Digital transformation has become a constant for modern organisations, but delivering consistent outcomes remains a challenge. Despite clear strategies and significant investment, many initiatives struggle to translate effort into measurable digital transformation ROI.
At the core of this gap is one critical factor, which is, change readiness in digital transformation.
Successful change management is a team sport. How many people in your organisation embrace change management in their ways of working decide your chance of success in digital transformation as an organisation.
When digital transformation change management in a programme goes wrong, the transformation is more likely to face low user adoption rates, low digital transformation ROI, overrun budget and timeline and frustrated employees that lead to high turnover rates.
Critical Time to Rethink Change Management
Digital transformation is no longer a new idea but it has never been more challenging to deliver. The difference between organisations that thrive and those that struggle is clear: the ability to change. Change readiness in digital transformation is no longer a nice to have. It is a critical foundation for resilience, growth and sustainable improvement.
While the concept of digital transformation has evolved since the 1990s, the environment organisations operate in has changed dramatically. The impacts of COVID-19, global political tensions, new sustainability regulations and the rapid rise of technologies like AI have increased both the pace and the pressure of transformation.
Today, almost every organisation is on a digital transformation journey. McKinsey research in 2024 suggests that around 90 percent of businesses worldwide are undertaking transformation initiatives. According to a study by Oxford Economics sponsored by SAP in 2025, 70% of executives say that transformation is now a moving target.
When organisations are running several major change initiatives in parallel and trying to be agile in chasing the moving targets, the traditional linear model, relying on a few people with change management knowledge to drive changes across the organisation, is no longer achievable.
Successful transformation now requires digital transformation change management to be a shared responsibility. It should be part of how leaders, project teams and stakeholders plan, decide and deliver every day.
At Birchman, we have seen this shift in practice. Some organisations still struggle to allocate the time and resources needed for structured change management. Others have integrated it directly into their ways of working. These organisations no longer treat change management as a separate workstream and their results are consistently stronger and more sustainable.
Embedding change management into the organisation’s culture creates a more open, confident environment where transformation can take root, accelerate digital transformation adoption and deliver lasting value.
What Is Change Readiness in an Organisation?
Change readiness in digital transformation refers to an organisation’s ability to prepare, support and sustain change across people, processes and technology.
It goes beyond communication and training. It includes leadership alignment, cultural openness, employee engagement, governance structures and the ability to embed new ways of working.
Organisations with strong change readiness are better positioned to drive digital transformation adoption, reduce resistance and ultimately improve digital transformation ROI.
Why Change Readiness Is Critical to Digital Transformation ROI?
Achieving strong digital transformation ROI depends on more than delivering technology on time and within budget. It depends on whether people use, adopt and optimise those solutions effectively.
Without sufficient change readiness in digital transformation, organisations often face low adoption, inconsistent usage and limited business impact.
When change readiness is embedded early, organisations can:
- Accelerate digital transformation adoption
- Reduce resistance and rework
- Improve alignment between strategy and execution
- Realise value faster and more consistently
In essence, change readiness acts as the bridge between transformation investment and measurable ROI.
What Makes Change Succeed?
Birchman’s experience shows that what make those company excel in change is a combination of several elements that can significantly improve transformation success and digital transformation adoption, regardless of the technology or tools in use:
#1 Clear vision and strategy focused on business value throughout the transformation journey to lead boarder workforce towards the same direction
#2 Active leadership and sponsorship to demonstrate commitment and direction.
#3 Strong organisational alignment and collaboration across functions to minimise roadblocks and diversion
#4 Shared ownership at all levels to drive transformation collectively
#5 An open, learning culture that encourages honest feedback and continuous improvement.
#6 Early and interactive change management activities to shape solutions and support adoption.
#7 Data led decision making to maintain focus on business value and long term success.
Each of these factors involves people across the organisation. Aligning them can be complex but when they work together, they create the conditions for lasting change, stronger digital transformation adoption and genuine transformation.
Common Barriers to Digital Transformation ROI
Despite significant investment, many organisations struggle to achieve expected digital transformation ROI due to recurring challenges.
