Businesses are running to keep pace with technology as it shifts gears into new areas. “In many cases, the tech is moving faster than businesses can update their systems,” says Robin McBurnie, Partner, PwC.
This is the mismatch many leaders are facing. In our latest CEO survey, half of respondents admitted to being concerned with their ability to transform their business at a speed that keeps pace with technological change. And it’s not due to lack of investment: the vast majority (81%) said they’re investing in tech, data and AI with a focus on transformative outcomes.
“Successful investment looks beyond pure IT integration,” continues McBurnie, “a move to cloud is key, but how you adopt is the differentiator”. With the right approach and culture, firms can start to close the gap between investment and adoption (and reap the rewards).
Adopt, not adapt
Legacy systems are a reality for many business leaders, especially if you’re a large multinational shaped by years of acquisitions, or an established firm with fragmented IT systems. Against that backdrop, it’s easy to see how the promise of AI and rapid technological change can lose momentum.
“Unpicking systems and moving to an AI-first future can understandably feel daunting,” says McBurnie. “Speed depends on customising less and adopting more”.
An “adopt, not adapt” approach helps organisations get results sooner. That means limiting customisation of technology solutions to only essential areas, such as to address regulatory, statutory or other vital operational requirements. The rest you adopt. And in doing so, you’ll reduce the risk of derailing progress.
Travelex, the foreign exchange specialist, shows what this looks like in practice: a global finance transformation delivered across 53 entities in 25 countries in just two years. “Working alongside PwC, we were disciplined in how we adopted Oracle’s technology,” explains John Hoare, Finance Transformation Director, Travelex.
Taking an ‘adopt, not adapt’ approach meant Travelex limited its customisation of Oracle Fusion Cloud ERP. By trusting the process, Travelex leapfrogged from fragmented legacy ERP environments to a single global Oracle platform supported by a single global chart of accounts. The firm is already seeing results: lower operating costs, reduced process duplication, and the removal of a number of duplicated heritage processes caused by the number of legacy platforms and no global standard chart of accounts.
“We understand each industry has different needs, which is why we used a financial services-specific playbook – our Solution Studio and model system - to implement Oracle at Travelex,” explains McBurnie. “The fit-to-standard design and processes are already adapted to the industry, making adoption easier and faster”.
An agile approach not only speeds transformation, but also simplifies future upgrades, reduces testing overheads, and lowers long-term support needs.
People, not just process
Technology adoption is ultimately a workforce challenge, not just a systems one.
Indeed, our latest research shows that employees at AI-leading organisations are 2.1 times more likely to trust AI-generated insights and act on them in their day-to-day work.
This level of adoption requires leaders to create the right conditions. “People need to feel they’re in a safe and supported environment to speak up, and feel comfortable to get things wrong at the beginning,” says McBurnie. “Often, the most beneficial use-cases of new technology come directly from the workforce. When they’re given the opportunity to explore and test it themselves, that’s when we can discover new ways to apply it”.
At Travelex, “change champions” were designated in each country where they operate to help bring that change back into the business. “The challenge for us wasn’t the technology itself, that’s the predictable part. It’s people. Getting the workforce onboard is key,” John Hoare reiterates.
The bottom line: you need to build people into transformation efforts from the start. Consider technology transformation as a workforce challenge as well as a systems challenge.
Setting your guiding principles
Transformation governance doesn’t have to put the brakes on innovation. With the right principles in place, engaged sponsors and an agile governance approach, organisations can adopt technology faster, while building stakeholder confidence.
Clear design principles create the guardrails for faster, more confident adoption. This takes the guess work out of how the day-to-day processes should operate and keeps routine use cases moving, rather than creating bottlenecks.
For Travelex that meant setting ten clear design principles at the start of the process. This included a standardised global way of working, an integrated solution, simplified data management, and a defined target state, alongside a focus on fit-to-standard, and building the right team.
By applying strong design principles, Travelex was able to make use of Oracle capabilities. For example, AI-enabled intelligent document recognition (IDR) capability now reads invoices and extracts the data used for processing through payables. Travelex reports fewer errors and says the capability has removed manual processing for more than 1,000 invoices each month.
Progress, not perfection
Having led Travelex’s successful transformation alongside PwC and Oracle, John Hoare’s advice is simple: “be clear on your goals.” He stresses that strong guiding principles help keep transformation efforts on track, while recognising the importance of pragmatism too: “stay true to the change, but don’t chase perfection.”
Iterative go-lives starting with the UK allowed Travelex to maintain momentum, with additional support from the PwC and Oracle team to implement key enhancements.
It’s a message that will resonate with businesses already feeling the consequences of falling behind technologically. Our CEO survey revealed 29% of leaders think technology constraints are actively inhibiting business performance, while a further 18% believe their organisation is highly exposed to financial loss as a result of technological disruption.
For organisations looking to stay ahead of change, technology investments need to be paired with the right approach to drive adoption across the organisation, getting you to the results, faster.
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