Management of Large-Scale Transformation Programs: State of the Practice and Future Potential

In addition to continuous, evolutionary optimizations, most enterprises also undergo revolutionary transformations from time to time. Knowledge about current corporate practice for coherent IT and business transformation is therefore very valuable. In this paper we present the results of an empirical study on the management of large-scale transformation programs that focuses on IT as much as business aspects. Companies that rate themselves as mature with regards to transformation management, assess certain transformation management components different than less mature companies. Cost reduction, revenue improvement, and agility improvement are the most relevant goals of transformation programs all these are business goals and not IT goals. Current state of the art transformation management can be classified into three approaches: Value-driven, ungoverned and change-driven. We found that no single management approach covers all these areas appropriately yet.