6 Mins
Published: May 23, 2025
Businesses can’t afford to rely on outdated technology. Clunky systems slow down operations, introduce security risks, and block innovation.
IT transformation is essential to create a more secure, agile and scalable foundation for growth. Yet, without a clear plan for guiding people through change, even the most advanced solutions struggle to deliver meaningful results.
Successful IT transformation depends on how effectively people adopt and use new systems. Change management prepares individuals, aligns teams and builds the conditions for sustained performance.
This article defines what an effective IT transformation entails, explains the role of change management in realizing its full value, and outlines strategies to lead successful, resilient change across the enterprise.
What Is IT Transformation?
IT transformation involves updating your IT infrastructure, systems and operations to improve business operations. Key elements of IT transformation include:
- Moving from legacy systems to cloud-based infrastructure
- Streamlining IT operations and automating tasks
- Enhancing cybersecurity and data management
- Implementing new tools or platforms to improve internal efficiency
IT transformation modernizes the systems that support daily operations, future growth and enterprise-wide innovation.
IT transformation vs digital transformation: What’s the difference?
IT and digital transformation are often used interchangeably—sometimes referred to as IT digital transformation—but they’re not the same.
IT transformation focuses on improving and modernizing internal technology systems and infrastructure. The goal is to make systems faster, more secure and more cost-effective to support business needs.
A digital transformation initiative, on the other hand, involves using technology to transform the entire business, including how it delivers value to customers. They’re led by executive leadership and involve all departments, not just IT.
Difference Between IT Transformation vs. Digital Transformation
Think of it this way: IT transformation projects are often the foundation for digital transformation efforts. A company can’t fully go digital—launch new apps, automate services, or use real-time data—without modernizing its IT infrastructure.
A business might also use IT transformation milestones as key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure progress toward digital transformation goals.
For example, metrics like cloud migration completion, system uptime, API adoption, or automation coverage can serve as indicators that the digital transformation process is progressing as planned.
Why IT Transformation Is Necessary
Modern businesses rely on fast, secure and adaptable digital technologies to stay competitive. Research shows that IT spending worldwide will reach over $5.7 trillion in 2025, a 9% increase from 2024.
IT transformation helps your organization keep up with market trends, streamline operations and unlock new opportunities—all of which are essential for business success.
Here’s why forward-thinking businesses are making IT transformation a top priority.
Enhance business process optimization
By replacing clunky legacy applications with smarter, automated solutions, companies can fine-tune their workflows, eliminate manual bottlenecks, and apply real-time insights. The result is smoother processes, faster decisions, and teams that can focus on what actually drives growth.
Example: Shopify frequently updates its payment data security to automate payment security tasks for users, reducing manual effort and chargeback risks. This makes the payment process safer and frees up resources for customer service teams to provide a better customer experience.
Increase operational efficiency
IT transformation replaces outdated systems with streamlined, high-performance digital tools that break down silos and speed up execution across every team. It’s how modern businesses scale with precision.
Example: Unilever implements artificial intelligence (AI) to improve demand forecasting accuracy. This allows the company to fine-tune production schedules and optimize inventory management. This AI adoption has streamlined its supply chain, reducing waste and improving responsiveness to market changes.
Facilitate innovation and flexibility
IT transformation lets you test bold ideas, move fast and adopt new tools without the drag of outdated infrastructure.
Cloud-based platforms and scalable tools create an environment where teams can experiment and deploy updates frequently. Organizations can integrate cutting-edge digital technologies without the drag of outdated infrastructure.
Example: Capital One’s cloud migration empowered the company to recover instantly from system failures across regions, access the latest tech without maintaining in-house infrastructure, and move from monthly to daily code releases. Their teams now ship faster and tap into cutting-edge tools the moment they drop.
Common Challenges in IT Transformation
Every transformation brings operational and technical hurdles. Anticipating these challenges and addressing them with practical, people-centered solutions keeps progress steady and aligned with strategic business goals.
Compatibility with existing systems
New tech and old systems don’t always work well together. From delays and inefficiencies to rising costs, legacy infrastructure can drag down your entire transformation. These tech mismatches stall progress and can kill momentum before it even builds.
Solution: Adopt a phased approach to transformation to minimize disruption. Start by identifying high-impact areas that can deliver quick wins, and use middleware to bridge the gap between old and new platforms. Prioritize integration projects that deliver the most business value while keeping day-to-day operations running smoothly.
Ensuring data security
In 2023, 76% of companies globally said that cybersecurity was the leading priority for their company's IT initiatives. Why?
Because moving fast without locking things down is a recipe for trouble.
