Change and digital transformation hires: what separates good from great

Transformation roles are some of the hardest I recruit for, mainly because the role is so often unclear. "Programme director" can mean someone who keeps a plan on track, or someone who gets a sceptical organisation to work differently. Hiring the first when you need the second is the most expensive mistake in this market.

The most striking finding in the recent research is how consistent it is. McKinsey's 2026 State of AI survey of 1,719 executives found that high performers, those getting at least 5% of EBIT from AI, are just 6% of respondents, "unchanged from 2025". BCG's study of 1,250 senior executives put the companies achieving value at scale at 5%, with 60% "not achieving material value at all". KPMG's 2026 Global Tech Report, surveying 2,500 technology executives, found 74% say their AI use cases provide business value, but only 24% achieve a return across multiple use cases.

The definition of failure matters. MIT's widely quoted "95%" figure counted any initiative without measurable P&L impact six months after the pilot as a failure, and the report itself acknowledges its window may be too short. PwC's January 2026 survey of 4,454 CEOs found 56% report no significant financial benefit from AI so far. Different methods, different numbers, the same picture: most organisations are investing heavily and a small minority are getting the return.

The gap is about leadership far more than tools.

• BCG found nearly 100% of the leading organisations have deeply engaged C-suites, against 8% of laggards.
• McKinsey found nearly three-quarters of high performers have fundamentally redesigned workflows, against roughly a quarter of everyone else. High performers were also twice as likely to have defined how they would measure impact.
• KPMG's high performers were far less likely to say employees feel left behind (6% against 39%) or to struggle to communicate the value of what they'd built (17% against 57%).

Redesigning how work gets done, getting the top team to own it, and agreeing early how success will be measured: those are leadership capabilities. They're what to hire for.

The programmes that fail usually don't fail in the boardroom. BCG's 2026 survey of nearly 12,000 employees found only 28% see a strong connection between what leaders say and what the organisation does. Gartner found only 45% of employees achieved the change goals their organisation set, and McKinsey found mid-level managers and individual contributors far more likely than executives to report AI-related strain (47% against 31%).

A great transformation leader is judged on adoption below them, not on the plan they present above them.

SAP will end mainstream maintenance for SAP ERP 6.0 (ECC) at the end of 2027, with optional extended maintenance to 2030. In October 2026 SAP confirmed that, for its largest customers, transition subscriptions "may run until December 31, 2035", but only if their systems move to SAP ERP private edition before the end of 2030.

The backlog is large. Gartner estimated, as reported by CIO.com, that 14,000 of 35,000 ECC customers had moved to S/4HANA by the end of 2024, leaving around 17,000 likely to still be on ECC in 2027. Germany's SAP user group DSAG found in early 2026 that almost half of members still investing in ECC plan to complete their move by 2030, relying on extended maintenance, and named skills shortages as a cause of delay.

The more telling finding is what those migrations involve. Research by advisory firm ISG found nearly 60% of SAP migration projects run late and over budget, and fewer than one in five organisations reimplement their processes when they move. As one ISG analyst put it, "a lot of the delays are caused by people, not necessarily the technology." A good S/4HANA leader delivers a technical upgrade. A great one uses it to decide how the business should run.

UK government research found 35% of organisations struggle to fill AI roles, and "senior positions are particularly difficult to fill". Demand for interim leaders is climbing fast: Heidrick & Struggles' 2026 independent talent report shows requests for interim digital, data and IT leaders up 58% since 2023, based on its own client data.

Workflows changed, not just systems delivered. Ask what people do differently because of their programme, and how they know.

Adoption below them. Ask for the adoption numbers, and what they did when a team didn't change.

Measures agreed up front. The best can explain, in board language, how value was defined before go-live.

A top team kept engaged. Ask how they kept a sceptical executive committee committed through a long programme.

Honesty about what went wrong. Given the odds, an experienced leader should have a programme that didn't go to plan, and be able to explain why without blaming the client.

1. Decide what kind of leader you need: a delivery lead to land a defined programme, or a change leader to reshape how people work. Many roles need both; be clear which matters more.
2. Decide interim or permanent: an interim to stabilise or accelerate, or a permanent leader to own the outcome.
3. Write the brief around the outcome, not the methodology or the system.
4. Start early, especially if you're working to SAP's timelines.

If you're preparing for a transformation hire, I'm happy to talk through the brief.

• McKinsey & Company, The state of AI in 2026, August 2026 (1,719 respondents, 97 countries, May to June 2026).
• BCG, The Widening AI Value Gap, September 2025 (1,250 senior executives).
• BCG, AI at Work 2026, June 2026 (nearly 12,000 employees).
• KPMG, Global Tech Report 2026, January 2026 (2,500 tech executives, 27 countries).
• PwC, 29th Global CEO Survey, January 2026 (4,454 CEOs).
• MIT NANDA, The GenAI Divide: State of AI in Business 2025, July 2025.
• Gartner, change goals research, October 2025.
• SAP Support Portal, maintenance strategy for SAP Business Suite 7.
• SAP News, SAP ERP, private edition, transition option, updated October 2026.
• CIO.com, Gartner estimates of ECC migrations, June 2025.
• DSAG, Investment Report 2026, February 2026 (198 member companies).
• The Register, ISG research on SAP migrations, February 2026 (200 senior decision-makers).
• DSIT, AI labour market survey 2025, January 2026.
• Heidrick & Struggles, 2026 High-End Independent Talent Report, April 2026.