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Summary – A rushed digital transformation erodes team trust, slows initial productivity and spawns workarounds that compromise data consistency. Skipping usage assessments, gradual adoption phases and the engagement of informal networks and early leaders breeds passive resistance and dysfunction.
Solution: take an incremental approach with pilot programs led by internal champions, stabilization phases and strict governance to refine each step before full-scale rollout.
In an environment where Swiss companies face increasing pressure to modernize their processes, urgency is often seen as a catalyst for efficiency. Yet many digital transformation projects fail due to a lack of time for teams to adopt new tools and evolve their practices.
Digital transformation is not just a matter of technology: it primarily relies on team buy-in and the gradual adjustment of working methods. To safeguard investments and ensure sustainable adoption, it’s essential to favor an incremental approach guided by observing usage and continuous refinement, rather than rushing into massive, hurried deployments.
A Forced Pace Erodes Trust and Engagement
Imposing a tight schedule undermines solution adoption and generates passive resistance. Employees need time to understand, test, and gradually embrace new tools.
Competitive Pressure vs. Operational Reality
The fear of falling behind often leads to launching ambitious projects without assessing teams’ actual capacity to keep up. Tight timelines neglect listening phases and requirements gathering, which are essential to calibrate the features to be deployed.
In several organizations, the IT department imposed drastic deadlines to migrate to cloud platforms or integrate modern CRMs. Technical issues and misunderstandings soon emerged because users hadn’t had time to familiarize themselves with the interfaces or receive appropriate support.
This gap fuels feelings of incompetence and distrust toward the project, as teams experience change as an added burden rather than an opportunity to enhance their daily work.
The Illusion of Immediate Productivity
The belief that adopting a new tool instantly generates productivity gains is misleading. The first weeks are usually marked by a performance dip as everyone finds their footing.
Organizations that anticipate this phase observe a realistic learning curve and implement usage metrics to fine-tune processes. Conversely, those that ignore this initial trough accumulate dissatisfaction and negative feedback.
Result: users revert to old habits or develop workarounds, compromising data coherence and the expected project efficiency.
The Example of a Regional Bank
A Swiss regional bank rolled out its new internal portal in two weeks to meet the executive committee’s demands. Business teams, lightly involved in the testing phases, had to manage a brutal transition without adequate training.
This hasty deployment led to a surge in support tickets and a drop in data quality. Employees gradually abandoned the platform in favor of old Excel files, illustrating how poorly calibrated urgency can discredit a project before it even takes root.
This experience shows that an imposed pace without preparation often has the opposite effect of what’s intended: slowing adoption and undermining stakeholders’ confidence.
The Social Process of Digital Transformation
Digital transformation is first and foremost a human journey that requires a deep understanding of collective dynamics. Success depends on identifying cultural levers and mutual support among employees.
Understanding Work Habits
Each organization develops routines embedded in its DNA, determining how information flows and decisions are made. A transformation project must map these practices before proposing changes.
Analyzing existing processes helps identify friction points and informal champions who can positively influence their peers. Neglecting this step risks sidelining those who hold the operational memory crucial to the project.
To obtain a comprehensive diagnosis, it’s recommended to conduct qualitative interviews, collaborative workshops, and observe pilot groups’ daily practices over several weeks.
The Role of Informal Networks
Within every company, unofficial networks facilitate information exchange and quick problem-solving. These communities of practice are invaluable allies when introducing innovations.
Involving them from the project’s outset ensures smoother dissemination of best practices and natural amplification of key messages. By contrast, ignoring them deprives the project of a critical influence channel.
In successful transformations, these informal networks co-create usage scripts, self-help guides, and immediately actionable feedback with the project team.
The Example of a Training Institute
A Swiss vocational training institute aimed to switch to a collaborative platform for its instructors and students. By involving a group of teachers known for their innovative spirit, the project tested prototypes under real-world conditions.
These initial feedbacks allowed adjustments to the interface and anticipation of support needs. The institute achieved an 85% adoption rate in the first month, demonstrating that integrating social dynamics is a key lever for ensuring success.
This example illustrates that for digital transformation to be sustainable, it must emerge from a compromise between strategic vision and established practices, relying on internal champions.
Edana: strategic digital partner in Switzerland
We support companies and organizations in their digital transformation
The First Leaders: Change Catalysts
Early adopters within the organization embody new practices and inspire their peers. Their engagement is a powerful credibility signal that facilitates project diffusion.
Identifying and Training Ambassadors
Choosing the right initial leaders goes beyond selecting the most enthusiastic employees. It involves identifying those who combine relational influence with a passion for innovation.
These ambassadors require targeted support to become autonomous with the new tools and support their frontline colleagues. In-depth training ensures solid skill development and a consistent message across teams.
Their role also includes gathering regular feedback and reporting obstacles so the project team can adjust features and support methods.
Celebrating Early Wins
When early adopters succeed in their initial experiences, it’s crucial to celebrate these successes to fuel positive momentum. Concrete, anonymized testimonials demonstrate that change brings tangible benefits.
Organizing sharing sessions, publishing internal testimonials, and creating discussion spaces highlight best practices and encourage those still hesitant.
This recognition should be factual and focused on operational results achieved through the new methods, avoiding excessive internal marketing.
The Example of a Logistics Company
A Swiss logistics company selected a few team leaders to pilot a collaborative planning tool. They received advanced training and co-led workshops with frontline operators.
After a few weeks, route planning became more reliable and faster, reducing delivery delays by 20%. Presented at an executive meeting, these figures convinced stakeholders to roll out the system company-wide.
This approach demonstrates that well-supported initial leaders can turn a local pilot into a company-wide project.
Resisting Premature Acceleration to Secure Gains
The desire to scale up immediately after early successes is a dangerous temptation. Premature rollouts dilute learnings and expose the project to new risks.
Staying Focused on Mastered Processes
After a successful pilot, there’s a strong temptation to quickly expand features. However, each new scope introduces business-specific requirements that must be analyzed and integrated.
An overly rigid scaling framework can stifle the flexibility needed to adapt the project to each department’s realities. It’s better to plan intermediate stabilization phases where impact on key metrics is measured.
These phases also allow for strengthening the support chain and gradually training teams before the large-scale go-live.
Knowing When to Say No to Preserve Coherence
Steering a digital project sometimes requires refusing certain acceleration requests to avoid diluting best practices. This firm but reasoned “no” serves as a protective lever for consolidating gains until the support structure is robust enough.
Governance should be supported by a cross-functional steering committee, including IT leadership, business units, and service providers, to adjudicate requests and maintain an appropriate pace.
Without this discipline, the project risks running into conflicts of interest and losing the coherence of its initial roadmap.
The Example of a Cantonal Administration
A Swiss cantonal administration observed significant efficiency gains after a pilot to digitize approval workflows. When several departments requested immediate rollout, the project team chose to limit expansion to two additional units.
This semi-extended “package” allowed the team to stabilize the infrastructure, refine approval processes, and enrich user documentation before a full rollout.
This gradual approach demonstrated that resisting the pressure to move too quickly is an act of leadership, ensuring long-term success.
To Move Fast Tomorrow, Accept Moving Slowly Today
Imposing an excessive pace on digital transformation hinders adoption and generates resistance, whereas an incremental, social approach fosters genuine tool adoption. Well-trained and recognized early leaders play a decisive role in spreading new practices. Finally, knowing when to say no and maintaining consolidation phases preserves project coherence and reliability.
In the face of your digitization challenges, our experts are by your side to co-create a progressive approach aligned with your culture and business objectives, prioritizing open source, modularity, and security.
