By Alex de Bruyn, CEO, Let’sCreate

Any savvy C-Suite executive in a large, enterprise-scale organisation is likely to tell you they know how important digital transformation is to the company’s longevity. But by the same token there is a good chance that their latest digital transformation initiative is already out of date.

It is an assertion I am comfortable making for a variety of reasons. First, the bigger the company, the slower any change tends to move through it. Bigger businesses are, by nature, more complex and adapting new solutions to that complexity takes time. Second, the increasing pace of technological change means that even nimble startups can have a hard time keeping up with change, never mind enterprise-scale businesses. It should hardly be surprising, then, that a 2023 KPMG survey found that 51% of US technology executives, “on average, have not seen an increase in performance or profitability from digital transformation investments.”

That’s not because digital transformation isn’t worthwhile; done correctly, it still holds immense value. Instead, it’s because large companies, in particular, have failed to understand the widening gap between the pace of technological change and their ability to practically apply it and drive real results. Here’s how they can overcome the obstacles of slow adoption and achieve technological change that serves business outcomes.

The status quo doesn’t cut it 

An important first step in getting any business on an accelerated path to digital transformation is to ensure that people within the business are ready and willing to embrace it. And that means overcoming attitudes best summed up by the phrase, “but this is how we’ve always done it.”

If you want an illustration of how deep-seated this attitude is, let me tell you what the biggest competition for one of our flagship products, Let’sTrade,  is. It’s not a rival tech company, or even one of the big consultancies telling companies what tech to use: it’s Microsoft Excel. In many of the enterprises we meet with, manual spreadsheets are still the default option for managing everything related to digital commerce, including operations, products, and sales processes.

Part of the resistance to changing this status quo is because people within the company don’t yet realise what’s possible with new technology. So, even if the company tries to implement transformative technology, people still end up creating costly and inefficient manual processes. It’s therefore important that the people in a company rolling out a digital transformation initiative ensure that everyone in the business understands how it will improve things for them.

But it’s also important to acknowledge that many people are instinctively averse to change. As Adam Grant, one of the world’s leading organisational psychologists, points out, there are ways around this.

“Visions for change are more appealing when they're coupled with visions of continuity,” he says. “Our culture or strategy might evolve, but our identity will endure.”

 This balance between change and continuity is especially important when rebuilding trust after failed transformation efforts.

The power of partnerships

That’s where the right partnerships come in. Resistance to change within an organisation can be even stronger if it’s been burned by previous digital transformation initiatives. That makes it critical that organisations choose the right digital transformation partners to help guide them through the process.

Ideally, a digital transformation partner should be human-centred and outcome-focused. That means it understands that digital transformation isn’t just about individual users within a company, but all of its employees, stakeholders, and customers too.

Any potential partner should also demonstrate end-to-end capabilities and orchestration across many domains. Part of demonstrating those capabilities includes demonstrating that it’s trusted by ambitious brands in multiple markets.

It should also be able to help build a digital transformation that lasts. Whether it’s through digital upskilling, embedded teams, or co-creating governance frameworks, it should ensure transformation isn’t a one-off but a new way of operating.

Building this kind of culture also ensures that the organisation will be much better equipped to evolve at the same speed as new technologies, rather than constantly trying to play catch-up.

Done right, the rewards can’t be ignored

While I could warn enterprise-scale organisations that not embracing digital transformation means risking falling behind their competition, I’d like to suggest a more compelling narrative. The rewards that come from a well-implemented digital transformation, using the right partner, are too big not to embrace.

With the right mindset, support, and approach, large organisations can avoid the pitfalls of slow adoption and put themselves on an accelerated digital trajectory. Done correctly, such an approach can help employees see transformation as a benefit, rather than a threat. And by aligning change initiatives with the values and identity of the business, companies can overcome inertia and inspire progress. In doing so, they can close the gap between intent and impact and realise the full promise of transformation.