Updated October 2026 with a new section on AI.

The broken promise of digitalisation

A friend in a senior position recently confided in me that digitalisation has disappointed many of his colleagues and their management. As a practitioner who believes in the value that IT strategy and digitalisation can bring to organisations large and small, I was disappointed to hear this.

Classic IT consulting delivers results through projects using a defined methodology and framework. IT strategy and digitalisation consulting, by contrast, has to understand the current economic situation and the future position a company wants to reach. Once this is understood, information technology and data can become a decisive competitive factor: either through specific projects that raise productivity, or as a completely new form of value creation.

CIOs need to pursue two goals that often pull in different directions. One is cost effectiveness, achieved mainly by automating manual processes through digital projects. The other is digital value creation, where new value is created through digital transformation. Both matter for a company’s future, but digital projects are seen as business as usual, while digital value creation is what people want to be associated with.

When it comes to digital value creation, there were high hopes that the CIO would lead the transformation. This led to mismatched expectations, because CIOs still have to run the day-to-day business, which takes a lot of bandwidth and a firm focus on cost and productivity. Most IT organisations are efficient in business as usual and deliver projects on time and on budget, but lack the capabilities to deliver transformational value. Unrealistic budgets and timelines add to the problem. Where the C-suite expected a quick turnaround, value chain partners were not ready, or had not even started what is in reality a change of DNA.

The way forward

The promises of digital transformation are well known, whether under the label of Industry 4.0 or, today, AI:

• new levels of productivity
• faster product innovation and time to market
• better quality
• maximum flexibility

Put simply, digital projects improve productivity and quality, while digital value creation targets time to market and flexibility. Companies that want to succeed will need to master both. Most are already strong at digital projects, but the winners will be smart about digital innovation and about transforming their ecosystem. As this ties up scarce resources, it is essential to standardise wherever possible. Such an approach is outlined below.

Start with an honest conversation. Invite your leadership team to share what currently drives the business and where it wants to go, and agree on either an evolutionary or a revolutionary approach. Evolution leads to digital projects: automation, relieving people of repetitive work, AI-assisted processes. When it becomes clear that core margins are eroding and productivity gains no longer deliver lasting profitability, it is time to rethink in terms of digital value creation. The good news is that both approaches benefit from a common framework built on three pillars.

First: the problem statement. The most important factor is identifying the real underlying problem. People get comfortable in stable situations, and this can obscure the real problem. For digital projects this may still work, as they deliver incremental improvements that can be corrected along the way. For digital innovation it leads to a dead end, because there is no such thing as “nearly right”. So do not stop until you are sure the real problem has been identified and understood. A cross-functional team is essential for this. Peel back the onion by asking “why” one more time, or challenge the team until everyone agrees. Avoid groupthink. It helps to think backwards from the customer and describe the value your product or service creates for them, then check honestly whether the planned solution increases that value for the customer and for your company.

Second: solution diversity. This is where the experience and lateral knowledge of the team matter. You need to know the mainstream solution, but your team also needs exposure to innovative approaches. As a leader, you must be able to evaluate even the most innovative solution and break down how it will ultimately improve your business. Push the boundaries of what the business can take and, where possible, create a differentiator. In my experience, a critical success factor is understanding every angle: how a solution is built, what it means for the existing landscape and how future-proof it is, technologically and organisationally. Choose an economic model to prove success (ROI, NPV, etc.) and calculate and measure the total cost of ownership (TCO). Finally: how will the solution change your organisation, and how will you manage that change? Plan change management very carefully.

Third: holistic execution. If you want to create a winning solution, think in people, processes and systems.

• People: Find a healthy mix of experience and enthusiasm. Identify a champion for the initiative. Lead with a personal touch, be authentic, and make sure everyone supports the vision.
• Processes: Map the current process and model the future one. Supporting processes follow standards; in the core process that sets you apart, functionality follows the process. If a supporting process needs to change, redesign it with the stakeholders. If a core process seems to need change, stop, go back to the business and re-evaluate the problem statement.
• Systems: Choose the best fit with a good degree of configurability. The golden rules: stay as close as possible to the standards set by the market leaders, and configuration beats customisation.

A final word on methodology, waterfall or agile: an agile approach suits digital value creation better, as the final product is not known at the start and the team keeps learning and adapting. Digital projects can follow a waterfall plan, but since they rarely come alone, working in sprints increases effectiveness across several initiatives. My advice: if you go agile, be honest about the need to fail early.

New in 2026: what AI changes, and what it does not

Since this article was first published, AI has raised the pace once more. The three pillars still apply, but AI makes them more demanding. From my recent AI projects I take away four lessons:

• The business case comes first. An AI pilot is quickly built. That is why the business case comes first: what measurable value does the use case deliver? Only then follow the risk assessment and the approval, in an approval process that can scale with the number of use cases.
• The depth of review follows impact and risk. Whether you buy a standard solution, adapt a platform or build your own gives a first indication of how deeply a use case needs to be reviewed. The actual answer, however, comes from the impact assessment, meaning how strongly the use case affects customers, employees and other stakeholders, and from the risk assessment of the individual use case that builds on it. Sending everything through the same approvals creates a decision backlog.
• Governance must enable, not block. Clear roles, a risk assessment before the start and a clear go/no-go decision create speed and safety at the same time, including with a view to the EU AI Act.
• Start small, then scale. A few sponsored use cases with visible results convince more than any debate of principle.

Conclusion

Work the problem, and work it hard until you are sure of the true problem statement. Then create a solution space that includes all the traditional and innovative solutions you can think of. Work with a team you trust, ensure the right processes and execute the system implementation rigorously. But always start the journey with an honest discussion and set expectations accordingly. If you follow this simple logic, you will master both digital projects and digital value creation, and together they create the competitive advantage of the future.

Do you see it differently or face a similar question? Let us talk.