10 roadblocks to digitisation project success

Yesterday I wrote about 10 steps to digitisation project success and in this follow-up article, I look at some factors that can cause or contribute towards failure.

Photo by Jan Antonin Kolar on Unsplash

There are many ways in which a project might fail, and most of them are relatively easy to mitigate or avoid — here are 10 of the most common ones I have seen (or experienced) as I have worked with clients over the last 10 years so, strap yourself in…

1. Lack of leadership support or commitment. Without strong leadership (and board-level support) it can be VERY difficult to get the attention, resources and buy-in needed to successfully implement a digital transformation project, particularly if it’s a cross-function/cross-border project.
2. Insufficient budget or resources. Digital transformation projects can be expensive in both time and money, and without sufficient budget and resources, it can be incredibly difficult to complete them successfully. It’s so important to establish fiscal boundaries that are NOT dependant on vagaries of corporate performance, get the budget in place well before you start and get commitment (in writing!) from the board/executive sponsors prior to starting any work on this.
3. The complexity of the project. Digitisation projects can be(and usually are) complex, with many moving parts and dependencies. The…