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.

CAN I READ A PREVIEW OF THE BUSINESS TRANSFORMATION PLAYBOOK?

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

Digital Transformation Is Business Transformation

Q: WHY TRUST HOBA®?

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.

By Heath Gascoigne
December 4, 2018
Agile Transformation, Blog Post, Business Transformation, Digital Transformation
Post Views: 1,380

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Welcome to this enlightening blog post from HOBA Tech, where we explore the concept that digital transformation is indeed business transformation.

In this post, we delve into the intricacies of digital transformation, its impact on businesses, and how it essentially reshapes the way businesses operate. The aim is to provide you with a comprehensive understanding of digital transformation and its significance in today’s business landscape.

Here’s what you can expect from this post (click the link to skip to the section below):

NB: Click the images to expand them 📸

You’ve probably heard of digital transformation from tech enthusiasts who proclaim it’s the future.

And in today’s post we’ll go more in-depth and define the term and discuss the issues that go along with it.

What is Digital Transformation?

Digital transformation involves a business that is using or adopting new technology or digital technologies, to change the way the Business operates.

To be explicitly clear – it isn’t ‘digital’ a.k.a digital technologies that are transforming.

Instead, ‘business’ transforms through using digital technologies.

We’ve given an example of digital transformation in our a previous blog post.

Let’s say, the Home Office UK processed Visa applications.

It then transformed its business by changing from a paper-based business model to an online or digital business model.

What the Home Office UK does hasn’t changed, but How it provides its service has
become more digitised.

They implemented scanning solutions, digital documentations and streamlined business processes to further remove paper from the process and become more ‘digital’.

6-Steps to Business Transformation Success

WHAT THE TOP 30% OF ORGANISATIONS KNOW THAT YOU DON’T 👉

👏 "People were constantly reminded that technology is our friend, but if not watched closely, it could also become a foe, which means everyone is focusing on it" 🚀💡#CorporateHabits #BusinessTransformation

Heath Gascoigne Tweet

What are the Problems With Digital Transformation?

A lot of businesses think digital transformation is the next big thing.

But there’s a problem, and the problem with digital transformation is two-fold:

‘Digital’ is the only focus by those in charge, or those leading the change.

It’s perceived that ‘because ‘digital’ is ‘transforming’ it creates a sense of urgency or panic.

Take for instance the infamous Y2K hysteria in the 1990s.

The Year 2000 bug or Millennium Bug as it was called then led to an emphasis in immediate and radical change because a lot of digital products would cease to function.

We all know how the story ended.

Although the armageddon didn’t materialise, it did instil a culture or phantom known as the ‘burning platform’ phase, which lingered around like a bad smell for the next decade or two.

You’ve probably heard of digital transformation from tech enthusiasts who proclaim it’s the future.

And in today’s post we’ll go more in-depth and define the term and discuss the issues that go along with it

While focusing on digital isn’t a bad thing, there are some aspects of the Business’ transformation that you might ignore with an overemphasis on ‘digital’.

This leads me to my second point.

2. If you focus too much on the ‘digital’, what is it you are not focusing on?

A data-driven organization is perceived as the next big thing.

Yet the Harvard Business Review found that there are critical challenges that companies must overcome before they can reap the benefits of digital transformation.

In fact: An eye-opening 77% of executives reported that business adoption of Big Data or AI initiatives remained to be a major challenge.

Additionally, only 7% of these executives cite technology as the challenge to adoption to digital transformation. Instead, 93% of respondents identify people and process as the key challenges.

Clearly, people and process are the biggest enablers of change – but 40.3% identify lack of organization alignment and 24% cite cultural resistance as the leading factors that contribute to the failure of digital transformation.

A similar study by New Vantage Partners 2019 Big Data and AI Executive Survey found similar results.

The study included 64 C-level technology and business executives representing very large corporations such as American Express, Ford Motor, GE, GM and Johnson & Johnson. While this a relatively small number of participants, they represented a large segment of the market, across different sectors.

The results found that 77% of those surveyed stated that although adoption of Big Data and AI initiatives remain a major challenge, 95% of the obstacles stem from people and
process.

This proves what we advocate and teach as the key to successful digital transformation…

Technology is the enabler, but the real change happens with people, and process.

Regardless of what your technical enabler or ‘digital technology’ is that you are using in the transformation of your business, if you want to transform your business, where you begin is with people and process.

Looking for the Best Training to deliver your Business Transformation? Search no more!

👏 "An eye-opening 77% of executives reported that business adoption of Big Data or AI initiatives remained to be a major challenge".🚀💡#DigitalTransformation #BusinessTransformation

Harvard Business Review Tweet

Conclusion

In conclusion, this blog post from HOBA Tech has provided a deep dive into the concept of digital transformation and its profound impact on business transformation. It has explored the intricacies of digital transformation, its effects on businesses, and how it fundamentally reshapes the way businesses operate in the digital age.

Understanding and embracing digital transformation is crucial in today’s business landscape. It is not just about adopting new technologies, but about transforming the way businesses operate and deliver value to customers.

If you found this post informative and would like to learn more about digital transformation and other related topics, we invite you to explore further on HOBA Tech’s website.

If you’re interested in discussing how Hoba Tech can assist your business in navigating the digital transformation journey, please don’t hesitate to contact us. We look forward to hearing from you and helping your business to thrive in the digital age.

Hope you found that helpful. Let me know in the comments below and what you would like to see next. Thank you for reading this!

Sincerely,

Heath Gascoigne

P.S. If you want to join our Business Transformator community of 2,000+ like-minded Business Transformators, join the community on the Business Transformator Facebook Group here.

P.P.S. If you want to learn more about business transformation, check out The Business Transformation Playbook here.

Heath Gascoigne

Hi, I'm Heath, the founder of HOBA TECH and host of The Business Transformation Podcast. I help Business Transformation Consultants, Business Designers and Business Architects transform their and their clients' business and join the 30% club that succeed. Join me on this journey.

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