Transformation Success should be measured in Business outcomes!

If you're a business leader, frustrated that your technology provision isn't keeping pace with growth. You're probably already thinking about some kind of transformation. And the real measure of success in transformation isn't the technology itself. It's what the business can achieve because of it.

I talk to so many technology leaders who describe their transformation success in terms of the software they shipped, the team they grew and the changes the implemented to the ways of working within the team. But then they stop there. There's nothing about what that really meant for their business. 

No discussion of revenue generated, cost saved, risk mitigated or customer experience improved. And yet those are the things that really matter in transformation. Even if the changes are entirely and solely for the health of the technology estate, you can measure in terms of risk reduction and revenue or profit protected.

When you lose sight of the actual value or impact for the business, you end up making technology change for the sake of technology change, and there's a good chance you'll spend your money on the wrong things.

Here are a few real examples of business impact from real-world transformation programmes I've led.

Unlocking revenue growth

I led the team to deliver a modern enterprise platform that enabled more than 50 million pounds of new revenue growth, effectively doubling the size of the business.

Reduced support overhead

By prioritising user and customer pain points in the new systems, I reduced demand from 800 calls per month into the technical support team to 400. This created headroom for commercial growth without having to add more people to the support team, so total cost of ownership reduced.

Value deliver frequency increased

I improved software delivery ways of work, and so the team could move from a handful of major releases each year to reliably releasing value to the business every two weeks.

Forecasting (planning) predictability

I introduced forecasting techniques so that I was able to accurately forecast a 15 month transformation program to within three weeks. Accuracy for successful delivery.

Scaling teams to support growth agenda

I scaled an engineering organization from four to almost 30, including developing 16 very cost effective bootcamp graduates in the senior Engineers,

Conclusion

Transformation should deliver more than just a polished PowerPoint deck. It should deliver real, tangible and sustainable business outcomes. Ideally leaving the business in a position where they no longer have to do transformation ever again.

If you are considering transformation in any aspect of your technology provision and you want tangible, business outcome focused success, send me a message and let's start the conversation.

I talk about this, and other things at my YouTube channel. Video below, and subscribe if you want more content like this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=josmD65YKhM