One of the remarkable IT trends in 2017 is the increasing size of digital transformation projects. I recently blogged about this phenomenon, especially as evidence refuting Gartner’s claim of these projects hitting a trough of disillusionment. The reason this growth in projects in the digital space is remarkable is that we saw no evidence of it in prior years. I believe it’s especially worth paying attention to because of what’s driving the momentum.
In 2017, we see evidence of companies shifting from digital transformation pilots to programs. 2016 brought a lot of experimentation with small pilots, but they stayed in the range of $500,000 – $2 million. Companies moving from pilots to larger, more substantial programs in 2017 are investing in the range of $10 – $50 million in these projects.
Let’s dig deeper into what is driving this momentum. The first factor in the growth in size of digital transformation projects is that the programs are sponsored by the C-suite (usually the CEO, CMO, or CFO).