WHY IS THERE SUCH A HIGH FAILURE RATE IN BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION TODAY?

The true number of business transformation project failure is underreported. Depending on which research you follow, the figure is between 70% – 80% of business transformation projects end in failure. There is five (5) main causes in business transformation failure are – lack of stakeholder involvement, lack of senior stakeholder support, changing requirement, incomplete requirements and poor planning.

WHAT IS WRONG WITH EXISTING APPROACHES?

Nothing. They are good at the purpose they were designed for, except they are now used for a different purpose, and that is not the original purpose they were designed for. Look at TOGAF® (The Open Group Architecture Framework) for example – it’s a framework for managing ‘technology’ or ‘technology changes’. It is not surprising, it was written by a “technology standards company”. They know and understand technology. What is happening is, TOGAF® is being used in business transformation projects that the ‘framework’ to manage the ‘transformation’, but it only focuses one thing – technology. It doesn’t focus on anything else other than Technology (it almost completely ignores, the other two (2) important aspects of the organisation – People, and Process(es)). It also ignores how to transition the business from the current state, to its desired future state. It effectively put the Technology stakeholders in the drivers set, to dictate to the Business what they think they want and literally throw it over the fence to the Business for them to work out if first it is fit for purpose, and then how to use and implement it.

HOW DOES HOBA® SOLVE THE PROBLEM IN BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION TODAY?

HOBA® solves the 70% failure rate in business transformation problem by addressing the causes that problem in the first place – by putting the Business back into control, to take control back from Technology and into their own hands, using a structured process and framework that was developed WITH the Business, BY the Business, to be USED and OWNED by the Business, putting the control back into their own hands.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST PROBLEM WITH BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION PROJECTS AND HOW DOES HOBA® HELP?

The biggest problem with business transformation projects is firstly the name. “Business Transformation” is incorrectly called or referred to as “Digital Transformation”. ‘Digital Transformation’ is a misnomer, it is not ‘digital’ per se that is ‘transforming’, it is the ‘Business’ that is transforming, and how it does or is doing that in this period of time is via ‘digital technologies’ (if ‘technology’ isn’t already digital, what were they before?). What this intentional confusion in the marketplace is causing, is it causes is an incorrect bias and focus on the ‘technology aspect’ only of the transformation, which by doing so completely ignores the Business aspects – that’s the Business Operations Stakeholders and their concerns, and the Processes those stakeholders carry out. HOBA® helps by putting the Business back in to control, to be very clear and structured with what is the Vision, Strategy, Objectives and Measures, what stakeholders are involved and need to be involved in the transformation and their decision making authority, the process to manage those decisions, scope and risks; what are the problems they want to address or opportunities they want to take advantage of; what benefits they want to realise from the transformation and when; what the future or Target Operating Model (TOM) needs to look like to achieve their Vision and Strategic Objectives and business benefits, and how and when will the changes be implemented. Everything and nothing more, only doing what needs to be done, to transform the business, not doing what is happening in the marketplace today and that is ‘creating reams and reams of colourful models and diagrams, that while beautiful, are in reality just “interesting but (sadly) useless”.

WHAT IS THE DESIGN PROCESS?

The Design Process is the 6-Step process used to implement HOBA® and manage the transformation from the very start, to the very end, implementation.

WHAT IS THE BIGGEST MISCONCEPTION IN THE MARKETPLACE?

The biggest misconception in the marketplace today with business transformation is that Clients are led to believe that they need ‘reams and reams’ of pretty colourful presentations to transform your business. This is a fallacy. This only creates expensive shelf-ware. What those ‘pretty presentations’ are designed for is to enable the transformation project to keep moving toward its end goal, transforming the Business. What the Clients are led to believe is those ‘pretty presentations are the actual goal of the project, and often celebrated and hang up on the project office wall with great bravado as if they were the goal of the transformation itself! What those ‘pretty presentations’ actually need to be is two (2) things – first, is they need to be understandable, and written in a language that the Business understands, so first they can understand what it and they mean, and then they can agree to it. Then second, then they need to be useful. A lot of Consultants and Consultancy’s wanting to impress their clients with great marketing, pretty presentations and long list of impressive acronyms and latest “it” words, but this just confuses the Client. What happens is the Consultants will present their ‘ideas’ (because that’s what they are, they have had one meeting with the Client, interpreted that into their own words and perspectives, and come back to them several weeks and months later, having not consulted with them through the process, thinking ‘they know their Clients business best (they don’t, the Client does!) and play back their 300+ page power-point presentation that looks impressive), they present it to the Client, the Client has no idea what it means or says (its written in a foreign language, literally), due to the time it’s taken, and the money it has cost at that point, the Client agrees to it in the room, then walks out the room, and completely ignores everything the Consultant(s) said. The transformation goes nowhere. HOBA® solves that problem, refer to the first question above.

