What builds employee support for digital transformation?

Break digital transformation into specific changes to day-to-day work, explaining the immediate value and practical implications for the people affected. Ben Bush argues that changing human behaviour matters at least as much as changing technology, making empathetic communication essential rather than an announcement exercise. Resistance, doubt and established habits need to be addressed directly.

The launch campaign for IBM Garage stressed how its approach reduced some of the risks of digital transformation: agile collaboration applied to a rolling series of individual business challenges. The practical lesson is to explain a manageable route to a useful change, rather than relying on a broad promise of transformation.

A 2025 Boston Consulting Group study of workers across 11 countries and regions found that 46% of employees in organisations comprehensively redesigning work around AI worried about job security, compared with 34% in less-advanced organisations. Communication about practical changes should therefore address concerns about work as well as the benefits of technology.

Build employee support through successive changes and ongoing, empathetic communication, rather than expecting an announcement to secure commitment to an entire transformation. Ben Bush argues that businesses do not need to map out the whole journey before starting: taking transformation step by step allows consensus and momentum to develop along the way.

The practical priority is to treat changes in behaviour as seriously as changes in technology. Employees cannot be expected to adopt new practices, or become champions for change, without communication that helps them understand and engage with the changes.

A 2025 Gallagher finding reported by the Institute of Internal Communication found that 44% of internal communicators globally identified employee change fatigue as a major barrier to success, second only to limited team capacity. A manageable sequence of changes keeps the communication task focused on what employees are being asked to do next.