Despite significant investments in time, money and human capital over the months and years leading up to 2020, most leaders have largely fallen short of accomplishing objectives to streamline operations and/or re-envision how value is delivered by taking advantage of new digital infrastructures. These results, according to Michelle Kent, a principal with the advisory practice for transformation delivery at KPMG, should not be entirely surprising. Most initiatives have tended to focus on technology modernization and process optimization. While there has been a great deal of discussion about integrating the human factor into the equation, most initiatives have not persistently engaged with employees -- across all levels of the organization -- in a systematic or meaningful manner. 

It is an important problem statement because the data clearly shows that those leaders who achieved success with their transformation efforts were much better positioned to address the shocks imposed by the COVID-19 crises than executives who did not. The key to those successes, she says, has often revolved around the ability to harness the power of data-driven strategies to develop a human-centric approach to transformation that is sustainable and accountable.