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Why do 70% of IT transformations fall short of their goals?
IT transformations make it possible to modernize operations and strengthen the business’s ability to adapt to new challenges. However, around 70% fail to deliver the expected results, a figure that has held steady for more than a decade and reflects how hard it is to take an initiative beyond the technology implementation.
Although most organizations start these projects expecting to be part of the 30% that succeed, few take the time to understand what separates transformations that deliver lasting results from those that lose momentum during execution.
That is exactly where the value of an IT transformation and project delivery strategylies: building in change management, coordination across the teams involved, and an execution model that sustains the project’s results from day one.
The three causes that hold back technology projects
A project’s success depends on the organization’s ability to execute change in a coordinated way and sustain it over time. When any of these elements weakens, factors that slow the initiative start to appear. The most common are:
1. No real executive sponsorship
There is a big difference between a CEO who approves the budget and one who plays an active role during execution. Executive sponsorship shows when leadership steps in to remove roadblocks, makes strategic decisions, and keeps the project moving, even when the change requires resetting priorities or facing internal resistance.
2. Underestimating change management
Every transformation changes processes, responsibilities, and ways of working, so people need support through the transition. Experience shows that allocating 5% to 10% of the budget to change management is usually not enough, while the most successful projects invest more to drive adoption across the organization.
3. Fragmented governance during execution
In many organizations, governance stays fragmented across IT, business units, and the project team. Each brings different priorities, goals, and criteria, while the delivery team lacks the mandate to resolve differences and keep a common direction. As a result, decisions slow down, coordination loses consistency, and meeting the project’s goals becomes harder and harder.
What sets apart the organizations that reach their goals?
The 30% of projects that reach their goals share one trait: they treat change as a business initiative from the start. That view keeps strategy, execution, and decision-making aligned as the project’s priorities evolve.
That alignment holds throughout the implementation. Senior leadership actively takes part in key decisions, change management is built in from the earliest stages, and governance relies on a committee with the authority to track the portfolio, set priorities, and keep the initiative on course as execution moves forward.
The difference between a control-focused PMO and a delivery-focused TMO
The difference between a PMO and a TMO lies in how they manage a transformation. The PMO (Project Management Office) coordinates execution to keep the schedule, deliverables, and commitments on track. Its tracking therefore focuses on which activities are behind and what actions are needed to keep execution on plan.
The TMO (Transformation Management Office), on the other hand, manages the initiative to make sure the project moves toward the outcomes the business defined. Rather than just spotting what is late, it works out what is blocking progress, which teams need to step in, and which decisions keep the initiative aligned with its goals. This way, execution includes cross-team coordination, change management, and the ability to respond quickly to challenges that come up during the transformation.
Success stories in technology project delivery
These principles show up in transformation projects across different industries. Some examples:
Liverpool: core application transition in under five months
A well-defined governance structure proves its value when it keeps an initiative’s pace of execution. In Liverpool’s core application transition in Mexico, this model made it possible to complete the project in under five months by setting from the start who made each decision and how quickly, avoiding delays during execution.
Bimbo: network infrastructure transformation in 36 countries
Standardized execution is also decisive when a transformation involves large-scale operations. In Bimbo’s network infrastructure project, which spanned 36 countries, a delivery methodology standardized the transition processes without losing the flexibility each operation needed, helping cut the pre-project network cost by 30%.
How do you keep executive sponsorship throughout the project?
Maintaining executive sponsorship during an IT transformation requires visibility into progress from the earliest stages. When the first result only arrives at the end of the project, the organization goes too long without evidence that execution is on track, which erodes the confidence needed to sustain the initiative. In this context, the first visible milestone plays a strategic role, because it provides early evidence of progress and confirms that the decisions made are producing the expected results.
Why should the assessment come before the execution plan?
Every IT transformation starts with an assessment of whether the organization has the conditions needed to execute the change. When that analysis is limited to the technical side, factors such as governance, decision-making, executive sponsorship, and delivery capacity are left out of the strategy from the start.
A comprehensive assessment makes it possible to define an execution strategy aligned with the business’s capabilities, reduce the factors that put the project at risk, and increase the odds of achieving the expected results.
Martín Vaglio
Managing Director & Co-Founder @ RDIT | Technology Strategy | Cost Optimization | Vendor Management | AI, Governance & Transformation | HOLO SaaS
For more than 20 years, he has worked alongside CIOs, CFOs, CPOs, and boards of leading organizations across Latin America to define IT strategies, optimize costs, drive technology transformation, and govern digital capabilities. At RD, he combines strategic consulting with the HOLO SaaS platform to help organizations turn technology into a competitive advantage.
