you with a solution that will deliver benefits.

A solution must be meeting a need and must be delivering benefits.

Without a clearly defined plan and objective, it’s easy to get side-tracked or lose sight of the end goal. This can lead to wasted time, money, and resources, and can cause frustration among team members and stakeholders.

Therefore, it’s essential to have a clear strategy and set of goals in place from the outset. This should include a detailed plan outlining the steps needed to achieve your desired outcomes, as well as metrics to track progress and measure success.

Additionally, it’s important to communicate the strategy and goals effectively to all stakeholders to ensure everyone is aligned and working towards the same objectives.

Two – Resistance to Change

Ultimately a digital solution is just a tool, and even with the most fantastic tool on the market, what makes the difference from a project failure to a project success is adoption.

For a project to succeed you need people who are skilled, well-trained, and, most importantly, willing to use it, otherwise the project won’t go far.

Digital transformation often involves significant changes to processes, systems, and even company culture. This can be unsettling for team members who may feel uncomfortable with the unfamiliar or be resistant to letting go of old ways of doing things.

It’s important to involve team members in the digital transformation process from the beginning. This can include seeking their input, addressing their concerns, and providing training and support to help them adjust to the changes. Additionally, it’s important to create a culture of continuous improvement that encourages experimentation and innovation.

Three – Lack of Collaboration

Digital transformation often involves multiple departments and teams, each with their own objectives, processes, and systems. Without collaboration and alignment across these groups, it can be difficult to achieve the desired outcomes.

An End-to-End planning solution can help you organise your company in the same direction as it can provide common goals. I.e. the right hand knows what the left hand is doing. Often departments run under different metrics and goals, which can sometime conflict with each other, due to different priorities.

Encourage cross-functional collaboration and communication. This can include creating dedicated teams to oversee the digital transformation project, establishing clear lines of communication, and providing opportunities for team members to collaborate and share insights and feedback.

So, how exactly can sofco Planning mitigate these risks?

One of the biggest barriers to starting a project is fear of failure.

At sofco, we have a strong, decades-long record of successful implementations.

Technologically speaking, our software has industry-leading functionality, up-to-date technology including HTML 5.0, Machine Learning, and AI algorithms all of which contributes to project success. To further this, as part of our onboarding process, we consider the three main barriers to success, and we devise an agreed-upon plan to work around these.

There is no denying that implementing a comprehensive End-to-End Planning Solution takes time, and the thought of this can make you want to tear your hair out.

But, as with everything, what it comes down to is having an effective, experienced team at the helm, both internally and with your planning solutions provider. You want to work with a company, like sofco, that wants the project to succeed as much as you do, and who can provide you with the time and resources you need to implement your solution, train your staff, provide common goals and structure to an ever expanded and changing supply network.

Summary

Digital transformation projects can be challenging, but with the right approach, the risk of failure can be mitigated. By having a clear strategy and goals in place, involving team members in the process, and fostering a collaborative working environment, you can, and should, embrace digital transformation.

As planning solution providers, we want your project to succeed probably more than you do. Throughout the whole process, we help you navigate the challenges of digital transformation and change the statistics from digital transformation failure to digital transformation success.