The Real Digital Transformation? Killing the Systems You’re Afraid to Touch

By Jeffrey Cortez Visionary Tech Executive | AI Strategist & Advisor | Founder & Author | Grant Writer | K-12 Education Innovator | Champion of Human-Centered Innovation | Former Columbia University Instructor

Most tech stacks aren’t outdated—they’re incomplete. Here’s why CIOs must stop building and start dismantling.

Why This Matters Now

Digital transformation has dominated corporate strategy decks for over a decade. Companies—from small businesses to global enterprises—have poured billions into cloud platforms, AI tools, and workflow automation. Yet, a recent BCG study reports that 70% of digital transformations fail to deliver on their promises.

The reason? Not legacy mainframes. Not missing AI features.

The real reason: Most organizations are living in a gray zone where new systems coexist with old habits—because the “shiny new system” isn’t as usable as promised.

What looks like modernization on paper often feels like chaos in practice.

Here’s the hard truth: Most companies don’t have legacy systems—they have a graveyard of good intentions.

The All-Too-Familiar Story

You’ve seen this movie before:

• A new platform launches with fanfare.

• Leadership promises, “This will streamline everything.”

• The vendor demo dazzles. The LinkedIn announcement posts go live.

Then reality kicks in:

• Training is rushed.

• Integrations are delayed.

• Documentation never gets finished.

Six months later:

• The system is technically live—but barely used.

• Employees cling to old workflows because they feel faster and safer.

• IT support becomes a helpdesk triage center for frustrated users.

Why Does This Happen? (It’s Not Just Tech—It’s the Experience)

Here’s what few executives admit: Most new systems fail because they aren’t designed for real humans—they’re designed for compliance and feature checklists.

The result?

• Beautiful PowerPoint demos. Painful real-world workflows.

• Feature overload that intimidates non-technical users.

• Basic tasks buried under 10 clicks and cryptic menus.

Employees don’t reject these tools because they hate change. They reject them because using them feels like punishment.

According to Deloitte, 72% of employees abandon new tools if they perceive them as more complicated than their previous process. And the old process—pen and paper, Excel spreadsheets, email—feels safe and simple, even if inefficient.

When a new system isn’t intuitive—or “pretty enough to work in”—it loses the adoption battle before it starts.

Real-World Friction Examples

• Small Business: A boutique retailer rolls out an inventory app that looks like a developer console. Staff go back to handwritten stock sheets because “it’s just faster.”

• Mid-Sized Company: A law firm introduces a document automation platform. Associates abandon it after two weeks because navigating it feels like “clicking through a maze.”

• Enterprise: A multinational company launches a CRM that requires seven steps to log one lead. Sales reps stick to Excel because “I can do this in two minutes.”

The pattern is clear: Complexity kills adoption.

The Neuroscience of Intuition

Our brains are wired for cognitive ease—we prefer tools that feel simple, predictable, and visually clean. Every extra click adds mental friction, triggering stress and frustration. Under stress, the brain defaults to the familiar.

That’s why UX isn’t a luxury—it’s a survival requirement for adoption. Clean design signals ease and competence. When software looks cluttered, users assume complexity—and disengage before they start.

This is why aesthetics matter. It’s not vanity—it’s neuroscience.

The Human Element at Every Layer

• End Users: Employees aren’t resisting innovation—they’re drowning in complexity. Every new login feels like another demand on their time.

• IT Support: Teams spend weeks firefighting integrations and answering “where do I click?” tickets instead of innovating.

• Leadership: Executives celebrate go-live dates as success metrics—while ignoring that adoption flatlined months later.

This isn’t a tech problem. It’s a human systems problem.

The Cost of Zombie Tech

Zombie tech isn’t just an IT headache—it’s a silent budget killer and a productivity drain. These are the tools that were once shiny and promising but now sit half-used or completely ignored, still eating up licensing fees and support hours.

Gartner estimates that 20–30% of IT budgets are wasted on underutilized or redundant systems. For a mid-sized company, that’s hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. For large enterprises, it can easily climb into the millions.

But the cost isn’t just financial. It’s human cost:

• Employees juggling two systems for the same task because no one fully committed to one.

• Managers wasting time reconciling data from five different tools because none talk to each other.

• IT teams drowning in support tickets for systems that no one actually wants to use.

A Real Example:

A regional healthcare provider invested in a state-of-the-art scheduling system designed to automate patient reminders. But the interface was confusing, and staff didn’t trust the process. So, nurses kept calling patients manually. The result?

• The hospital paid for enterprise software and manual labor—essentially running two systems in parallel.

• Staff frustration skyrocketed because the “solution” added more work instead of reducing it.

Multiply that by every unused tool in the tech stack, and the picture becomes clear: Zombie tech isn’t just wasted money—it’s wasted energy, time, and trust.

What It Takes to Change Course

Digital transformation isn’t just an IT responsibility—it’s a team sport. Whether you’re in operations, marketing, HR, or support, here’s what it really takes to make technology work for all of us:

Get Users Involved Early Before a new tool is rolled out, employees should have a voice. Testing and feedback up front saves months of frustration later.

Choose Ease Over Bells and Whistles A tool everyone can use confidently beats one that only a few experts can master. Simplicity drives adoption—and adoption drives value.

Think Beyond “Go-Live” The launch is just the beginning. True success means ongoing training, feedback loops, and real-time support to keep the system alive and relevant.

Be Brave Enough to Let Go If a tool isn’t working, don’t force it. Killing underperforming systems frees up time, budget, and energy for what really matters—even if it means swallowing some sunk costs.

Hold Vendors to Real-World Standards Ask to see how the system handles your workflows, not just a polished demo. If it can’t do the job in practice, it won’t do the job in production.

From IT Steward to Value Architect

If we keep stacking new tech on shaky foundations, we’ll remain:

• Slow to pivot.

• Fragile under pressure.

• Frustrated from within.

But if we focus on simplicity, clear ownership, and measurable value, IT stops being a cost center and becomes a growth engine.

Final Thought: The Courage to Cut

Digital transformation isn’t about adding more tools—it’s about making the ones we have truly work for us. Sometimes, the smartest move isn’t launching something new—it’s letting go of what no longer serves the team.

Your Turn: Have you ever worked with a tool that promised to make life easier but ended up making things harder? What did you do—adapt, work around it, or ditch it altogether?

Let’s start normalizing the conversation that real progress isn’t about more apps or platforms—it’s about better experiences and full adoption. The future of work isn’t about what we install—it’s about what we actually use well.

#DigitalTransformation #WorkplaceExperience #TechThatWorks #SimplifyToSucceed #HumanCenteredIT