The poll of 250 business leaders at public and private sector organisations with more than 1000 employees commissioned by leading HR and payroll provider MHR found that nearly half of leaders (47 percent) feel a general lack of knowledge and training is the main barrier to carrying out successful digital transformation.
Just under two-fifths (38 percent) of business leaders blamed their company culture for their slowness to adapt to change, while 38 percent said poor collaboration between departments hindered the success of their digital transformation projects.
With only six percent of leaders believing there are no barriers to digital transformation there is clearly much frustration amongst business leaders especially as 96 percent said they were actively looking to incorporate new technologies and change their internal processes, while nearly three-quarters (73 percent) said they would like to invest more than ten percent of their annual turnover into digital transformation.
Michelle Shelton, product planning director at MHR says; “It is clear from our research that despite digital transformation being high on the agenda for many business leaders, the reality is that the many rewards transformation can offer remain out of reach for many because their organisations simply aren’t ready to initiate change.
“The fact that many identified a lack of training in their workforce and their company culture as the key reasons for holding up progress provides a strong argument for involving HR at an earlier stage in the digital journey and giving them more of a leading role in spearheading change.
“HR professionals are ideally placed to helping organisations improve their readiness for change, not only getting people on board with their transformation plan but arranging and providing training for new software orientation and continued learning. As stewards of company culture and employee relations HR can also ensure any changes are successfully embedded and embraced by its people.
“Digital transformation will almost certainly fail unless business leaders change their mindset and breakdown silos to involve HR in change projects.”
