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I think if I had to pick one thing that really stuck with me, it was how every time we shared an anecdote about a painful journey or a milestone that we had scratched and clawed our way to achieve, you’d see nods of recognition from the audience—whether they were on the shareholder side, the execution side, or even as employees who had gone through a private equity acquisition. Transformation is a painful process. You’re building a team, shaping a company, and it’s uncomfortable, messy. You think, “OK, I’m going to share my war story, and people won’t believe half of what we’ve gone through.” But then you look around the room, and you see people who work with these transformation processes every day—or even occasionally—nodding in agreement, saying, “Yes, I know exactly what you’re talking about. I’ve been there.”
As a speaker and observer, I could see this nonverbal connection immediately. Even if they hadn’t seen it exactly as we presented, they understood the struggle. That’s one of the beautiful things about events like these, and why they’re so important. You realise that you’re not alone in these challenges. There’s a shared experience, a track record of what works and what doesn’t. For me, that sense of connection has stayed with me long after the event.
It all loops back to the core issue in any transformation project. Interestingly, if you ask a shareholder what the biggest challenge will be, they’ll likely say it’s the system, the cost, or how much EBITDA impact it will deliver. But the real challenge is always the same: How do we ensure the process is adopted and sustained long after the transformation team has left?
Both the stories we shared and some of the audience examples revolved around the same point—top-down expectations might focus on implementing a new system, whether it’s a finance system, cybersecurity, or AI enhancements, which are all the rage now. But we often forget the most important question: What does the business adoption process look like?
Most of the challenges we discussed that evening, and in my view the single biggest challenge in digital transformation, involve the end users. How will they feel about the change? How will they adapt? You can have a shiny new tool with great reviews and impressive ROI projections, but if it doesn’t align with the day-to-day realities of the people who’ve been there for 5, 10, or 20 years, it won’t work. Getting their buy-in and motivation is the only path to success, and that message kept resonating throughout our discussion.
If I had to boil it down to one sentence, it would be: Get out of the boardroom, roll up your sleeves, and work alongside the day-to-day users of the system you’re trying to adapt, replace, or enhance. If you don’t understand, from start to finish, how the current digital infrastructure works and the challenges faced by those using it, your project is going to fail.
I can’t guarantee your project will succeed, but I can guarantee it will fail if you don’t involve the right people and hit certain milestones ahead of implementation. The biggest factor for success is having a coherent plan that’s supported by a vertical slice of the company—not just the CEO, CTO, or private equity partners, but also the people like ‘Caroline’ in the supply chain department, who’s been using the current system for 22 years. If people like ‘Caroline’ are not on board, your project won’t be successful.
Decision-makers need to take the time for proper planning and fact-finding before implementation. Everyone’s eager to start, but it’s essential to go into departments, interview the people on the ground, and really understand the landscape before implementing or changing any system.
The biggest takeaway for me, both before and after the panel, was the response from people in the trenches. After the panel, the common reaction we got was, “I agree so much with what you’ve been saying.”
The key question everyone asked was: How do we get buy in from the top? How do we get investors and companies to understand the importance of these changes? I mentioned this briefly during the panel, but I still believe the private equity industry is lagging behind where it needs to be, not only in terms of understanding how critical transformation is, but also how to properly implement it. And digital transformation, in particular, is the most complex and difficult part of that.
We’ve relied for too long on a hands-off approach, staying at the C-level, observing from a distance, and then sending consultants into the fray. The clear validation from the event was that there’s still a long way to go. Over the next 2–3 years, I think we’ll see interesting developments, but they’ll come at the cost of learning through trial and error.
