Studies have highlighted a 70% failure rate for digital transformations, primarily because of inadequate planning, readiness and employee training. Without a prepared team on day one, your organisation can risk costly delays, user frustration and missed opportunities from the outset, potentially jeopardising the entire initiative.
Adequate planning comprises three core pillars which directly impact project success and user adoption: readiness, training, and go-live.
As noted in the Harvard Business Review “The effectiveness of a digital transformation relies on thorough preparation, skilled users, and a carefully managed go-live process”. In our experience, many organisations underestimate the importance of at least one of these areas, creating gaps for undiscovered risks to thrive.
Programme Delays and Operational Disruptions
Readiness within digital transformation goes beyond technical preparation, it makes sure that every level of the organisation is aligned and capable of executing the change. The foundations of it lay within organisational preparedness and alignment of leadership. Sustainable change goes beyond simply choosing the right technology.
We have found cultural readiness within an organisation is a critical factor in the success of a programme, and its absence can derail an implementation even if technical readiness is achieved. Similarly, a lack of leadership buy-in can cause confidence in a programme to waver. Without visible commitment from leaders, employees are less likely to trust or embrace the change. Fostering an open and positive mindset can support teams to sustain the change once they return to business as usual, with visibility and commitment from leaders playing a key role in setting this positive tone.
A greater organisational success can be achieved when cultural readiness and engaged leadership teams are established, thereby fostering ownership at all levels which led to the creation of a shared commitment. We conduct individualised, holistic readiness checks with a focus on achieving a seamless transition to a go-live state. When readiness is neglected, a ripple effect of misalignment is created, fuelling noise and disruptions which often manifest as programme delays and operational challenges.
User Errors and Poor Adoption Rates
Training is crucial to facilitate adoption and engagement, empowering employees to use the new system with confidence, creating resources to address further questions and creating a culture of understanding and knowledge across the business. When training is inadequate, employees struggle with technology, leading to errors, delays, and potentially significant programme disruptions on day one. These disruptions can manifest as risks to your business in the way of costs, downtime or refusal to use a new system. Ultimately impacting your bottom line.
Our provision of role-specific training, support mechanisms and feedback loops are proven to equip employees to embrace and champion change. A best-in-class approach considers the individuality of your organisation, and employees by providing training and resources that align with delivery requirements, support diverse learning styles, evaluate understanding, and address any knowledge gaps. If your team isn’t ready on day one, valuable time and resources will be spent troubleshooting basic issues instead of making progress.
Reputational Damage and Customer Dissatisfaction
Go-live marks the culmination of planning, readiness and training, yet the work does not end there. Without a fully prepared team, the go-live risks turning into a series of day one issues instead of a successful launch, costing your organisation time, money, and crucially, confidence in the new system.
Planning for potential issues, assigning support teams, and supporting feedback loops are critical. Continuous feedback helps to sustain momentum throughout rollout and into business as usual, setting your organisation up for lasting success. Additionally, these feedback loops provide end users with a means to report issues they are encountering. Offering them a straightforward and structured way to engage with the change, giving the change management team access to the information that they need. Without feedback loops in place from day one, unresolved issues may compound, frustrating users and eroding their trust in the system.
Compounding Risks
These elements are not isolated, they are interconnected and depend on one another for success. If organisational readiness is lacking, training becomes less effective, and if training is inadequate, the risk of failure during go-live increases exponentially, especially if change readiness is not fully established.
If your team isn’t prepared on day one, the entire transformation is at risk of failing. In successful transformations, each phase builds on the previous, continuously progressing readiness, empowerment and confident execution. If one element of the chain fails, the impacts are felt throughout the process.
Can You Afford to Risk It?
Readiness, training, and go-live are the three pillars that directly impact user adoption and ultimately, digital transformation success. Ensuring that these are addressed throughout your transformation means that a day-one rollout will be a success, as potential issues will be scoped, and your team prepared.
We have a team of experts in the readiness space. With experience in a range of sectors, businesses sizes and teams they work collaboratively within our client’s organisations to identify potential pitfalls, failures and risks before they happen. While some businesses may see this as an additional cost to a transformation, those with the knowledge and understanding see that to neglect business readiness as a subject risks damaging the success and impact of your entire transformation.
Don’t wait for day one to find out your team isn’t ready. Get in touch and get prepared now, contact us.
