People, Process, and Technology: Overcoming Barriers in a Digital Transformation

In previous efforts, a global leader in the public health and safety sector had pursued partial, technology-driven solutions—attempting to scale tools and templates designed for a single line of business across more than ten others. This approach led to confusion, frustration, and widespread workarounds as teams struggled to adapt the system to their unique operational needs.

Recognizing the limitations of these fragmented efforts, company leadership launched a project to develop a truly integrated solution centered on the adoption and deployment of Salesforce CRM across the enterprise. However, after nearly two years, progress had stalled as the organization encountered numerous barriers that hindered alignment, adoption, and forward momentum.

• Governance Gaps: Absence of clear project governance, leadership, and ownership
• IT Influence: Limited role of IT in project direction and decision-making
• Process Harmonization: Lack of upfront alignment of global business practices
• Change Management: Difficulty harmonizing mindsets and culture across business units
• Resource Allocation: Reliance on available internal resources, as top talent was focused on other high-priority business initiatives.
• Communication: Insufficient top-down messaging and unclear project value among leaders

As a result, only one and a half partial Salesforce CRM deployments had been completed, yielding limited impact.

Modern Industrial Digital and APQC began with a comprehensive two-month assessment to uncover critical gaps in business process alignment, technology readiness, and governance. Working closely with the client’s leadership, our team designed a comprehensive solution that brought structure, alignment, and momentum to the initiative. We established a common language and classification system for business processes, formed steering committees and sponsorship groups to strengthen governance, and significantly enhanced collaboration between the business functions, leadership, and the project team. In parallel, we launched a branded change
management program complete with messaging templates that would be the foundation for building organization-wide engagement and buy-in.

Through the assessment, it became clear that while each business unit performed the same core work, their processes were documented differently. Once aligned to a shared set of processes, activities, and tasks, it was evident that the true differences lay not in the work itself—but in the underlying data and business rules. These nuances became key considerations in shaping a path flexible enough to accommodate each unit’s unique needs.

• APQC’s Process Classification Framework®: Use of a proven process framework enabled alignment and scalability across the diverse business needs of the different lines of business.
• Governance Improvements: Establishing comprehensive project governance provided clear leadership, ownership, and a roadmap for the current and future technology implementations.
• Technology Operations: Provided an outside-in, comprehensive assessment of technology solution gaps, remediation plan, and technical talent recommendations to ensure project success.
• Change Management Plan: Ensured comprehensive communication and engagement from CEO to frontline employees, changing mindsets and reducing silo mentality.
• Transformation Mindset: Shifted the initiative from a legacy system replacement to a strategic transformation program, improving people, process, and technology together.

• Repositioned Program: Recognized the project as a true transformation initiative by leadership.
• Improved Cross-Unit Alignment: Enhanced cross-functional collaboration and promoted process simplification to drive consistency across the enterprise.
• Governance and Leadership: Established clear structures for decision-making and accountability.
• Employee Engagement: Increased understanding and buy-in through targeted change management efforts.

To be successful and drive the culture change several targeted learnings were evident from the engagement:

• Define a Clear North Star: Align leaders around a unified vision and connect them to a roadmap of effort to get there.
• Leadership Alignment & Capacity: Establish early and consistent visibility and collaboration with operational leadership to ensure alignment and enable timely course corrections. The ability of leadership to dedicate quality time to key initiatives has a significant impact on overall outcomes.
• Governance is Critical to Success: Strong governance enables clear leadership and accountability—essential for project success. Ensure governance can persist after the transformation is complete.
• Align the Right Talent: Assigning the right talent to critical initiatives is essential to enable swift decision making, alignment, and clear direction. Empowering capable project leaders with trust and autonomy drives high-quality outcomes.
• Change Management Drives Engagement: Branded change program and messaging unified mindsets and boosted buy-in across the organization. Provide change focus for all levels of leadership and workers.