Bridging the Gap: Uniting Business and Technology for Digital Success
A recent Gartner survey of over 3,100 CIOs and technology executives revealed a staggering statistic: 52% of digital initiatives fail. If anything, the real surprise is that this number isn’t higher. A decade ago, I was already writing about why big data projects were doomed to fail, largely because companies didn’t truly understand how to implement them effectively. Fast forward to today, and the challenges remain strikingly similar. However, organizations that do succeed share a common trait: they don’t treat digital transformation as a siloed IT project. Instead, they integrate it deeply across business functions, ensuring leadership from both the technology and business sides are equally invested.
This holistic approach is what sets apart the so-called “digital vanguard,” the select enterprises that achieve a 71% success rate with their digital initiatives. Gartner VP Raf Gelders emphasizes that in these companies, CIOs and CxOs share accountability for digital transformation, fostering collaboration between technical and non-technical teams. The message is clear—successful digital initiatives aren’t driven by IT alone but by a broader organizational commitment. This alignment between business and technology is something I’ve personally witnessed in my own work, and it’s increasingly becoming a defining factor in modern enterprises.
Take developer relations, for example. I lead developer relations at MongoDB, where our team is composed of engineers who prioritize technical content over traditional marketing. Yet, despite our engineering focus, we sit within the marketing organization. At first glance, this might seem counterintuitive, but it works precisely because we bridge the gap between technical expertise and business goals. Instead of conventional marketing campaigns, we produce technical workshops, in-depth tutorials, and real-world use cases that serve developers while supporting the company’s broader objectives. Success comes not from working in isolation but from integrating with other teams—strategic marketing, field marketing, digital growth—ensuring that our work aligns with and informs larger business initiatives.
This type of cross-functional collaboration is essential not just in developer relations but across all industries. The most successful companies don’t just adopt technology; they embed it into every aspect of their operations. As Gartner VP Daniel Sanchez-Reina notes, becoming a digital vanguard requires CIOs to simplify digital adoption for employees, teach the interconnectedness of business and technology, empower leaders to drive innovation, and expand digital skills beyond IT. In other words, digital transformation isn’t just an IT project—it’s a company-wide shift. Breaking down digital silos and fostering integration across departments is the key to ensuring that digital initiatives don’t just launch but thrive.