Aligning technology for business value
01 Apr 2026
Cafe, Amsterdam, November 2025 @babafemio
Technology rarely fails on its own.
What often fails is the alignment between tech investments and the outcomes they are meant to deliver. I often tell people that any technology built by an organisation that has run successfully for many years and retains paying customers really works… The challenge mostly lies in how it was deployed in your environment, or whether the needs in your organisation closely match what the solution provides. We often refer to this as product-market fit in the product operating model. Yes, product-market fit!
Too often, organisations chase the latest platforms, tools, or digital initiatives without clearly connecting them to measurable business goals. The result? Digital transformation fatigue, wasted resources, missed opportunities, and a general disillusionment with what the team or technology can deliver or solve.
The real question for leaders isn’t “Which technology should we adopt?” but “How will this technology drive real, measurable value for the business?”
Let’s look at a simple example to illustrate this point. Imagine an organisation that decides to move its email services from a well-functioning on-premise server to the cloud. Employees are happy with the existing setup, but leadership comes across Google Workspace and decides to migrate. The migration goes smoothly, and the new system works as expected technically. But there is a catch: it only performs well when you arrive at the office at 5 AM and are the only one online, because the corporate internet connection cannot handle the load once the rest of the team arrives. A shiny new email solution has been deployed, yet the user experience has actually declined. The system works, and there was some degree of alignment, but something critical was overlooked. The organisation failed to upgrade its bandwidth, unaware that a web-based solution requires significantly more. What was missing was Benefits Realisation. This is the process of identifying all the supporting initiatives and actions required to make a technology truly work within your environment.
When tech initiatives are designed with clear outcomes in mind, whether it’s increasing revenue, improving operational efficiency, or enhancing customer experience, they don’t just work; they transform the business.
The bridge between technology and business value is not built by tools alone, but by intentional strategy, clear metrics, and leadership that avoids implementing technology for technology’s sake.
Technology doesn’t fail. Poor alignment does.