Don’t Ignore “Optional Add-Ons” in Transformation

Last summer, after driving the same old car for forever (I’m a bit frugal and love not having a car payment), I finally decided to bite the bullet and buy a new car. I spent months researching different makes and models online, determining which features were most important to me, and narrowing my search to a few top contenders. Finally, one Saturday morning, I decided it was time to go test drive my top three.

After identifying a “deal-breaker” with each of the first two cars I looked at, I showed up at the third dealership hopeful that I just might find the perfect car. Within a few minutes, I was staring at it – the car of my dreams! It looked great and checked all the boxes on my list – a trusted brand, exactly the model I wanted, a powerful engine, a beautiful exterior, a great entertainment system, etc. I took it for a spin and immediately knew this was the one.

Then, as I was driving back to the dealership, ready to take the plunge and buy the car, I asked the salesman, “This one does have the blind-spot warning system, right?”

“No, BSW is an optional add-on feature. That’s part of the premium safety package and would cost an extra $3000.”

Optional add-on? I couldn’t believe it. They thought the moonroof, double USB ports, heated steering wheel, auto-dimming mirrors, advanced entertainment system, and seat warmers were important enough to include in the base package, but you have to pay extra for the safety features?!

What good would it do me to spend all this money on a new car with dozens of bells and whistles but not the safety features needed to keep me from crashing the car? What I considered to be a core component of the car’s value proposition was framed merely as an optional add-on. And the way it was presented made me second guess how important or not these safety features really were.

In the work I do helping clients transform their organizations for the digital era, I see this same mindset permeate digital transformation projects all the time. “Focus on standing up the minimum viable product. Don’t worry about optimizing the user experience or spending any money on change management and training. Those are just ‘add-on’ things we can worry about later.” The truth of the matter is that human-centered areas of focus such as Experience Design, Business Readiness, and Change Management can make or break the success of your transformation program. They may feel like add-ons, but in almost every case, they are critical for ensuring a transformation vision is translated into lasting change and real business value.

Developing a best-in-class technology solution without doing the heavy lifting to ensure your users will actually use and benefit from the solution is like building a luxury car and not including the safety features to keep the driver from veering off the road.

So, the next time your organization embarks on a transformation initiative and your internal IT team or external consulting partner proposes a “fast, quick, and cheap” minimum viable product approach with optional “add-on” services like optimizing the user experience and supporting user adoption, I encourage you to call B.S. After all, you don’t want to “crash” your big transformation program, do you?

And yes, for those wondering, I paid extra for the safety package. 😊