Why executives misjudge technology and inadvertently misjudge themselves.
Reading time: 5 minutes
Executive Overview
- Technology is blamed for systemic constraints it did not create.
- Technology reveals organisational capability before performance changes.
- Sound executive judgement depends on recognising the difference between implementation and transformation.
Technology investment should improve overall performance. When those improvements fail to materialise, attention almost inevitably turns towards the platform itself.
Fragmented processes, unclear ownership, inconsistent governance and long-established ways of working are concealed until a modern technology infrastructure exposes them. The new technology exposes accumulated weaknesses.
Successful and disappointing implementations may appear similar in their earliest stages. Organisations reach the point of separation when the solution is integrated into business as usual, and leaders discover which behaviours endure or evolve.
Discussions centred on business outcomes now focus on the technology. Should it be customised further? Perhaps the implementation approach is to blame. Would a different solution have produced a better result?
Substantial transformations test executive judgement. Once the initial momentum dissipates, executives believe they are evaluating the solution. In reality, they are confronting the organisation’s ability to derive sustained performance from the new core competency.
Executive confidence wanes before the business has created the conditions necessary for value to emerge.
The value of visibility
Even modern solutions can operate only within the environment they enter.
Agentic AI leaves no room for ambiguity. The agent plans and acts in accordance with administrative instructions and decision frameworks. Gartner predicts that by 2028, at least 15% of day-to-day work decisions will be made autonomously through agentic AI.
Greater autonomy raises the consequences of executive decisions. It also makes organisational reality more difficult to ignore. For leaders, this is one of the most valuable moments in any transformation. What appears to be disappointing progress is the first accurate picture of how the organisation operates.
Executives have a different focus:
“What is the organisation now able to see that it could not see before?”
Visibility does not guarantee understanding.
The Discipline of Waiting
The interval between implementation and organisational adoption demands adaptive executive leadership.
Confidence naturally seeks certainty, but transformation seldom provides it.
The strongest leadership teams resist premature conclusions. They establish clear decision criteria and strengthen organisational capability while the technology settles into everyday operations. Waiting, in this context, is disciplined preparation.
Change management is the process by which organisations translate implementation into operational practice. Prosci’s benchmark research consistently concludes that excellent change management dramatically increases the likelihood of meeting project objectives.
Microsoft treats go-live readiness as a governance decision. Operational capacity, user adoption, testing, support capability, and risk mitigation are evaluated before production proceeds because implementation alone cannot demonstrate organisational readiness.
Leaders must use the period after implementation to strengthen everything the technology has revealed.
Strategic patience turns time into an organisational advantage.
The Trough of Disillusionment
Confidence is an executive currency. It determines how long leaders are prepared to tolerate uncertainty, and plausible interpretations of incomplete evidence erode confidence.
Executives have experienced meetings where the same evidence has led to different conclusions. Leaders assume the technology has demonstrated everything it can deliver.
Completion precedes value.
Gartner describes the period when early expectations are replaced by disappointment before organisations develop the practical understanding to realise sustained value: the Trough of Disillusionment.
Transformation replaces assumptions with understanding.
Recognising Adoption
Adoption is unmistakable when the organisation operates differently as a result. Consistent reinforcement after go-live allows operational decisions to reflect the model the organisation intended to establish.
Executive support remains particularly important after implementation, once managers determine whether the platform is part of everyday operations.
Has the technology changed the way the organisation operates?
The outcome of technology investment is determined by a factor that technology cannot control:
The organisation itself.
Applying the Principles
Braintree’s Dynamics Adoption & Change Accelerator was developed around the principles explored throughout this article. It helps organisations strengthen leadership behaviours, governance disciplines, and management practices that create sustained organisational capability from technology investment.
If your organisation is preparing for or navigating a major technology transformation, Braintree’s Dynamics Adoption & Change Accelerator provides a structured framework to strengthen the capability that determines longevity.
To explore how these principles apply within your organisation, speak to one of Braintree’s transformation specialists today.
Specialists in Business Applications, Modern Workplace and Azure. Let’s grow.
Sources: Gartner, “Gartner Hype Cycle Methodology” (gartner.com/en/research/methodologies/gartner-hype-cycle); Gartner, “Gartner Predicts 15% of Daily Work Decisions Will Be Made Autonomously Through Agentic AI by 2028” (gartner.com/en/newsroom/press-releases/2024-10-21-gartner-predicts-15-percent-of-daily-work-decisions-will-be-made-autonomously-through-agentic-ai-by-2028); Microsoft Learn, “Dynamics 365 Go-live Readiness Review” (learn.microsoft.com/dynamics365/implementation-guide/go-live-readiness-review); Microsoft Learn, “Cloud Adoption Framework” (learn.microsoft.com/azure/cloud-adoption-framework); Microsoft Learn, “Organizational Alignment” (learn.microsoft.com/azure/cloud-adoption-framework/strategy/organizational-alignment); Prosci, “Best Practices in Change Management” (prosci.com/resources/articles/best-practices-in-change-management).
