Operations transformation sounds straightforward enough and everyone seems to be doing it. However, wait until you find yourself in a room full of senior leaders talking about it – the results often do not match the sales pitches.
A few months ago, I was at a networking event where executives from different industries had gathered to share their transformation stories. The mood was upbeat and expansive, with discussion on automation programs, shared service expansions, artificial intelligence (AI) pilots, and generative AI tools that promised to redefine how work gets done. Everyone had something impressive to say.
As the discussion went on, something didn’t quite add up. For all the activity, the buzzwords, and the tech demos, very few could point to anything truly tangible. Operations had evolved in form, but not in impact.
That conversation stayed with me. It raised a question that sits at the heart of so many initiatives today. Why do so many organizations transform their operations without actually improving performance?
When growth outpaces its foundations
Many transformations begin with good intent but lose direction along the way. Companies evolve, restructure, or spin off from larger entities, yet their operating models remain stuck in the past that are built for a business that no longer exists.
I saw this play out when a US-based technology company separated from its parent organization. On paper, it had all the right tools: Workday, ServiceNow, and a well-resourced HR function. In reality, it was weighed down by too many layers, manual work, and fragmented processes.
The structure was simply too complex for its new size. Rather than its new size enabling focus and innovation, it was weighed down by processes and system configurations inherited from the parent corporation.
The turning point wasn’t a shiny new platform or a bigger dashboard. It was simplification. HR was rebuilt around the company it had become, not the one it used to be. Transactional work was centralized into a shared services hub. Processes were standardized. ServiceNow was reconfigured to serve people, not paperwork.
The result was not just efficiency but clarity with an HR function that finally moved at the same pace as the business it supported.
The limits of process and technology
Too often, transformation is treated as a technology project. Organizations automate broken processes and wonder why the problems persist. The truth is simple: technology doesn’t fix what isn’t understood; it only accelerates what already exists.
A global life sciences company learned this the hard way. Years of regional autonomy had created a patchwork of HR practices and heavily customized systems. Everyone was busy, but no one was aligned.
The breakthrough came only when the company paused the rush to automate and focused first on process clarity. A unified framework was designed. Governance and accountability were restored. Technology came later as an enabler, not the driver.
People first, always
Every operations transformation rises or falls on one factor: belief. It’s rarely the system that fails; it’s the confidence of the people using it. When teams lose trust in leadership or clarity of purpose, even the best-designed programs slow to a crawl.
A global wellness company faced that moment during a stalled payroll transformation. Leadership turnover had fractured alignment, and progress had ground to a halt. The fix wasn’t technical, it was human.
By rebuilding governance, clarifying decisions, and reconnecting teams across regions, momentum returned. The project went live across 20 countries but more importantly, people believed in it again.
Transformation succeeds when people trust it, not when they’re told to comply with it.
Making transformation work in practice
Structure matters in transformation but not as a constraint, but as a way to turn ambition into reality. Sustainable operations transformation requires discipline, clarity, and rhythm. I have seen many projects proceeding under an “Agile” project management approach, while attempting to mask their lack of project management discipline.
Projects need to be innovative and agile, but within a framework: set specific outcomes, provide flexibility in the approach, and support with regular milestones and checkpoints to ensure that the team is not off track and governance is aligned.
It is also important to leverage a practitioner approach to transformation. This means practical solutions based on decades of experience having achieved similar transformations in other companies. Too many consulting firms rely on heavily templated outputs that provide generic recommendations that lack insight to the unique requirements of the client with practical recommendations and support to achieve the end goals.
Our approach keeps transformation both structured and agile, ensuring organizations move fast without losing control.
The future of operations transformation
Transformation has become such an overused word that it’s losing its meaning. People talk about it in the same breath you’d order a cup of tea. You’ll find it in every strategy deck and leadership keynote, but if you look closely, much of what is called transformation is simply motion and not progress.
Real operations transformation isn’t about moving faster or scaling bigger. It’s about alignment, building operations that can flex and adapt without losing their center of gravity. It’s about ensuring technology follows purpose, not the other way around.