Digital transformation: what the market still doesn’t understand
Digital transformation is not about building an app. It’s not about having a chatbot on your website, or subscribing to a BI platform.
Those things might be part of the journey but they are not the core. The market still confuses digital transformation with tech purchases, and that’s why most initiatives fail.
According to McKinsey, 70% of digital transformation projects do not achieve their goals. That’s right: seven out of ten companies claiming to be “transforming” are, in reality, spending money on solutions that don’t address their real problems.
The problem is cultural, not technical
True transformation demands a deep shift in how a company thinks, decides, and delivers value. It’s not about digitizing a bad process, it’s about asking whether the process should even exist. Can it be automated, redesigned, or eliminated?
Deloitte defines a digitally mature company as one that integrates technology into strategic decision-making not one that merely digitizes its operations. In fact, companies with a strong digital culture are twice as profitable as those that simply invest in tools. In short: digitizing without changing culture is just putting makeup on the problem.
The traps of fake transformation
Many leaders still treat digital transformation as an IT project. They outsource it, subscribe to platforms, and expect results to appear out of nowhere. The issue? Technology without context is just another cost.
Some of the mistakes we see every day:
- Deploying a CRM without redesigning the sales process
- Building dashboards without ensuring reliable data
- Adopting agile tools without changing centralized management models
- Implementing RPA without mapping the decision flows the bot must follow
This isn’t digital transformation. It’s a pile of tools.
Real transformation starts with the right questions
Before any system, any app, or any AI solution, you need clarity about the reason for the change:
- What problems are we solving?
- What is real value for the customer?
- How can our team work with more autonomy and less rework?
- What can be automated? What needs to be reimagined?
That clarity comes before the code.
The role of technology: leverage, not a solution
At Verzel, we build systems, apps, integrations, and automations using RPA and AI. But technology alone solves nothing. What makes the difference is using it to change how a company operates, thinks, and interacts with customers.
We’ve seen companies scale fast after automating decisions with machine learning. We’ve seen retailers boost conversions by integrating previously disconnected systems. And we’ve also seen million-dollar projects fail because business and tech teams weren’t aligned.
Real transformation happens when tech and strategy walk side by side.
Want to truly transform your business through technology? At Verzel, we build custom systems, smart automations, and meaningful integrations, always putting strategy before execution.
Talk to the Verzel Team. Transformation starts with a good conversation.