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.

Why Most Business Architecture Fails (And What to Do Instead)

By Heath Gascoigne
May 12, 2025
Blog, Business Transformation, Design Process
Post Views: 152

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The problem isn’t the framework—it’s the mindset.

TOGAF. BPMN. Value Streams.
If you’ve been in the business architecture space for more than five minutes, you’ve probably heard these buzzwords thrown around like magic spells.

The reality?

Most of what passes for business architecture today is Marketecture.
It looks impressive.
It ticks boxes.
But it doesn’t deliver.

At HOBA® Tech, we do business architecture differently.
Ours is business-led, not IT-led.
Agile, not bureaucratic.
Practical, not PowerPoint fluff.

This is how we reverse the 70% failure rate in business transformation—and help you join the top 30% who get it right the first time.

Heres what we’ll cover:

What You’ll Learn in This Article:

Let’s break it down, step by step.👇

⚙️ What Is Business Architecture Really?

Business architecture is the bridge between strategy and execution. It defines how your organisation’s people, processes, technology, and data work together to deliver your vision.

But that’s not what most frameworks do.
They focus on documentation over delivery.
Outputs over outcomes.
Structure over strategy.

At HOBA®, we flip that on its head.

Don't have the time? Want to read this later? No problem, download our guide and read it later!

🧠 Introducing the 6-Step Agile Business Transformation Process

Built into the HOBA® Framework and trusted by the UK Government and organisations worldwide, our 6-step process solves the transformation puzzle by answering the 5W1H strategic questions every Business Architect (or as we call them—Business Transformator®) must ask:

Each of our six steps maps directly to these questions—and delivers transformation that works.

👏 “Most business transformations fail because they focus on tech and forget the business. HOBA flips that. Business-led. Outcome-driven. First time, on time." 🚀 #AgileTransformation #HOBAFramework #BusinessArchitecture #TOM #Leadership

Heath Gascoigne Tweet

✅ Step 1: FOCUS

(WHY)
Define the Vision, Strategy & Objectives of the transformation.
Without this? You’re building on sand.

🧠 Pro Tip: Most failures happen here. If your stakeholders can’t articulate the “why,” stop everything.

✅ Step 2: CONTROL

(WHO)
Identify who’s involved, who’s impacted, and who has a voice.
This is where you set up governance, engagement, and decision-making protocols.

🛑 Ignore middle management at your peril. They make or break transformations.

✅ Step 3: ANALYSE

(WHAT)
Dive into your current operating model. Understand what’s broken, what’s working, and what needs to go.

No, a heat map isn’t analysis. Real analysis = understanding how the business actually runs.

✅ Step 4: EVALUATE

(WHY 2.0 – THE BUSINESS WHY)
Define the benefits. What are you trying to enable?
If the first “why” is vision, this second one is about value.

💡 Most frameworks forget this second “why”—that’s why they miss the value case entirely.

✅ Step 5: DESIGN

(WHERE & HOW)
Design the Target Operating Model. But not the kind that makes execs shudder.

We’re talking real business-led architecture, not just swimlanes and boxes.

💥 If your TOM doesn’t tell your people how the future works, it’s not a TOM—it’s Marketecture.

✅ Step 6: IMPLEMENT

(WHEN)
Build your roadmap. Sequence your initiatives. Deliver.
This is the moment you turn strategy into execution.

At HOBA®, we make sure you finish what you start.

👏 ""gile isn’t about doing more stand-ups. It’s about delivering value—faster, clearer, and with buy-in at every level. That’s how we break the 70% failure rate." #AgileTransformation #HOBA #TransformationSuccess 💡

Heath Gascoigne Tweet

🔧 How to Make Business Architecture Work for You

🚫 Common Mistakes to Avoid

Confusing TOGAF with transformation
Building diagrams instead of delivering results
Overlooking the second “why”—business value

⚠️ Don't Do Business Architecture Like Everyone Else

✔️ Get our 6x International Best-Selling Book:
👉 The Business Transformation Playbook

✔️ Enrol in our Intro to Agile Business Transformation Course
Use code HOBA50 for 50% off this week only.

🔗 Learn how to deliver transformation first time, on time—and join the top 30% who succeed.

👊 Join the Movement

We’re building the next transformation unicorn out of London.

You in?

👏 "Stop building Marketecture—pretty diagrams that impress no one. Start delivering real transformation. That’s what we do with HOBA." #DigitalTransformation #Consulting #HOBA #Strategy 🎯⚠️

Heath Gascoigne Tweet

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

👏 “Transformation isn’t random. It’s a process. 6 steps. 6 models. 6 questions. That’s how you build a Target Operating Model that actually gets delivered." 🚀 #AgileTransformation #HOBAFramework #BusinessArchitecture #TOM #Leadership

Heath Gascoigne Tweet

About HOBA Tech

If this resonated with you, discover how to make Business Transformation a reality—with less stress, fewer resources, and faster results. Explore our award-winning agile Business Transformation Framework, trusted by organizations worldwide, from the UK Government and FTSE-100 companies to innovative start-ups. Ready to begin your transformation journey? Start here.

Curious why The Business Transformation Playbook is hailed as the “Business Transformation Bible”? See what readers are saying in the Amazon reviews.

We’d love to hear your thoughts! Let us know in the comments what stood out to you or what topics you’d like us to cover next. If you found this valuable, share it with others who could benefit!

Thank you for reading, and here’s to your transformation success!

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.

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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Why Most Business Architecture Fails (And What to Do Instead)

Like this Post? Share it 😁

The problem isn’t the framework—it’s the mindset.

What You’ll Learn in This Article:

⚙️ What Is Business Architecture Really?

Don't have the time? Want to read this later? No problem, download our guide and read it later!

🧠 Introducing the 6-Step Agile Business Transformation Process

✅ Step 1: FOCUS

✅ Step 2: CONTROL

✅ Step 3: ANALYSE

✅ Step 4: EVALUATE

✅ Step 5: DESIGN

✅ Step 6: IMPLEMENT

🔧 How to Make Business Architecture Work for You

🚫 Common Mistakes to Avoid

⚠️ Don't Do Business Architecture Like Everyone Else

👊 Join the Movement

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

About HOBA Tech

Heath Gascoigne

Can't get enough real insights? Subscribe to Transformology®!​

Work Smarter, not Harder!

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Connect with Us

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