By: Mark Hartley, Senior Director, Product and Customer Experience, LTIMindtree Canada

When organizations undergo a transformation, what exactly does that transformation look like? Before understanding how it looks, we must first establish a basic understanding of what transformation truly is. Webster’s dictionary defines ‘Transformation’ as:

“an act, process, or change in composition, structure, or character”
(Merriam Webster, n.d.)

As someone who prefers simplicity, transformation, to me, is truly about a culture and a common alignment – or in Webster’s terms, change and character.

Now we understand what transformation, or change, is at its core, we can explore how to apply this over a business lens. Through my experience, I’ve found it best to characterize change as an evolution, as it often mutates in its quest for success. Some prerequisites to this evolution include visible organizational support and an ongoing feedback loop — both will enable course correction, and, more importantly, significantly increase the likelihood of adoption and ultimately successful business outcomes.

Undoubtedly, change can be very difficult for any organization. However, we don’t need to adhere to the standard of change being difficult. Change, similar to any business process, can be simplified to deliver positive business value outcomes. Let’s explore why we often hear a large percentage of Digital Transformations are unsuccessful:

• Lack of visible executive support – We’ve all heard the saying… ‘do not just talk the talk but walk the walk.’ This is extremely important for success – not having the highest level of visible support can muffle the purpose, commitment, and outcome.
• ‘Unlofty’ aspirations – Often a result of chasing ‘leaders’ (competitors) and lack of enterprise engagement or planning. When setting targets, ensure they are ambitious, relevant, and forward-looking. All staff is responsible for making change happen, and any sign of ‘unlofty’ targets can have a negative impact on buy-in and investment of energy.
• Lack of wholesome change management infrastructure – The following elements of making transformation thrive are often overlooked:
  1. Establishing a cadence of leadership-oversight meetings
  2. Creation of a structure that is empowered to govern progress (i.e., transformation office)
  3. Constant transparency that evangelizes the strategy

Considering these common shortcomings, it is imperative business leaders look to increase their chances of success during a transformation by:

• Reimagining the workplace – With the world of ‘work’ shifting, there is a growing need for business leaders to rethink how they and their employees ‘work.’ This involves drawing from experience learned from the pandemic. Businesses can strive for workplaces that promote a single experience that drives both employee and customer value.
• Upgrading the “Hard Wiring” – Digital modernization requires not only the enablement of new ways of working but also a change to the organization’s overall culture.
• Alignment across business units – IT and Business groups need to share common targets that encourage both sides of the organization to collaborate on a north star.

Transformation requires large shifts in technology, business models, ways of working, and other elements central to a company’s DNA. At LTIMindtree Canada, we embarked on our wealth platform modernization program with extremely high aspirations to challenge our ability to elevate, enable, and accelerate our clients’ future ambitions.

Upon reflection, the first year of our five-year journey was challenging in setting the foundation and curating a firm-wide level of culture that would drive the outcomes we targeted. Now, halfway through our modernization program, we have not only realized the benefits of nurturing a creative culture but also created a capability, and passion, to understand our clients’ context and turn that into realized business outcomes.

I encourage business leaders to continue to challenge their strategies and push toward a sustainable future that is anchored in capability and curiosity. In doing so, companies will be enabled to expand their competitive advantage and develop the muscle to continue to rethink and remake their business outcomes.