Large scale systems projects have a high likelihood of failure. According to (Shaul & Tauber 2013)

a) 90% of ERP implementations are delivered late or are over budget,

b) enterprise initiatives show a 67% fail rate in achieving corporate goals and are considered negative or unsuccessful,

c) more than 40% of all large-scale projects fail.

This is indicative of a real issue that ultimately influences the vitality of organizations.

It is well-known that a large proportion of business projects and programs fail. Kotter International (2016) states that more than 70% of all major transformations fail. A study by the Standish Group (Hastie, Oct 2015) analyzed 50 000 projects in the software industry; only 29% of them were successful. Gartner estimates that 55 – 75% of ERP projects fail. HBR (March 2011) writes: “… study after study puts the failure rate of mergers and acquisitions somewhere between 70 and 90%.”

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&A) are done to obtain synergies, diversify business, grow market share, increase pricing power and eliminate competition (Investopedia, 2017). However, organizations struggle to achieve these targets. According to KMPG (2015), 83 percent of the mergers did not boost shareholder returns. A clear vision for the combined company, excellent planning and execution of integration and commitment on completing the integration are among the key factors in ensuring a successful merger.

Digitalization is a strategic level game-changer and the first-mover advantage is considered very important. Thus, expectations for the Industrial Internet and IoT are also very high. For some reason, the approach to digitalization for many companies is rather technology-driven as opposed to business-driven. Therefore, as companies proceed with implementing their digitalization capability road-maps, there will be many disappointments. Success, or failure, will be determined by several factors combining strategy, business models, technology, competences, organizational learning, architecture, methods, etc. Regardless of the priority of these factors, focus on the customer is critical.

Digital transformation is widely discussed and is impacting every company.

Nearly 2,600 CIOs surveyed by Gartner in 2016 said they devote 18 percent of their budgets to digital transformation, a figure that is expected to increase to 28 percent by 2018. According to CIO.com (Oct.6, 2017) and Harvard Business School, leading digital companies generate better gross margins, better earnings and better net income than organizations in the bottom quarter of digital adopters. In USA, digital leaders posted a three-year average gross margin of 55 percent, compared to just 37 percent for digital laggards.

Digitalization is about collecting and using data to create business value. Data, reporting and analytics are the backbones of digitalization. One of the emerging trends in industrial digitalization is process mining. It delivers better productivity and higher cost efficiencies by utilizing data and advanced analytics techniques.

What is process mining? It uses business process events for process visualization and analytics. With detailed event data, one can discover the exact flow of the events. One can then compare the results with a company’s defined processes and see the deviations.