Some of the most common barriers include:
- Treating digital transformation change management as a limited activity rather than a core capability
- Lack of alignment between strategy, execution and business outcomes
- Siloed initiatives that reduce visibility and impact
- Low digital transformation adoption due to insufficient engagement
- Weak governance and unclear accountability
- Limited focus on building long term change readiness in digital transformation
Addressing these barriers requires a shift from project based thinking to building sustainable transformation capability.
The Cost of Missed Change Readiness
In 2025, global investment in digital transformation is projected to reach USD 1.42 trillion (£1.05 trillion) (Research and Markets, June 2025). Based on global success rates, this means that more than USD 1.19 trillion (£886 billion) of that investment could fail to deliver the expected outcomes in just one year.
It’s therefore not surprising that nearly two thirds of respondents in the Oxford Economics research reported budgetary pushback from leadership, often due to questions about the true value of transformation efforts and the lack of clear digital transformation ROI.
Over the years, Birchman observes several critical factors that impact the success rates in digital transformation.
#1 Treating change management in a limited scope, such as training and comms, instead of embedding change management in leadership mindsets and project team behaviours.
#2 Lack of a unified vision providing guidance across various projects.
#3 Misaligned priorities across different functional areas, leadership and operational teams or different projects fighting resources.
#4 Missing critical stakeholder engagement from the start creating roadblocks or resistance down the road.
#5 Employees’ motivations for change are not addressed that lead to low buy-in and limited self driven actions.
#6 Change management engaged too late that failed to drive deeper knowledge transfer and behavioural changes from the project stage into business as usual
#7 Lack of a long term supporting mechanism that continue driving behaviours, providing support and growing adoption after the project phase
The Reality of Transformation
Transformation in business is rarely quick or simple. It becomes even more complex as organisations grow, with multiple projects running in parallel and reaching larger groups of users.
Research from McKinsey and BCG shows that only around 30-35% of organisations achieve their digital transformation goals. The success rate is even lower in larger enterprises with 50k+ employees.
Reaching transformation goals also does not guarantee lasting impact. The same research found that only 16% of organisations manage to sustain the benefits of digital transformation over the long term. These findings highlight an important truth. Transformation is not only about technology or processes; it depends on how effectively people and teams can adapt, align and maintain new ways of working.
Introducing the “Change Readiness & Resilience Assessment”
This is why Birchman developed the “Change Readiness & Resilience Assessment”. It helps organisations understand how effectively they manage change today and identify the practical steps that can strengthen their ability to deliver and sustain transformation.
You may find this assessment valuable if you recognise any of the following in your organisation:
- Implementations fail to meet their original objectives or achieve limited adoption after go live
- If you are technically live but not seeing ROI
- Frustrations towards transformation have been built up in the organisation, even when results are achieved
- You follow recognised change management methods but outcomes are inconsistent
- Adoption of new changes feels slow across teams
- Your project teams claim to focus on the people’s side of change, yet discussions and executions often centre on solutions, which lead to slow user adoption and disappointing ROI
» Change Readiness & Resilience Assessment
Building Change Readiness with Birchman
Change is constant but an organisation’s ability to manage it is what defines long term success. Birchman helps organisations strengthen this capability through practical, evidence based approaches that align people, process and purpose.
Our “Change Readiness & Resilience Assessment” is a focused way to start that journey, providing clear insight into where your organisation stands today and what can be done to improve its ability to change, adapt and thrive. Learn more below.
» Change Readiness & Resilience Assessment
FAQs
Question #1: What is change readiness in digital transformation?
Ans: It is an organisation’s ability to prepare, support and sustain change across people, processes and technology to enable successful transformation.
Question #2: Why does change readiness affect digital transformation ROI?
Ans: Because ROI depends on adoption. Without strong readiness, organisations struggle with low usage, resistance and delayed value realisation.
Question #3: What are common signs of poor change readiness?
Ans: Low user adoption, resistance to change, unclear communication, misaligned leadership and inconsistent outcomes across initiatives.
Question #4: How do you measure change readiness in an organisation?
Ans: Through assessments of leadership alignment, employee engagement, communication effectiveness, adoption levels and governance maturity.
