Why People Are Key to the Success of Your IT Transformation
Tech Adoption Over Tech Worship: Why Digital Transformations Often Fail
Digital transformation is at the top of the agenda in nearly every company. Whether it’s S/4HANA, Salesforce, cybersecurity, or AI initiatives—companies are investing enormous sums in new technologies, processes, and systems. And yet the success rate remains sobering: only a fraction of these projects actually achieves the intended business case. Why? Because digital transformation is often viewed almost exclusively through a technical lens. This is exactly what Christian Underwood discusses in the latest episode of “Hope Is Not a Strategy” with Arne Kötting, co-founder and CEO of COSYN. His central thesis: The decisive factor for success is not the technology itself, but its acceptance within the company.
Tech adoption is the key performance indicator
Many companies measure the success of a transformation by whether a system goes live from a technical standpoint. But that alone isn’t enough. What really matters is whether the people in the company actually understand, accept, and consistently use the new tool. Arne Kötting uses a key term to describe this: tech adoption. Because this is exactly where the biggest problems arise. Employees circumvent new systems by using Excel spreadsheets, emails, or shadow processes. The result: productivity drops, support costs rise, and the actual benefits of the transformation fail to materialize. This becomes particularly critical during large-scale international rollouts. What was carefully planned at headquarters often fails due to a lack of acceptance among local teams. And that is precisely where the risks arise that later escalate all the way to the executive board level.
Why Traditional Change Projects Often Fail to Deliver Results
Arne Kötting sees a major problem in the fact that change management in many companies still operates on the principle of a “firework display of initiatives.” A workshop here. A newsletter there. Then a town hall meeting. Lots of activity—but little strategic direction. Above all, one thing is often missing: measurability. How high is acceptance really? Where is resistance arising? Which stakeholders are at risk of being lost? Instead of working based on data, many companies rely on gut feelings. For projects involving millions in investment, this is an enormous risk.
From a consulting model to a digital product
However, the conversation isn’t just about digital transformation at client companies, but also about the transformation of COSYN itself. Arne Kötting explains why the traditional consulting model is undergoing significant change. Today, companies want less long-term external dependency and more empowerment within their own teams. This is precisely what gave rise to COSYN’s “Change Playbook”: a modular approach that supports companies step by step in independently establishing and managing stakeholder engagement and change processes. The key difference: it is not external consultants who should permanently hold the knowledge, but the organization itself. This is not about completely replacing consulting. Rather, COSYN combines frameworks, templates, processes, and technology with targeted support where it is truly needed.
Focus beats generalism
Another fascinating part of the episode: the entrepreneurial journey toward greater specialization. Arne candidly describes how difficult it was to consciously focus on a niche—namely, tech transformations and stakeholder engagement. But it was precisely this focus that became the decisive lever. Because true expertise doesn’t come from being able to do a little bit of everything, but from solving a problem over and over again. This changes not only the company’s market positioning but also the quality of its solutions. Processes become clearer, products more precise, and customer communications more relevant.
Transformation begins long before the go-live
The key takeaway from this episode: Successful digital transformation doesn’t begin with the technical rollout—it starts much earlier. Those who wait until just before the go-live to address acceptance, communication, and stakeholder management will face constant resistance. Successful transformation, therefore, means consistently considering technology and human change together. Because in the end, it’s not the system that determines success—it’s the people who work with it.
🎧 Listen now and discover why hope isn’t a strategy—and why tech adoption is becoming the key KPI of modern transformation.
SHOWNOTES
Arne Kötting https://www.linkedin.com/in/arnekoetting/
Podcast “A Change in Conversation” https://podcasts.apple.com/de/podcast/a-change-in-conversation/id1871221355
Christian Underwood https://www.linkedin.com/in/christianunderwood/
Strategic Decision Intelligence: https://strategicdecisionintelligence.ai
Magazine “Hope Is Not a Strategy” https://shop.strategyframe.ai/products/hoffnung-ist-keine-strategie-ii-1-strategic-decision-intelligence
All links https://linktr.ee/strategyframe