What if one wrong technology decision could set your roadmap back years? Or worse, result in unintentional technical debt? How do you ensure you’re making the right calls?
With technology spending projected to grow by 5.6% in 2025 and disruptive technologies like GenAI reshaping industries, the pressure to make the right technology decisions has never been greater. Just one wrong move could set your business back years or even take you out of the game entirely.
Over the past 25 years, NashTech’s global technology leaders, George Lynch, Bhavya Aggarwal and Phi Huynh Ngoc, have seen it all. Every costly mistake, every challenge and every emerging technology trend.
Here’s what they’ve learned about the biggest digital transformation mistakes businesses make and what it takes to be a great digital leader today.
One of the most common, and costly, mistakes in digital transformation is focusing too heavily on the technical aspects while forgetting the human side of the equation. Budgets, timelines and integration of systems are all crucial, but understanding how the change will affect employees is just as important.
Failing to recognise this can result in employee resistance, lack of buy-in and, in the end, failure.
Tarsus Distribution is just one example of digital transformation gone wrong. They attempted to implement Robotic Process Automation (RPA) to simplify data entry, but the initiative failed due to employee resistance. This stemmed from a fear of job displacement and poor communication strategies throughout the adoption process
Involving employees in change management practices from the start might have prevented the Taurus Distribution RPA failure. Instead of viewing the automation tool as a way to simplify their work, employees saw it as a threat.
Before making changes, you need to think whether your employees have the right tools in place to support them. Do they understand the benefits of the new technology? Are they ready for the transition?
Having delivered over 400 client transformation projects in the past decade, we’ve found that the most effective change management strategies include:
“Technology itself is often the easy part. The real difficulty is bringing your customers and staff along with the change. If you don’t focus on change management and business impact, people will find ways to bypass the new system and revert to familiar tools”
George Lynch, Global Director of Technology and Solution at NashTech
Learn more about the role of people in successful digital transformation. Link eBook: A step-by-step guide to digital transformation - NashTech
Once your new technology is ready, your first thought might be to roll it out as quickly as possible. But deploying new technology across your business all at once can be risky. It can overwhelm employees, disrupt operations and cause failures which careful planning and testing could prevent. In 2018, cosmetics giant Revlon attempted to implement a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system to integrate and streamline operations. But insufficient testing, process mapping and change management strategy led to operational failures and production disruptions. Revlon reported losses of up to $64 million, a 6.4% drop in stock price and legal action from investors.
Likewise, in 2019 UK-based online retailer, ASOS, suffered significant operational disruptions when upgrading its warehouse management system too quickly. This led to delays in order fulfilment and a £25 million revenue hit.
Revlon and ASOS might have achieved better outcomes with a phased and iterative digital transformation strategy. This would have identified potential technology challenges/blocker enabling more targeted testing and preventing potential delays that could result in significant impact on revenue and savings.
When introducing a new technology, start slowly with a pilot programme with a single team or function. This way you can identify challenges quickly, refine processes and gather valuable user feedback. If things go wrong, and they will, the impact on the business will be contained and far easier to manage. Therefore, minimising disruptions and mitigating costly mistakes.
For example, NashTech took this approach when working with The Open University to enhance its OpenLearn platform, which serves over 8.5 million visitors annually. To minimise disruption, a phased rollout was implemented over six months, prioritising high-traffic pages and new navigation features first before optimising the rest of the site. This iterative approach ensured a smoother transition, improving mobile compatibility, security and user experience.
Forward-thinking IT leaders often ask us about the newest technology trends in the market, this is a good thing – staying ahead is key. But the ‘shiny new thing’ isn’t always what a business needs right now. Jumping into hyped-up technologies without making sure they align with actual business needs can waste resources and deliver little to no impact.
We’re seeing this today with businesses rushing to adopt Generative AI solutions without first determining how they can support core business objectives. This often leads to solutions that don’t quite fit and underwhelming ROI. It’s unsurprising, therefore, that by 2025 30% of GenAI projects will be abandoned after the Proof of Concept (PoC) stage due unclear business value.
You need to make sure that any new digital transformation or trend directly supports your business strategy and delivers real value. At the end of the day, that’s what your CEO and board cares about - real ROI. Whether it’s improving efficiency, enhancing customer experience, or creating new revenue, always ask yourself ‘how is this technology helping my business achieve its goals?’.
Markerstudy Distribution (MSD) implemented real-time pricing (RTP) technology to enhance their competitiveness in the insurance market. With NashTech’s automation, MSD’s pricing system saw a 226% increase in online quote-to-sale ratio and 47% increase in customer journey completions which has driven profitability and made the system more accurate and more efficient. This implementation has enabled them to quickly adjust prices to stay competitive, attract and retain the right customers and reduce churn - aligning directly with their business objectives.
