Some of the insights come from the Forrester Consulting report: The Capability Mindset: Turning Business Transformation into a Repeatable Discipline (2026), which was prepared for SAP. Based on their survey of over a thousand decision-makers from large enterprises, the study reveals a clear pattern: organisations invest heavily in transformation, but often they lack clarity, alignment and organisational capabilities necessary to execute change.
It leads to a key conclusion: digital transformation often fails long before technology is even involved. Organisations embark on transformation without fully understanding their needs, relying on assumptions rather than reliable insights, and operating without clearly defined goals or shared priorities. As a result, as these initiatives progress, early missteps become increasingly costly and harder to fix.
Transformation is Chaotic
The report shows that 72% of organisations undertake at least four major transformation initiatives per year. For many companies, this involves running several projects simultaneously, such as technology uplift, processes automation, more data analytics or AI.
A major risk arises when these initiatives progress in isolation for each individual department or business process. Transformation then becomes a series of disparate projects rather than a cohesive, enterprise-wide program. As a result, they overlap, compete for resources and push organisations in different directions. It leads to unnecessary operational complexity, inconsistent progress and eroded return on investment.
Realistically, companies embark on their transformation journeys by undertaking large technology projects first even before they get to fully understand which processes need to change. While there is a common belief that something needs to be improved, the real challenge lies in determining where to start. While business leaders do recognise a need for change, they view it only through their own lens, which often leads to competing priorities within a team.
So how do teams focus on the initiatives that actually deliver value while keeping risk at an acceptable level? It starts with meaningful business insight — allowing teams to objectively assess each proposed improvement in terms of impact, risk, and cost. This creates a structured and transparent foundation for decision-making, making it much easier for stakeholders to stay aligned and reach consensus.
The Biggest Barrier: Misalignment Between Business and IT
The report shows that over 51% of leaders view misalignment between business processes and IT as the primary obstacle to successful transformation. This is hardly surprising. The tension between business and technological perspectives has long been one of the most frequently cited challenges in transformation programs.
In practice, this means that technology teams may favour improvements that are not necessarily business priorities, while business leaders expect changes that the existing IT landscape cannot support. This misalignment often results in delays, unnecessary workload and unnecessary friction between the team.
Data — A Foundation That Too Often Fails
Data remains a critical risk area. The report indicates that:
- 56% of organisations struggle with data quality;
- 55% face data silos.
Data-related problems is a common cause of delay in transformation projects.
This means that organisations often make decisions based on incomplete or inconsistent information. Even the most advanced analytics tools and process intelligence platforms, such as SAP Signavio, can highlight areas for improvement. However, they cannot answer a key question regarding transformation: what is the cost?
While it’s often relatively easy to assess the value of proposed improvements, it’s much harder to reliably estimate the cost and complexity of implementation. That’s why digital transformation typically requires experienced input — someone who can provide informed guidance on feasibility and likely outcomes for each decision. Without this, organisations risk making decisions based only on potential upside, while overlooking the true cost of change. In many ways, it’s like building a state-of-the-art skyscraper on unstable foundations.
Communication and Conflicting Priorities
Transformation is not just about technology; it is about how stakeholders are engaged in the decision-making process. The research shows that:
- 55% of respondents cite poor cross-departmental communication regarding transformation goals;
- 51% say the transformation strategy is not communicated effectively within their organisations.
Under these conditions, teams work intensively, but not necessarily in the same direction. It’s because stakeholders may lack clarity on expectations, organisational priorities and success measures.
Only 6% of Companies Achieve the Highest Maturity Level
The Forrester report identifies four levels of transformation maturity. The highest level, Leader, is achieved by only 6% of surveyed companies.
These organisations do not treat transformation as a one-time project, but rather as a repeatable organisational capability. They have clearly defined change management mechanisms and consistent data governance, as well as decision structures that coordinate actions across their company. The remaining 94% continue to work towards improving effectiveness, with varying results.
How to Start with Clarity?
Before launching a new transformation initiative, it’s worth taking a step back to secure stakeholder buy-in. Listen to their priorities, validate their perspectives against reliable insights, and work together to prioritise improvements — ideally starting with smaller initiatives that everyone can align on.
When stakeholders are aligned on priorities and understand the value transformation can deliver, they’re far more likely to engage in evaluating current processes and making informed decisions about what to improve.
From Chaos to Fact-Based Transformation
The Forrester report clearly demonstrates that the future of transformation belongs to organizations that can turn it into a standalone repeatable business competency rather than a one-time project. This requires moving away from ad hoc, uncoordinated efforts toward:
- a clear, coherent strategy,
- consistent and collaborative change management,
- high-quality data,
- real stakeholder engagement.
In practice, the way organisations approach transformation is often influenced by local market dynamics. In Australia, for example, transformation is increasingly aligned with the concept of a repeatable capability, which is driven by a pragmatic business culture, strong collaboration across teams and regulatory environments that necessitate continuous adaptation rather than one-off changes.
At the same time, organisations often have distributed structures and diverse stakeholder groups, so alignment and well-informed decision-making are even more important in the early stages of transformation.
Taking the time to establish clarity at the outset can significantly reduce risk and improve outcomes in such situations. This is why structured approaches such as the Operational Clarity Assessment, currently delivered exclusively in Australia by Hicron, are becoming an increasingly relevant starting point for organisations seeking a more controlled and effective approach to transformation.
This transforms the process of transformation from a series of chaotic initiatives into a focused, measurable process that enhances organisational efficiency and enables companies to respond faster to changing market conditions.
