From Consultation to Implementation: Successfully Realizing Digital Projects

We know this moment: the consultation was good, the goal seems plausible, the presentation is clean. And yet, after the last meeting, you feel a quiet unease – because you sense that the real work is just beginning.

The numbers are uncomfortable. McKinsey describes that organizations achieve less than a third of the expected benefits from digital initiatives on average. McKinsey And even if the strategy is right, implementation fails surprisingly often: Implement Consulting states that 67% of well-formulated strategies get stuck due to poor execution. Implement Consulting Group

What we often see in projects is that it's rarely "the technology" that fails first. It's the translation. The strategy remains too abstract, roles are unclear, and suddenly, what started as a focused initiative becomes a wish list. The business unit wants to "quickly" add Feature A, the IT is concerned about security, marketing wants a relaunch in parallel – and no one has their hand on the wheel.

There is also a common misconception that persists: digital does not automatically mean change. But real impact only occurs when people change their behavior. Studies are direct: success in transformation is much more about organization than technology – essentially "20% tech, 80% change." Ignition Product Labs

Our most important metaphor for this is the "last mile": the journey from slide to daily use. It is precisely there that it's decided whether your project is just delivered or truly realized – creating value, building trust, and ideally even saving resources.

Digital consulting is often misunderstood: as "a few smart thoughts" or as a major step that automatically leads to implementation. In practice, consulting is more like illuminating a path – not the act of walking itself.

How to Recognize Good Consulting

Good digital consulting makes three things very concrete: it provides clarity about customer value, it prioritizes (even painfully), and it defines measurable success criteria. If at the end there are only buzzwords like "cloud" or "AI" but no picture of what decision will be made differently tomorrow, then it's just fog.

In our consulting (and many successful projects), the output must always include decision-making ability: What is built first, and what is intentionally not? What dependencies exist? What risks do we accept – and which do we not?

And just as importantly: consulting has limits. It can't deliver team acceptance, clean up your data, or guarantee that an MVP will truly be used later. That's not a flaw, that's reality.

Our Perspective: Consulting Doesn't End with the PDF

The fracture often occurs during the transition. An external consulting output gets handed over, then contact persons, language, and priorities change. We've learned: if strategy and implementation behave like two relay runners who drop the baton while running, you lose months.

That's why we like to work with a "translation artifact" that consciously stands between worlds: a short, reliable Product Narrative (one page) that summarizes purpose, user problem, non-goals, and measurement points in one text. It's less "documentation" and more a common compass.

And when buying consultancy, it always helps to ask: "How does this become a feasible plan – including team, backlog, and quality standards?" That's where the bridge begins.

There are projects that are "finished" – and still don't happen. The platform is live, the tool is implemented, the app is in the store. And then… little happens. It's exactly here that digital projects also involve cultural work.

We often experience resistance not as rejection of technology, but as protection. People protect their everyday lives, their routines, their status. If a new system threatens control or creates extra work, it will be bypassed – even if it's objectively "better."

This point is repeated in many studies: the decisive factor is rarely the software, but the "around it." Ignition Product Labs describes it very directly: the problem is not the technology, but "everything else." Ignition Product Labs

Our Practice: Change as Part of the Backlog

A fresh perspective that has helped us in projects is treating change not as a communication campaign at the end, but as a deliverable work package.

This can mean very concretely: while an MVP is being developed, short learning formats (two 10-minute videos), an internal "why" text, and a small pilot circle are created in parallel for early testing. Netzwoche cites early employee involvement as a central success factor. Netzwoche

If you take this seriously, you'll get quick wins that don't come across as artificial. An example from everyday life: a team from customer service is the first to test a new self-service area. After two weeks, recurring inquiries measurably decrease. Suddenly, the project is no longer "the digital department's thing," but a tangible relief that people feel.

For us, change means: you shape the transition so that people feel safe, can have a say, and benefit early. Then implementation doesn't become harder – but easier.

