DECEMBER 2021CIOAPPLICATIONSEUROPE.COM8DIGITAL DOESN'T MEAN EASYcross the world right now many thousands of professionals are working hard to improve their businesses. Project objectives are being defined, stakeholders carefully mapped, Steering committees, huddles and scrums are happening somewhere as you read these words. Take a moment to picture them. You've met these people; you've been in these meetings. Reflecting on all this hard work, it's sobering to realise that most of those projects will fail. This is famously true of technology projects ­ around half of all technology projects fail to achieve their goals either in business outputs, timeframe or budget. But if anything, it's truer of organisational change efforts with as many of seven in ten of such projects failing. It's remarkable that we continue to embark on major projects at all, never mind digital transformations. Digital transformations attempt to deliver on both technology and organisational change goals. They are not technology projects although they rely on technology. Successful efforts require a fundamental change in how businesses work, considering everything from organisational structures and business processes to customer engagement and measures of success. Failures can be costly in lost investment, reduced competitiveness and in harm to the credibility of the executives who championed the project. Yet, despite the odds, companies around the world continue to make attempts. Spending on digital transformation professional services is growing strongly and is forecast to exceed $200 bn globally by 2025. For many industries, customer and employee expectations have driven digitisation, making development of a digital business model a base requirement rather than evidence of innovation. The potential value is proportionate to the challenge and has only been enhanced by the huge disruption the COVID pandemic has created. If your competition is already digital, if your industry is subject to new, responsive, agile and flexible disruptors then adapting to a digital world is a matter of survival. So, knowing digital transformation is difficult but probably worthwhile, how do we maximise the chances of success? Below are three simple principles that ­ although far from a guarantee of success ­ will help reduce the odds of failure. 1. Be specific"Digital transformation" is a slippery term in the same way as "love" and "happiness" are. It's a broad concept that serves IN MYOPINIONDENIS MCMANUS, DIRECTOR, STRATEGY DEPLOYMENT, GLOBAL RETAIL MARKETS, EAST WEST, LIBERTY MUTUALA
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