HOBA® is trusted by the UK Government, FTSE-100 companies and start-ups to both set up, and also turnaround their failing transformations. HOBA® is used by thousands around to transform their business, and was made public for the first time in late 2018, after over 10+ years in use with private clients, published in The Business Transformation Playbook – How to Implement Your Organisations Target Operating Model (TOM) and Achieve a Zero-Percent Failure Rate Using the 6-Step Agile Framework’, reaching bestseller on Amazon in 6-categories including Project Management and Consulting, and made it onto the Best Business Strategy eBook List of All Time by BookAuthority, at no.30 (March 2021). See News for details.

CAN I READ A PREVIEW OF THE BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION PLAYBOOK?

Yes, you can download a FREE preview to The Business Transformation Playbook here.

The Results Are In: 9 Scholarship Winners Selected in Live Drawing Celebration 🏆

October 4, 2025
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Post Views: 1,222

The Results Are In: 9 Scholarship Winners Selected in Live Drawing Celebration

We’re thrilled to announce the 9 scholarship winners from our 9-Year Anniversary Celebration! After thousands of incredible submissions from transformation professionals worldwide, our live drawing event has selected the recipients of full scholarships to the HOBA Certified Business Transformation Architect program (valued at $1,997 each).

🏆 Congratulations to Our Winners:

Please join us in congratulating the recipients of the HOBA 9-Year Scholarship:

🎯 Tom Juma – Kenya
🎯 Udom Hongchatiku – Thailand
🎯 Jarret Bunnin – United States
🎯 James Landgraf – United States
🎯 Ajit Ahloowalia – Ireland
🎯 Will Bevan – United Kingdom
🎯 Ernest Obu Cann – United Kingdom
🎯 Marcel Ekkel – Hong Kong
🎯 Luis Pena – Mexico

What each winner receives

Each winner has been awarded a full scholarship seat on the Certified HOBA Business Architect programme. The scholarship includes:

Full enrolment in the Certified HOBA Business Architect course (training modules, course materials and assessments).
Priority onboarding and a dedicated welcome call with a HOBA course lead.
Early access to HOBA Pro AI (Private Beta) before the public release — an AI toolkit designed to accelerate your transformation work.
HOBA certification on successful completion plus membership in the HOBA community.

🙌 “Thrilled to congratulate the 9 winners of our HOBA Scholarship! 🎉 We’re committed to democratizing business transformation — making world-class training accessible with new 12 & 24-month plans and early HOBA Pro AI private-beta access" 🌍🤖 #HOBA #BusinessTransformation #Scholarship

Heath Gascoigne Tweet

Why we ran this

This scholarship was awarded in support of HOBA’s mission to democratise business transformation — to make professional transformation skills accessible and affordable for practitioners everywhere, not just large organisations. We also used this opportunity to introduce our new 12-month and 24-month payment plans, designed to make certification and lifelong learning financially accessible without compromising quality.

Want to learn more / enroll?

If you didn’t win but still want to join the Certified HOBA Business Architect programme, enrolments are open. Learn more and register here: https://hoba.tech/certified-business-transformation-architect

If you’re interested in HOBA Pro AI (Private Beta) and how it will support your transformation work, visit HOBA Pro for product details and early access information.

Founding Partners — Australia & New Zealand

As we grow globally, HOBA Tech is still accepting applications for our Australian & New Zealand Founding Partner Programme. Only 10 founding partner slots are available — applications are open now and will close at the end of November or once the 10 seats are filled (whichever comes first).

If you’re a transformation leader in ANZ and want exclusive early access, partner benefits and enhanced commercial terms, apply here (or email [email protected]).

🚀 “Our ANZ Founding Partner programme is open — only 10 slots. ⏳ If you’re a transformation leader in Australia or New Zealand, apply now (closes end-Nov or when filled). Don’t miss early access, partner benefits and privileged commercial terms" 🚀 #ANZ #FoundingPartners #HOBA

Heath Gascoigne Tweet

Thank you

A huge thank you to everyone who applied and to everyone who joined the live draw. Your interest and the calibre of applications is proof that democratizing transformation matters — and that there’s a global demand for practical, rigorous, and accessible transformation training.

About Heath Gascoigne and HOBA Tech

Heath Gascoigne is the CEO of HOBA Tech, a leading business transformation consultancy, and the author of the internationally acclaimed The Business Transformation Playbook. With years of expertise and a globally adopted framework, HOBA Tech empowers organizations to achieve transformation success through strategic guidance, training, and actionable insights.

Heath’s innovative leadership style continues to inspire organizations worldwide, reshaping how they approach transformation and driving measurable results. Ready to transform your business? Discover how HOBA Tech can help you succeed.

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The Results Are In: 9 Scholarship Winners Selected in Live Drawing Celebration 🏆

The Results Are In: 9 Scholarship Winners Selected in Live Drawing Celebration

🏆 Congratulations to Our Winners:

What each winner receives

Why we ran this

Want to learn more / enroll?

Founding Partners — Australia & New Zealand

Thank you

About Heath Gascoigne and HOBA Tech

Register for our newsletter: Business Transformation News in your mailbox

Other News

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FCA programme updates: DFU capability, ESG ratings regime & financial-crime TOM — and how HOBA Tech contributed

Heath Gascoigne named Digital Transformation CEO of the Year 2025 by CEO Monthly

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