New systems bring new vulnerabilities, and if security isn’t baked into the transformation from day one, you risk opening the door to cyber threats and compliance nightmares.
Solution: Embed cybersecurity into every stage of your transformation plan. Use robust encryption protocols, ensure compliance with relevant data privacy laws, and make regular security training part of your company culture. Proactive protection reduces risk and builds trust.
Overrunning cost
Transformation can get expensive, fast. Scope creep, hidden complexities and poor planning often blow budgets and slow the project down. Left unchecked, what starts as innovation turns into an endless money pit.
Solution: Define a clear project scope from the outset and use flexible frameworks, like Agile, to track progress, manage changes, and stay aligned with goals. Include a buffer for unexpected costs and revisit estimates regularly to avoid surprises as the project scales.
But even with the best planning, technology projects can stall when employees feel overwhelmed by shifting workflows or worry about their roles. Without careful attention to the human side of change, your initiative risks falling short of its potential.
This is where organizational change management can help.
Integrate IT Transformation With Change Management to Achieve Lasting Results
Organizational change management (OCM) helps people adapt to and sustain change in their daily work. By focusing on the human side of change, OCM turns disruption into opportunity and drives long-term success.
Take a new enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, for example. ERPs are deeply embedded in your company’s digital infrastructure. And because ERPs affect multiple departments, even small changes can cause significant disruptions.
OCM addresses these challenges by proactively engaging employees—communicating clearly, providing hands-on training, and offering strong leadership support. This approach helps ease anxieties and build support for change.
Prosci research also shows that projects with strong change management are:
- 65% more likely to stay on schedule
- 71% more likely to stay on budget
- 88% more likely to meet objectives
Correlation With Staying On or Ahead of Schedule
Let's explore the key areas where OCM can make a significant impact when managing IT transformation.
Preparing for the people side of change
When we focus on people, we create the conditions for meaningful, sustainable change that drives real results. That’s why the people side of change is so important—it’s about addressing the emotions, motivations and concerns that come with change.
The Prosci Methodology provides a structured, repeatable approach that equips people to move through change with clarity and confidence. It focuses on the human experience of change, and uses tools like the Prosci ADKAR® Model to guide people through effective change.
Prosci ADKAR Model
This model provides organizations with a clear path to support the employee experience at every step. It turns uncertainty into action and prevents resistance before it rears its head. Because when you meet people where they are, you don’t just implement change—you make it stick.
Using Prosci Advisory Services, one Entertainment Company successfully implemented a new ERP system into its business model.
Prosci played a key role in a successful launch by strengthening leadership capabilities across the executive and management teams while partnering closely with them to drive long-term adoption and enthusiasm for change.
The impact extended beyond rolling out new software. The initiative reshaped critical behaviors and job roles, and even influenced mindsets, attitudes and beliefs across the workforce.
These are all key areas of change impact:
10 Areas of Change Impact
The results were immediate, measurable and business-wide—proof that when change is done right, it delivers real impact.
Preventing resistance to change
Resistance often arises when people lack clarity, feel disconnected from decisions, or are uncertain about their future role. Though perfectly normal, that resistance can stall even the best-planned transformation. Projects slow down, morale dips, adoption rates drop and the return on investment (ROI) of your change efforts takes a serious hit.
A clear, structured approach helps leaders address these concerns before they grow.
With structured change approaches and models like our ADKAR Model, you can plan for and prevent resistance by guiding each person through their own change journey—from awareness to adoption.
Prosci’s resources—including expert training, valuable insights and in-depth research—also supports early engagement, crushes uncertainty and keeps momentum high.
Increasing executive sponsorship
Strong sponsorship from senior leaders shapes how teams respond to change. Visible, informed leadership sets priorities, builds trust and keeps momentum strong throughout the transformation.
To get business leaders on board, show them the “why” behind the change—how it drives growth, boosts efficiency and strengthens your organization’s competitive edge. Then, equip them to lead from the front.
Combining the people side of change with a structured approach—like the Prosci 3-Phase Process—helps align individual adoption with business outcomes. It gives senior management visibility into what’s changing, how it affects teams, and what successful transformation looks like.
This clarity builds people’s confidence, sharpens their focus, and empowers them to actively champion the transformation.
Work With Prosci to Manage Your IT Transformation
IT transformation upgrades systems, but sustainable success is driven by people. By implementing change management practices with your IT transformation, you see smoother adoption, stronger engagement and lasting impact.
Prosci’s proven methodology and models guide individuals and organizations through change with clarity and purpose. Align teams, empower leaders and launch transformation initiatives that deliver lasting results.
