Self-Driving Tax Transformations are a Thing

Businesses are forging ahead with technology modernization initiatives, cloud migrations and related tax transformation efforts. This work is generating new thinking (along with fresh takes on existing thinking) related to the mechanisms that drive success and practices that make sure success sticks. An article from PwC that dissects past transformation success stories has renewed relevance in this environment.

The article considers the human factors of large transformations while pointing out that change is most effective when it spreads socially, from peer to peer: “It doesn’t rely on traditional persuasion, but it helps people achieve their own ambitions by choice.” And it takes only a handful of early advocates to reach a tipping point when changes can cascade and build to the critical mass that’s needed for success.

As tax leaders advocate for meaningful participation on ERP cloud migration project teams, the following transformation experiences and insights are worth bearing in mind: 

• Empower your enthusiasts: TED Talks – filmed presentations by a wide range of experts who typically speak in front of live audiences for 8-20 minutes – are a global phenomenon. Former Microsoft Co-Founder Bill Gates famously, and presciently, spoke about the dangers of a global pandemic in March 2015, nearly five years before COVID. (That presentation is understandably one of the top 25 most popular TED talks of all time.) Before its transformation from a Silicon Valley-focused event to a global concern, TED’s founder was looking for new ways to promote the group’s mission of disseminating “ideas worth spreading.” He was getting requests to bring the conferences to other locations around the world. But with TED’s tiny workforce, that seemed out of reach. Instead, TEDs staff created TEDx, a program that enabled local organizers to produce their own events. Now hundreds of TED events are produced annually worldwide.
• Convince, don’t coerce: When Barry Libenson initially joined global credit provider Experian, the company’s customers were submitting a flurry of requests for real-time access to their credit scoring data. Meeting that need would mean moving from traditional on-premises IT to the cloud. That shift would in turn require the adoption of a new business model – one less dependent on traditional credit reports – as well as a technology shift and workforce upskilling.  Although Libenson had a mandate for change from leadership, he knew from experience that he would face challenges if he simply imposed new technologies and new ways of working on Experian’s workforce. Instead, he set up a Center of Excellence to support enthusiasts who wanted to create new cloud-based products. Managers who adopted cloud platforms achieved strong results and influenced their peers to do the same. The initiative helped Experian develop some of the most successful products in its history, according to the PwC article.
• Give them tools: Prior to its transformation, the Boston-based Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) was looking for ways to adopt quality methods that had originally been developed in manufacturing as a way to improve patient safety. IHI knew that these protocols could have a measurable impact on patient outcomes, but many medical professionals resisted the idea of applying methodologies derived from the factory floor in hospitals. As part of a national campaign, IHI created “change kits” that included resources such as how-to guides that advocates could use to promote the new protocols. More than one-third of U.S. hospitals used the kits over the course of the campaign, contributing to the prevention of more than 120,000 needless deaths.

Examples like these show that organizations can create ways to share the heavy lifting of making new processes scalable. Tax leaders may want to develop people-focused change kits and practices of their own as they advance their tax transformation journeys.