Reasons for Digital Transformations Failure

 Digital transformations fail for many reasons, but most issues can be linked back to one of three things: people, communication, and measurement.

• People

People can make or break your digital transformation. Remember: culture is both a top driver of digital transformation and one of the six pillars of successful ones. If you don’t put enough focus on people and culture, your initiative is bound to fail.

Sixteen of McKinsey’s 21 keys to success in digital transformation involve people.

• Poor Communication

Announcing a digital transformation initiative is not the same as communicating with your team about it. Often, leadership simply mandates changes without taking the time to explain the why and how. If you don’t provide specific and actionable guidance before, during, and even after a transformation, your initiative won’t make it very far.

• Lack of Measurement

You can’t have a successful digital transformation if you failed to define what success means to you. Companies sometimes assume they can monitor success based on the key performance metrics (KPIs) they’ve already established for their business. But if you’re changing the way you do business, you’ll need to set additional KPIs to monitor the effects.