When strategies are half-baked, organisations often find challenges around lost institutional knowledge later down the line and can struggle to find skilled staff for outdated programming languages. Complex legacy tech means that minor tweaks by external operators can cause major disruptions lasting weeks, while outdated systems lack necessary security measures. Even if organisations avoid downtime and data disasters, they risk being left behind as other organisations gain a competitive edge with their smoother, more efficient operating systems. Therefore, decision-makers need to reassess their approach, allocate resources, and proactively embrace digital transformation for long-term sustainability and success.

The risks associated with postponing digital transformation initiatives

Failing to fully embrace digital transformation leaves organisations vulnerable to competitor advantage. As the digital landscape constantly evolves, organisations that lag behind risk losing market value, customer loyalty, and relevance in an increasingly digital-driven world.

Migrating to the cloud is the easiest and most effective way for an organisation to embark on its digital transformation journey. Cloud migration enables organisations to harness the power of advanced technologies, achieve scalability, enhance security, and drive innovation and collaboration.

Public sector organisations have been historically more risk-averse than their private sector counterparts when it comes to innovation. Greater budget constraints have prevented many public sector organisations from investing in innovative technology and modernising legacy systems. Reputational concerns have also hindered the public sector from spending taxpayers’ money on expensive technology. If systems fail to deliver the promised result, these organisations could face huge public backlash. Yet transformation initiatives are often cost-saving initiatives. By speeding up processes and reducing maintenance of on-premises storage, many public sector organisations can drive cost savings in the medium to long term.

Atlas, the Home Office’s immigration casework system, for example, provides a modern and sustainable digital service to replace an ageing and inflexible legacy platform. By providing design and build services for components that link Atlas with other Home Office and HM Government systems, BJSS contributed towards a next-generation system that will reduce repetitive administration and manual tasks from staff processes. This will not only deliver speedier decisions for applicants but anticipated yearly cost savings of £8 million. Digital transformation is not just a buzzword, it is a strategic necessity.

The risks associated with organisations not adequately completing digital transformation initiatives

Digital transformation is key to unlocking a future-proof path towards organisational sustainability and success in the digital age. Yet many organisations still fall foul of incomplete digital transformation initiatives which create significant future business risks.

Half-finished digital transformation initiatives expose organisations to security vulnerabilities. Outdated legacy systems can become targets for cyber threats, exposing sensitive data, damaging customer trust, and leading to significant financial and reputational losses. For public sector organisations, that handle sensitive information daily, data breaches can be catastrophic.

Organisations that fail to fully modernise their IT infrastructure will be unable to fully reap the benefits of eco-friendly software and green technology, such as energy efficiency, reduced costs and significant social and environmental value.

Incomplete digital transformation initiatives create future business and environmental problems. A complex web of both old and new systems hinders future scalability and integration.

Find out about BJSS’ Public Sector offerings here.

This article was originally intended for Raconteur.