DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR: SUCCESS, FAILURE AND LESSONS LEARNED

Abstract

It is estimated that around 70% of digital transformation initiatives fail to achieve their intended outcome (Tabrizi et al., 2019). This failure can largely be attributed to an improper allocation of scarce resources, under or over allocation of the budget towards non-pivotal activities, implementation and execution plans that are not cohesive across the whole business, and a lack of or weak presence of a leadership team. Concurrently, the bulk of research conducted within organizations focuses on ICT or traditional IT project implementation, and not with DT or digital transformation project implementation. Successful digital transformation projects require appropriate corporate budget allocation, cooperation between departments internally, a sound implementation strategy that is adaptive, and strong leadership oversight. Within this study, an analysis of key factors that lead to digital transformation project success will be provided. Additionally, the main barriers faced by strategic teams in order to implement digital transformation projects will also be addressed. Further, key differences between ICT and digital transformation projects will be outlined, the key factors that influence both digital transformation projects and cloud computing based digital transformation projects will be illustrated, and three ministerial projects will be analysed, all to aid in corroborating the evidence for the need of a sound and comprehensive research framework for the implementation of digital transformation projects within public sector organizations.