After the Plan: An Exploration of the Digitalization Application Barriers

This qualitative exploration study based on interviews analyses the situation of three organizations having started a digital transformation. Professional surveys and research projects hint that organizations are stagnating in the realization of their digital strategies and roadmaps. We seek to uncover where the organizations face barriers. Findings suggest that some barriers are elements that would be better planned before starting the digitalization, like knowledge of an organization’s core values and a digitalization vision. Others represent opportunities to adapt to emergent change, such as the development of agile business capabilities and flexibility in the strategic objectives. This study leads to the formulation of seven research proposition to guide future studies on the organizational change induced by the digitalization.

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