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.

Heath Gascoigne Featured in COO Insider on High-ROI Operational Efficiency 📈

November 20, 2025
News
Post Views: 208

COO Insider Highlights HOBA Tech’s High-Impact Justice Transformation

COO Insider’s recent feature, “25 Operational Efficiency Improvements with the Highest ROI for Small Businesses”, brings together practical, real-world examples of how leaders are transforming operations to drive profit and performance. Among the experts quoted is HOBA Tech Founder & CEO, Heath Gascoigne, recognised for his work designing a Target Operating Model (TOM) for a major justice-sector initiative.

In the project highlighted, Heath led the design of a new operating model for the Ministry of Justice’s National Compliance & Enforcement programme. By consolidating 53 physical locations into just 3 central contact centres and introducing new case management and telephony systems, the programme achieved a 75% reduction in headcount while improving service delivery and increasing fine collection revenues.

This is exactly the type of transformation HOBA Tech is known for: business-led, outcomes-driven, and designed around a clear Target Operating Model that aligns strategy, operations and implementation.

Why Operational Efficiency Is a Growth Lever – Not Just a Cost-Cut

Most organisations don’t fail because of a lack of ideas. They fail because of friction:

The COO Insider feature makes one thing clear: operational efficiency is one of the highest-ROI levers available to leaders, especially in small and mid-sized organisations that can’t afford to carry waste for long.

From HOBA Tech’s perspective, efficiency isn’t just cutting cost. It’s about redesigning your Target Operating Model so that:

When that happens, the “ROI” shows up not just in reduced cost, but in better customer experiences, higher collections and revenue, and more predictable performance.

What This Means If You’re Planning (or Fixing) a Transformation

If you’re about to start a transformation

If you’re at the planning stage, this is the best time to design your Target Operating Model properly, before you commit to big technology or organisational changes. The justice-sector example shows how starting with TOM – not tools – can unlock structural efficiencies that last for years.

With HOBA, we help you:

If your transformation is already underway (and getting messy)

Many of our clients come to us when the programme is already in trouble:

The same principles that delivered a 75% headcount reduction and improved collections in justice operations can be applied to stabilise and realign a struggling transformation. We focus on governance, decision-making, and aligning the work on the ground with the outcomes the board is paying for.

🔍 “The biggest efficiency wins don’t come from squeezing people harder – they come from redesigning the operating model so your teams are set up to succeed. In justice, that meant consolidating 53 locations into 3 centres and giving people the tools, data and governance to do the right work, first time. That’s where the real ROI lives.”📊🚀

Heath Gascoigne Tweet

Free Resources and Strategy Support

Whether you’re a small business owner, COO, transformation lead, or public-sector executive, you don’t need to guess your way through this.

You can:

👉 Ready to reduce complexity, unlock capacity, and boost ROI from your transformation?

Get in touch with HOBA Tech today to access our free resources or book a strategy call.

About HOBA Tech

HOBA Tech is a business transformation methodology and software platform founded by Heath Gascoigne, a former business architect for UK government agencies and FTSE 100 companies. The HOBA (House of Business Architecture®) framework has been implemented in over 5000+ organizations globally, with a focus on practical, repeatable transformation processes backed by AI-powered tools.

The HOBA methodology combines business architecture, agile principles, and design thinking to create a systematic approach to enterprise transformation. Unlike traditional consulting models, HOBA empowers internal teams with frameworks, tools, and coaching to lead their own transformations.

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Heath Gascoigne Featured in COO Insider on High-ROI Operational Efficiency 📈

COO Insider Highlights HOBA Tech’s High-Impact Justice Transformation

Why Operational Efficiency Is a Growth Lever – Not Just a Cost-Cut

What This Means If You’re Planning (or Fixing) a Transformation

If you’re about to start a transformation

If your transformation is already underway (and getting messy)

Free Resources and Strategy Support

About HOBA Tech

Register for our newsletter: Business Transformation News in your mailbox

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Heath Gascoigne Featured in COO Insider on High-ROI Operational Efficiency

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