Modernization -- Navigating Tough Decisions

Why 87.5% of Modernization efforts fail?

“IT modernization is the process of updating an organization's information technology infrastructure, practices and systems to keep up with emerging technologies (Yasar, date unknown).” Often when organizations consider modernizing, they think of Cloud Technologies, Machine Learning, or Artificial Intelligence. These are options for companies to think about, but the aspect of updating existing technology doesn’t require such extravagant changes.

No matter the extent of the modernization effort leaders of the organization need to understand what is at stake. Even something as simple, in most people’s eyes, an Operating System upgrade could have adverse effects to operations. Detailed plans and risk assessments must be in place for leadership to make sound decisions with as little interruptions to the organization’s mission as possible.

Dr. Bonnet of IMD in Switzerland states, "Various studies from academics, and analysts indicate that the rate of digital transformation failing to meet their objectives ranges from 70% to 95% (Bonnet, 2022)." Businesses of all sizes continue to stress modernization efforts are among the leading initiatives they are spending and focusing their attention.

I have learned through the years supporting hundreds of projects improving software, hardware, and complex interconnected systems that modernizing efforts requires lots of planning. To plan we first must understand the environment that currently exists. What are the actual shortfalls, pain points, and areas where the existing system is performing well. Then and only then should assessments of new technologies and approaches to develop a new and improved product.

As technical experts we need to help senior leadership of organizations understand the true complexities in modernizing the systems that support their business mission. Non-technical leaders need to see the whole picture including actual risks that must be planned for and mitigated against. When developing software solutions business rules, connection points, data sources, data usage, hardware (both physical or virtual devices), and network configurations are just a few of the risk management tasks to be considered.

We must do a better job of improving the percentage of successful modernization efforts. Systems age and reach the end of life thus requiring modernization initiatives to support the business five to ten years into the future. We need to develop solutions that meet today’s needs but provide scalability and capacity to grow in relation to actual statistical data predictions.