Many organizations plan implementation like a grand opening: everything finished, everything perfect, everything at once. It seems logical – but is often the fastest way to expensive loops. Precisely because so many digital initiatives deliver less benefit than expected, a different start is worth it. McKinsey

MVP Means: Small, but Sincere

An MVP is not a half-finished construction site. An MVP is a reliable core that tests a central assumption. If your project is supposed to achieve "more qualified inquiries," then your MVP doesn't test ten new pages but perhaps exactly two things: a clear service logic and a short, well-structured inquiry path.

We like to work with a simple question that sharpens every MVP decision: "What uncertainty do we eliminate with this release?" If you answer this question honestly, you build not "for later," but for insight.

Agile Delivery Without Myth

Agile is not a carte blanche for chaos. It is a tight delivery and learning system. Netzwoche cites agile project management as a success factor because it allows adaptation without losing orientation. Netzwoche

In practice, this means: you deliver in short cycles, watch with real users what works, and then decide consciously. We like to use Figma for prototypes and quick tests, combining it with observation tools like Hotjar after launch – not as surveillance, but as a learning aid.

A fresh perspective often missing: MVP and sustainability fit together. When you start lean, you not only reduce budget risks but also digital ballast. Less data, fewer unnecessary features, less energy consumption – and usually even more clarity for users.

As soon as an MVP shows impact, the question arises: "And what if this really grows?" That's when architecture suddenly becomes not abstract, but existential.

Monolith, Microservices, API-First – Without Jargon

We like to keep it simple here: a monolith is like a well-organized single-family house – everything under one roof, nice at the beginning. Microservices are more like a small neighborhood – more coordination, but you can remodel individual houses without shutting down the whole area.

Microservices are often recommended because they allow individual parts to be maintained and developed independently. This can improve maintenance and resilience if the product really grows. AppMaster

We decide not ideologically, but based on three questions: How quickly must your product change? How critical is fault tolerance? And how well is your team (internal or with partners) at operations and DevOps?

Technical Bridge: Scaling Is Not a "Later" Problem

Another often underestimated point: scaling is not just "more servers." AppMaster describes the difference between vertical and horizontal scaling very vividly: you can either make a server bigger or run several instances in parallel and distribute the load. AppMaster

In our projects, we see: even early on, small guardrails like caching and clean APIs help so that growth doesn't become a full stop. Caching is explicitly mentioned as an effective measure to relieve recurring queries. AppMaster

And another perspective rarely appears in architecture discussions: longevity is also sustainability. If you build a platform to remain maintainable, you avoid rebuilding every two years – saving budget, nerves, and digital emissions. For purpose-driven brands, this isn't a "nice to have," but part of responsibility.

The launch is not an endpoint. It’s the moment when you finally get real signals. Many teams stop here – and thereby lose the ROI.

KPIs as a Learning Tool, Not Control

Netzwoche calls continuous success measurement a success factor. Netzwoche We would add: KPIs are most helpful when they do not evaluate people, but rather assumptions. You assumed that a new information architecture would reduce support tickets? Then track exactly those tickets and verify the hypothesis.

For privacy-conscious projects, many teams now prefer using Matomo over traditional analytics, as it fits better within GDPR setups (depending on hosting and configuration). And for performance observation, Lighthouse remains a good starting point.

Operations Are Part of the Product Strategy

If you don’t plan for maintenance, you plan for stagnation. Updates, security fixes, small improvements – this is the invisible part that creates trust. And trust ultimately also leads to conversion.

We like to work with a "development roadmap" that consciously stays small: three months, clearly prioritized, with a set rhythm for support and optimization. This prevents your product from freezing in version 1.0.

ROI Is Real, But You Have to Capture It

The fact that digital projects can be worthwhile is well-documented: 51% of CEOs report that digital improvements have already led to revenue growth. Kissflow (Gartner) At the same time, this does not mean that growth automatically comes. It comes when you continue to learn, continue to simplify, and continue to explain after the launch.

The calmest form of success is rarely the big bang. It is the steady, traceable improvement – and the team’s feeling: "This thing really helps us."