Rich Corbridge FBCS, Chief Information Officer at Segro, draws on personal experience to explain how the scene can be set for successful digital transformation projects, and finally getting rid of the failure narrative.
As digital leaders, it's crucial to prioritise business engagement in digital change. We know this because it has been a key lesson from every transformation that has been declared as failing since the beginning of time. Despite exploring many digital transformation challenges and solutions and various industry perspectives over the years, I still encounter the belief that IT projects are destined for disaster as soon as they begin. In the UK an average of 45% of IT ‘led’ transformations go over budget. This may be ‘not that bad’ a statistic, but when you look further into this, new research shows the mean overrun of failed projects to be a staggering 450%.
There are many ways to build engagement to stop this from happening and foster successful digital transformation. I believe brilliant enterprise architecture for tech leaders, a product mindset for transformation and a grounding value framework in the business need is the route to mitigating some of this. If nothing else, it spreads the oversight and allows more people to reach for the emergency brake! But, the load of transformation cannot be carried by ‘just’ the digital team, particularly if we consider that the regular media call-out is that every business needs to transform. At the same time, we hear about the ‘at best’ flat funding for digital in so many industries and businesses. So, what can we do to successful digital transformation projects and finally get rid of the failure narrative once and for all?
Making a difference
I’ve been in the CIO game since the summer of 2011 and I have now worked in healthcare, academia, retail (including fast moving consumer goods (FMCG)), and property in the public and private sector. One thing this gives me clarity on is the different (and similar) approaches to creating the successful environment for the foundation and catalyst of digital transformation. I have been trying to create an understanding in businesses for so much of this time — the word ‘digital’ is a foundation or a catalyst for all change. It is how we harness this as leaders that creates the differentiator for any organisation we are in, and therefore often the success of what it is we are here to do.
An approach through learning over the years can pay off for us as leaders. What we did 20 years ago, 15 years ago, 10 years ago, even two years ago has evolved, but the premise of where we are trying to get to perhaps hasn’t. We want to be more efficient, more accurate and more productive as organisations through constant transformation. Indeed, some of the words change dependent on the organisation: ‘productive’ can become ‘profit making’, ‘efficient’ can become ‘lower cost to serve’, ‘accurate’ can become ‘customer focused’, and so on. However, we are here really to make a difference, and as we make that difference, to take our businesses and organisations on the journey with us.
Leading business change
As a CIO that has been in several different industries, I have had to persuade people that transferable skills are a core element of what digital leaders have. During my time as a retail CIO and in ‘big’ government I was often heard to champion the question, ‘why do we need a different function to deliver transformation, surely that is the role of us as digital leaders?’. Since the dawn of the CIO role surely transformation has been what we have been trying to do and yet only the most mature of organisations seem to award the digital team with the credit that if you have been ‘doing’ technology for 20 years then you have been ‘doing’ business change for the same amount of time.
So, how do we ensure that we are effective as leaders of change? We have the belief, but is that enough to avoid disaster? Clearly not.
I believe that we can enact the concept of change-making through our own leadership qualities and that this is a step towards a new maturity model. Encouraging the right mindset around how to deliver, and most importantly how to engage, is crucial. We need to provide skills and awareness that create engagement in all types of roles in our businesses. This will create change makers who will, in turn, become our champions. This change is not necessarily technology-led but technology is the foundation and catalyst for the change. The machinery of the change is in fact every one of our colleagues in our businesses.
Engagement, expertise and ownership
In more recent times I have adopted a somewhat social media created concept of engagement. The ability to ‘crowd source’ content from my recent organisations has been a game changer in building engagement for two absolute key reasons: expertise and ownership. When we crowd source key content that describes the future of our transformed organisations by osmosis we create a new form of engagement. When colleagues see their own views, thoughts, opinions and needs described, then suddenly the engagement game becomes so much easier to achieve.
Of course, while the power of engagement and collaboration is undeniable, there are important pitfalls to navigate on this journey. True human-centred design means putting people at the heart of every change, not just ticking a box, this can be difficult when people are being pulled from business-as-usual, to strategy, to delivery, to whatever the next challenge is that lands on their desk. It’s on us to find new ways to facilitate engagement when the world is speeding up its desire for change. Maybe in 2025 this is one of the hardest things we have to get right.
Effective planning
Business planning must be tailored for our unique organisation, not just following generic templates. This takes time to understand and time to have the conversations across departments to make sure everyone is aligned on the outcome and value the organisation needs. And, when it comes to good governance, it’s important to realise that it isn’t just a formality; it’s the foundation for real engagement and lasting impact and that too takes time, effort and education.
For you
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A question we are continually hearing from across all aspects of the organisation is ‘what is the art of the possible?’ It really comes back to what problem you are trying to solve right now. This is easier to answer than what problem you are trying to solve for the future. Answering this together and maintaining engagement, enthusiasm and pace of delivery is a new skill we need to build, and for this we should look to lean on those most experienced people within our organisations.
In a previous retail business where I was CIO, the greatest relationship at the executive level was between the CIO, the CMO and the chief digital officer. These three roles were at the heart of the rejuvenation of the brand, the creation of a digital customer experience and some of the most creative answers to the aforementioned ‘art of the possible’ question I have ever seen. Seek out these relationships no matter what sort of organisation you are part of and work together to create the most beautiful business engagement that you can.
It's about people
Ultimately, these conversations cut to the heart of what so many boards and leaders are grappling with today: how do we define value, lead with purpose, and build organisations that can adapt and truly thrive? It’s not with technology, it is by keeping people at the centre, staying curious and committing to thoughtful, collaborative action. Through this approach we can turn the challenges we are facing into opportunities and shape a future where everyone wins.
Applying the principles of human-centred design in digital leadership will ensure that you, as a leader, are taking the organisation on the journey with you. Business planning for ‘our’ business and not ‘the’ business will mean that everything you are trying to be, and trying to deliver, is either a catalyst for change or the foundation of that change.
As a digital leader you are the change agent, you are the visionary of the future and you are crucial to the success of your organisation. Stand up, be counted and stop the failure narrative from taking hold!
