Beyond budget and talent, what organizational dynamics are threatening execution? How are you addressing challenges such as misalignment with the business, lack of stakeholder understanding of technology imperatives, and regulatory complexity?

When it comes to large-scale transformations, boundary applications often present significant challenges. For example, I am currently managing one of our largest programs for the after-sales business, implementing SAP S4. While the SAP implementation itself is progressing well, there are difficulties with dealer connections and forming industry connections, which are impeding major enterprise initiatives.

To address these barriers, we are shifting program ownership to the business side, enabling them to drive the initiatives. We focus on business capability modeling, asking the business to define the capabilities they aim to enable with the program, and then partnering with them to determine how technology can best support those goals. This represents a shift from technology leading the entire program and collaborating with the business, to the business taking ownership and technology acting as an advisor and partner. We are piloting this approach in after-sales, and if successful, plan to extend it to our $8 billion whole goods business.

I am experiencing a similar situation. Philosophically, it is crucial to match the culture and strategy of the organization. You may have a vision for what you want to accomplish, but if it does not align with the business culture, it is unlikely to succeed. Personally, I would prefer a more enterprise-level strategy, focusing on fewer high-level initiatives. However, our business operates with a high degree of autonomy at the business unit (BU) level, which results in siloed operations and limited collaboration.

This autonomy means our internal customers are the BUs, who often pursue their own initiatives independently. We spend considerable time supporting these smaller projects because the BUs have both the funding and the desire to execute them. If we do not partner effectively, there is a risk of shadow IT, where the BUs find ways to bypass central IT.

Balancing these demands while striving to become a more strategic partner is challenging, especially in the absence of a strong top-level strategic function. We are working to evolve this function, but it is important not to outpace the business, as previous attempts to do so led to misunderstandings. Ultimately, it is about matching organizational maturity with the pace of strategic evolution.