Although digital transformation is life-changing for many businesses, it ushers in new challenges at every turn. Frequent influxes and adoption of technological advancements, a lack of proper evaluation and management strategies, rising security concerns, and deteriorating employee experience—the roster of ongoing enterprise challenges is never-ending.
Tackling these challenges by seeking quick fixes or adhering to traditional rules is no longer feasible. We must go beyond the basics and adopt a new mindset. A shift that prioritises the principles of repetition, optimisation, and resilience to ensure sustained success.
The challenges of digital transformation
The concept of digital transformation has evolved with time. Today, organisations are speeding towards reliance on AI-first operations to transform themselves digitally. However, for many of them, their efforts are proving to be more detrimental than beneficial.
There are multiple reasons for an organization’s failed digital transformation, such as an inability to keep up with the complexity of new technologies, budget constraints, a lack of a skilled workforce, poor employee experience, increasing cybersecurity risks, unclear strategies, and the loss of clear business objectives. However, the most pressing of them all is an organisation’s cultural rigidity and innate resistance to change. According to a study conducted by Insights KSA in 2025 on the Digital Transformation challenges in KSA, a risk-averse culture that resists change is seen as one of the roadblocks for businesses to transform in the Kingdom digitally.
This culture—which is fueled by fear and hesitation from within the organisation—is not formed by a one-off event. It has become a recurring pattern that penetrates the very core of many organisations, threatening to jeopardise their overall operations and efficiency. Addressing this challenge in digital transformation requires constant attention and a complete re-engineering of the usual strategies. It requires a drastic shift in mindset and the adoption of some crucial values into the organisation’s ethos.
The power of the pillars
As opposed to traditional problem-solving strategies, the idea of inculcating the principles of repetition, optimisation, and resilience into work may seem too abstract. Nevertheless, in the current digital landscape, these very principles can be regarded as the key that unlocks ultimate organisational success by helping enterprises navigate through technical challenges.
Repetition
At first glance, repetition can easily be mistaken for an endless cycle of predictable activities with no tangible outcome. But, it is a core value that can build the muscle memory of an organization’s workforce by making room for regular practice, iteration, and fine-tuning of any strategy or solution until the desired results are achieved and internalized. When approached with thought, repetition allows for continuous improvement and innovation amongst businesses.
KPMG research published in 2024 reveals that “80 per cent of large enterprises are now pursuing two or more concurrent organisational transformations.” The research goes on to highlight that “for many modern enterprises, transformation means continuous reinvention.” This underscores the importance of consistent and repetitive efforts in not only adapting to changing market conditions but laying the foundation for our next principle: optimisation.
Optimisation
When an organisation repeats its processes and masters them, its workforce subconsciously prepares itself for optimisation as well. It is no surprise, then, that most organisations expect their workforce to contribute to process optimisation. For instance, in the case of digital transformation, when a new technology is onboarded, it needs to be repeatedly tested for employees to understand its business implications. With each attempt, the organisation refines its understanding of that new tool or solution, which enables it to extract maximum value and bring about greater efficiency.
Resilience
Organisational resilience doesn’t stop with just being able to withstand and survive technical difficulties. It also refers to being able to adapt to, recover from, and overcome such situations with ease. In the present digital era—where there’s no shortage of unexpected technological disruptions—resilience is a key value to prioritise. Taking a proactive approach, especially in the case of cybersecurity and compliance, helps enterprises sustain themselves and, ultimately, achieve success. Resilience is both the foundation and the outcome of a seamless digital transformation strategy.
A path toward enterprise progress
Most enterprises grappling with digital transformation challenges can overcome their struggles by following established technological remedies and guidelines. However, the path towards an enterprise’s true progress is only paved by the principles of repetition, optimisation, and resilience. To bring out the best in their organisations, business leaders should be keen to walk this path to progress.
