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.

FCA programme updates: DFU capability, ESG ratings regime & financial-crime TOM (neutral overview) 📅

November 19, 2025
News
Post Views: 531

Summary:

This note signposts public updates related to three FCA workstreams and outlines, at a high level, how HOBA Tech supported operating-model design and governance. It is informational only and does not imply FCA endorsement.

What’s publicly available now

The Forensic Science Regulator’s Statutory Code of Practice (in force) sets accreditation expectations (e.g., ISO/IEC 17025 via UKAS) for covered forensic activities. The FCA has publicly referenced the continual development of its cyber/digital forensics capabilities.

UK legislation has brought ESG ratings providers into FCA regulation, with the FCA welcoming the move and indicating consultation on the regime timeline.

Read more: FCA announcement welcoming ESG ratings legislation · FCA workplan references.

The FCA continues to report on actions following the Independent Investigation into London Capital & Finance (LCF), including changes to supervision and transparency.

Team mapping ESG ratings supervision processes during operating-model workshop

Heath Gascoigne at DFU design workshop facilitating stakeholder alignment session

Slide showing target operating model blueprint with capabilities and control framework

Group workshop discussing financial-crime target operating model and governance cadence

How HOBA Tech contributed (in brief)

Operating-model (TOM) design: Connected policy and board intent to measurable outcomes (VSOM) across People, Process, Technology and Data.
Governance & assurance: Mapped risks, controls and data/MI for regulator-grade traceability (policy → control → procedure).
Repeatable frameworks: Created a single source of truth (capabilities, processes, benefits, control library) reusable across workstreams.
Change cadence: Set review rhythms and decision rights to accelerate safe delivery.

Note: This section describes HOBA Tech’s method and contribution to internal design/governance. It does not represent endorsement or confirmation of internal approvals by the FCA.

Why this matters for regulated change in ANZ & APAC

As data-residency, sustainability and financial-crime expectations rise across the region, organisations need clear TOMs with defensible governance. HOBA® provides a practical way to move from ambition to audit-ready execution—fast, safely and with people at the centre.

🎯Proud to have supported regulator-grade operating models at the FCA: DFU capability uplift, ESG ratings regime prep & Financial Crime TOM—turning policy → controls → outcomes. 🔍📊🚀

Heath Gascoigne Tweet

Talk to us

Ready to design or refresh a regulator-grade operating model—ESG, financial crime or data-led transformation?
Book a strategy call → hoba.tech/schedule-discovery-call
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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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FCA programme updates: DFU capability, ESG ratings regime & financial-crime TOM (neutral overview) 📅

Summary:

What’s publicly available now

How HOBA Tech contributed (in brief)

Why this matters for regulated change in ANZ & APAC

Talk to us

About HOBA Tech

Register for our newsletter: Business Transformation News in your mailbox

Other News

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

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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