Organizational Readiness and Roadblocks

Digital Doesn’t Fail Because of Tech. It Fails Because You Weren’t Ready.

We’ve all seen the slides.
Digital drives growth.
Lowers cost to serve.
Deepens customer loyalty.

You know the upside. You’ve probably even made the case internally.

But here’s what too many companies learn the hard way:

Digital transformation doesn’t fail because of technology.
It fails because your organization wasn’t ready to change.

Let’s talk about why—and what to do about it.

Three Common Failure Points (That Have Nothing to Do with Platforms)

Most eCommerce projects that underdeliver?
They share the same root issues:

1. Bad data – You can’t offer a great customer experience if your pricing, inventory, or product content is broken.
2. Poor change management – If your teams don’t believe in the vision, they’ll resist, stall, or silently sabotage.
3. Underinvestment – Treating eCommerce like a one-time website launch instead of a core business capability.

These aren’t technology problems.
They’re leadership problems.

You can’t build digital trust on analog infrastructure.

ERP Isn’t eCommerce. CRM Isn’t a Digital Strategy.

One of the most common misconceptions we see?

Thinking your ERP is your eCommerce platform.

It’s not. It’s built for transactions and operations—not customer experience.

CRM? It’s a piece of the puzzle.
But it won’t help customers reorder or check inventory at 10 p.m.

True digital capability is a system of systems.

You need your ERP, CRM, PIM, search, analytics, and your eCommerce front end—all talking to each other. Seamlessly.

No single tool solves this.
You need integration, alignment, and a clear strategy across systems.

Digital Transformation Is a Team Sport

You can’t delegate transformation to one department.

Every team owns a piece:

• Sales needs to see digital as a tool that supports (not replaces) their relationships.
• Product must commit to clean data, specs, and digital attribution.
• Marketing needs to move from PDF brochures to real-time, channel-ready content.
• IT should stop saying “no” and start asking, “how do we make this work?”

Digital maturity only happens when all departments move forward together.

If one team drags its feet, the entire initiative loses momentum.

Case Studies: Why Waiting Costs More Than You Think

Here’s what this looks like in the real world:

• One distributor waited two years for an ERP upgrade before launching eCommerce. By then, their competitors had already won over 30 of their best accounts.
• Another distributor launched fast—imperfectly, but intentionally. Today, 32% of their reorders happen online, and their cost to serve is 25% lower.

The difference?

One waited for perfect.
The other chose progress.

Waiting feels safe.
But delay? That’s what actually puts your business at risk.

Bottom Line: Readiness Is the Real Work

Technology is easy.
Change is hard.

If you want to succeed with digital, you need to commit to four things:

1. Clean, usable data
2. Cross-functional alignment
3. A clear investment plan
4. Leaders who are willing to act before everything’s perfect

Because the real risk isn’t in doing the work.
It’s in waiting too long to start.

Let’s keep going.