Significant and ambitious transformations almost always fail because life is complex. What can seem like a straightforward, albeit ambitious transformation, will reveal itself over time to be more and more complicated than you first thought. Even a relatively common, though critical, activity like Accounts Payable, can be challenging to automate and transform. Over the past five years, there has been an explosion of interest in RPA (Robotic Process Automation) automation tools that can undertake tiny transformations, such as eliminating the need to manually type the same information into two different screens. A large part of the popularity of RPA bots and tools is that they are easy to deploy and fix a known problem. However, just as large-scale business process automation can get out of hand quickly, so too can a slew of quick RPA fixes. Think of these bots as band-aids; a couple can make a lot of sense, but if you need 100-plus band-aids, you may need to go to A&E. A minor fix here can trigger another problem somewhere else.

So at one end of the spectrum, we have entire business processes; at the other, we have individual tasks. And as of today, most digital transformations focus on one or the other. We should be looking at the middle ground between these two extremes in an ideal world. That's more possible today than ever before, and there is technology freely and cost-effectively available to help. There are many Process & Task Mining products on the market that can provide you with a quick and detailed insight into exactly what is happening, when, how and by whom. Starting with a broad yet thorough understanding of your business activity is essential. Though you will still need a business analyst to interpret and augment the work of these technologies, business analysis that would have taken months can now be done in a fraction of the time. From this broad picture, you can identify specific bottlenecks and/or areas for improvement and break the transformation work down into an ordered set of digestible, affordable and sub-projects.

Let's put this into a real-world context. A couple of years back we advised a supply chain transformation initiative. It was driven by a recognition that technology, in this case, blockchain and IoT devices, could speed up end-to-end shipments and dramatically reduce the number of disputes over paperwork. In theory, our clients were correct, on paper at least, and even in an actual proof of concept that tracked a shipment from Brazil to the US, it worked perfectly. But after spending a lot of time and money, it became clear that it was not going to work in the real world. The reason was such an ambitious transformation needed buy-in from multiple different internal and external stakeholders that just wasn't there. In some cases, the pushback was due to technophobia, for others it was perceived risk and for a few the inefficiency was beneficial. Thankfully all was not lost or wasted; the IoT data, for example, has proved to be helpful in at least reducing disputes.

Furthermore, the project's business analysis revealed a significant bottleneck (the manual collection of production certificates from suppliers). It was transformed by simply scanning and uploading it to a secure cloud folder. Not as sexy as Blockchain & IOT, but a significant time and cost saver and enthusiastically embraced by all stakeholders. It's not the end of this supply chain digital transformation, they are still exploring the use of blockchain, but they are more realistic now about what needs to be done, how long it will take, and the needs and concerns of the various stakeholders.

Not too big, not too small, just right. The supply chain project could have been run better with the value of hindsight, but our client understood the importance of a good business case and business analysis to give them credit. Just as importantly, they quickly grasped the future potential and addressed some of the middle ground challenges speedily and effectively. Or, to put it all another way, know your 'As Is' how things work today in detail, be as ambitious as you like with your 'To Be' how you would like things to run in a perfect world. Then look for high-value and hopefully low-risk opportunities in the middle to make some beneficial changes to move you forward.

Consultants and technology vendors will happily sell you a digital transformation dream, but you need to deal with reality. Suppose you have people in your organization spending all their time typing identical information into different screens. In that case, you have a problem, but be aware that it may be a symptom that masks a bigger problem. Similarly, though you may well want to transform an entire business process, be mindful that what you see today may not tell the whole story; use the technology available, business analysis, and some common sense to figure it all out before diving in. And once again, never start with the technology; always start with the business problem.