Is it worth creating a digital transformation team?

Digital transformation today is not a luxury, but a necessity. In many companies – especially in manufacturing and trade – digitization of processes has become a condition for scaling, increasing efficiency, and maintaining competitiveness. The question is no longer “is it worth digitizing,” but rather: “how to do it effectively, without chaos and burning budgets.”

In this context, many companies decide to establish an internal digital transformation team. However, this is not always the best solution. Sometimes the project team is created too late, with an unclear mandate or without the right experience, and sometimes – it is simply not needed. Instead, it is worth considering cooperation with a specialized partner who brings ready-made competencies, proven processes, and the ability to act here and now.

Why do companies establish transformation teams?
The intentions are right. By creating a digital transformation team, organizations try to coordinate activities that were previously dispersed among IT, marketing, sales, or logistics. They want to have one unit that “drives the project,” sets the direction, combines competencies, and ensures execution. Theoretically, this is a great idea – especially in large companies with complex structures.

In practice, however, such a team often faces a lack of decision-making power, unclear responsibilities, and… lack of time. Team members are usually assigned from other departments and work on “transformation” alongside their daily tasks. They lack experience in managing digital projects, do not know available technologies or implementation pitfalls. By the time the team figures out what is going on, six months have passed.

Transformation is a project, not a state of mind
The greatest risk of creating an internal transformation team is that transformation becomes a concept rather than a concrete, measurable process. The company says it is digitizing, acting, analyzing. But there is no implementation plan. No roadmap. No accountability for results. Instead of real effects – there are more meetings.

Meanwhile, digital transformation should be treated like any other strategic project: with a defined budget, timeline, success metrics, and an assigned partner responsible for execution. This does not mean that the internal team makes no sense – but it is worth clearly defining its role. The team can be responsible for internal communication, data analysis, preparing materials for the management board, or ensuring compliance with procedures. However, the burden of execution should rest on the shoulders of an external partner who has already completed similar projects and knows what they are doing.

Internal team or external partner?
It is not about choosing “either-or.” It is about defining competencies and responsibilities properly. An external partner – like CREHLER – will not replace the company’s organizational culture, nor will it make strategic decisions for the management board. But it can take responsibility for the entire implementation process: from audit, through concept, to development and rollout.

This way, the internal team does not have to “learn on the living organism” or experiment. It can focus on what matters most – implementing changes in the company’s daily functioning. Because true transformation does not happen in the system – but in how the company works every day.

The value of a partner? Ready-made processes and no emotions
Internal teams are part of the company – and often part of its limitations. They have relationships, history, politics, sometimes conflicts of interest. An external partner is free from this. They can look at the process objectively, technically, and without sentiment. They can point out areas for change that would be too sensitive internally. They can advise based on 20 other implementations, not assumptions. And finally – they can run the project based on proven procedures instead of reinventing the wheel.

This is especially important in the case of e-commerce, PIM, Base, or Shopware implementations – where the technology itself is only half the success. Equally important are experience in process modeling, the ability to identify real operational needs, and the capacity to iterate solutions quickly. Good partnership is based not on the number of meetings, but on the effectiveness of implementation.

The ideal model: cooperation between team and partner
The most effective approach is not to choose between an internal team and an external partner, but their cooperation. The company team has knowledge of organizational culture, processes, customers, and industry specifics that cannot be built from the outside. The implementation partner, on the other hand, brings technology, project experience, and the perspective of many past implementations. Combining these two resources makes it possible to turn the management board’s vision into a real project where everyone knows their role and responsibility. The internal team becomes the ambassador of change within the company, and the partner – the guarantor of effective implementation. Only in such synergy does digital transformation have a chance to be not just an IT project, but a true change in the way the entire organization operates.

CREHLER – the team you already have
At CREHLER, we act as an external partner that combines technological expertise with an understanding of business processes. You do not need an entire digitization department – it is enough that you know what you want to achieve. We will take care of the rest: from process mapping, through technology selection, to final implementation and development.

We do not promise a lightning-fast revolution – we focus on real results. But we guarantee that you will deliver a concrete project that solves concrete problems – on time, within budget, and with a tangible effect for your team.