‘Transformation’ is a familiar term in today’s fast-moving business world, where standing still is tantamount to failure. Whatever its desired outcome, a transformation programme is typically defined by a significant change in approach to an organisation’s operating model, technology, process and/or service delivery. Restructuring and redundancy programmes are often branded as ‘transformation’, with a focus on cost-cutting. But digital transformation can come at a high price, at least in the short term. Global digital transformation spending on technology is set to reach $6 trillion over the next four years. Of the $1.18 billion spent in 2019, more than 75% related to spending on hardware and technology services. x
In the digital age, technology is crucial to success and is often seen as a driver of change. While advances like artificial intelligence (AI) promise to change the way we work, it is easy to forget that new technologies are driven by human responses to a changing environment. The CGMA® future of finance research in the Re-inventing finance for a digital world report shows that the technological innovations of recent years have been driven by a combination of an increasingly tech-savvy demographic and more empowered consumers. xi Increased connectivity is having a paradoxical effect on competition, innovation and relationships, all of which are becoming more accessible but also more complex.
New software solutions promise better data management, faster analysis and real-time reporting. But underinvestment in people and resources, lack of training, insufficient and inconsistent communications, no clear change management framework and/or the absence of a talent pipeline can all spell disaster for an organisation. Are organisations focusing their attention on the digital world at the expense of the human beings who power it?
