Despite significant pressure to embark on digital transformation initiatives that enable greater productivity, improve customer service and reduce costs, most organizations are not clear on what they should focus on.
That is the finding of a new survey by Opinion Matters commissioned by software company Celonis. The firm surveyed 450 business analysts and 450 C-level executives in the U.S., U.K., Germany, and the Netherlands in January 2019, and found that 42 percent of the C-level executives said they do not know where to start when developing their transformation strategy.
Many organizations have wasted significant resources on business transformation initiatives that have been poorly planned, the study said. In fact, 41 percent of the senior executives think their business transformation has been a waste of time. More than one third (37 percent) of the C-level executives’ organizations have spent more than $500,000 on transformation strategies in the last 12 months, and many run the risk of incurring huge costs with no return.
The results showed a disconnect between those developing transformation strategies and those carrying them out. Nearly 40 percent of the business analysts surveyed said they are not regularly consulted to inform their organization’s transformation strategy.
And approximately two thirds (63 percent) of business leaders admitted that front-line workers are only involved in transformation initiatives because middle management or consultants tell them which changes to make.