“It’s easy to fall into the trap of focusing too much on technology, chasing trends instead of thinking about what the business needs. But really, it should be the other way around. First, figure out your business objectives and strategy, then bring in technology to solve real problems. When you align investments with real needs, it’s much easier to measure success with KPIs and make sure the tech is actually delivering value.”
Phi Huynh Ngoc, Chief Technology Officer at NashTech Vietnam
Adopting new technology does not mean transformation. Many organisations make this mistake. For example, cloud computing, automation, or AI won’t lead to large gains unless they’re fully integrated into business processes and organisational culture.
We're seeing this effect today:
Procter & Gamble faced this very issue when they invested in new technologies to modernise their supply chains and operations. They struggled to see real results because they thought technology alone could solve their problems. Without changing their internal culture and business processes to support the new tools, the transformation failed to yield its expected outcomes.
For successful digital transformation, you need to strategically align with business goals and ensure that organisational processes grow alongside it. Transformation involves an entire reset of the organisation's culture and workflows for it to work.
Markerstudy Distribution (MSD), successfully integrated multiple new technologies with NashTech to drive business transformation. From a small offshore team, the partnership quickly expanded as MSD's needs grew to include real-time pricing, data analysis and business analysis. Integrating new technologies with business processes, MSD improved project delivery, pricing and data systems. Ultimately transforming its business operations to stay competitive in the fast-changing and very competitive insurance market.
Security and governance should always be top priorities when adopting new technologies, especially Generative AI. But many businesses overlook this, failing to implement appropriate security frameworks that leave them vulnerable to compliance issues and data breaches.
Generative AI platform, DeepSeek, recently made headlines after a critical database was exposed online, revealing system logs, user prompts and over a million API tokens. This security breach compromised user data and raised concerns about unauthorised access and data protection in fast-growing AI companies.
When adopting new technologies you cannot forget the fundamentals. Strong security measures, ethical AI frameworks and regulatory compliance should be built into every digital transformation from day one. In the case of AI for example, implement frameworks like Gartner’s AI TRISM. Thorough risk assessments should identify potential vulnerabilities and weaknesses in your strategy.
An example of successfully implementing security and governance while adopting new technology can be seen in Tradetech, a leader in software solutions for the logistics industry. Faced with compliance challenges, Tradetech needed accurate and timely data processing to meet customs regulations.
Tradetech implemented automation with NashTech to streamline data reconciliation and reporting. The solution was then deployed to a private cloud to ensure high security, easy maintenance and scalability. Importantly, this was done with a focus on governance and risk management to ensure full compliance with customs regulations.
Being a great digital leader isn’t just about making the right digital transformation choices. It’s also about the skills you bring to the table. As the technology scene changes, these factors will set good digital leaders apart from the mediocre ones.
“Overcomplicating things just creates problems, both for the business and for you. The simplest design is always the best design. As a technology leader, you should aim for clarity and simplicity rather than over-designing or over-engineering solutions. The more complex you make it, the more problems you’ll have down the line.”
Bhavya Aggarwal, Chief Technology Officer at NashTech India
Struggling with your digital transformation? Partner with NashTech today to drive efficiency, unlock new revenue streams and achieve lasting transformation.
Phi Huynh Ngoc – Chief Technology Officer, NashTech Vietnam
Phi has been passionate about technology since a young age. Phi has been with NashTech for 12 years, starting as a SWAT engineer, specialising in R&D and innovation and is now the Chief Technology Officer in Vietnam. Throughout his career, Phi has reached many milestones, including achieving Microsoft MVP in 2016 and continues to shape NashTech’s technology strategy.
George Lynch - NashTech Global Director of Technology and Solutions
George’s interest in technology started in childhood programming on a ZX 81 and later a VIC 20. This early curiosity led him to study Computing Science and pursue a career in technology, where he naturally grew into leadership roles.
With a broad skill set across multiple domains, George sees himself as a "general practitioner" of technology, balancing deep expertise with a big-picture view. His 35-year journey, helping small to medium and large companies, led him to NashTech. George now pays it forward, helping others navigate their own paths in technology.
Bhavya Aggarwal - Chief Technology Officer NashTech India
Bhavya developed a passion for programming during his college days, leading him to choose a career path in technology. He began his professional career in Mumbai, working for a large firm in India and mastering numerous programming languages such as Cobol, Java, C, C++ and Fortran. He has worked on several impressive projects over the years, including predicting flight cancellations using advanced data analytics.