Part Three:

In the first two parts of this series, we explored how employee experience (EX) drives growth and how inefficiencies - like the “swivel chair problem” - undermine productivity. But even with clear goals and the right systems in place, organisations often hit a wall. That wall is what we call the business-technology-change deadlock: a situation where lack of investment, technology debt, and poor change management trap companies in a loop of inertia. 

Breaking through this deadlock requires targeted, manageable steps. It’s not about massive overhauls but about starting small, staying focused, and building momentum with each success. Let’s break down the three main parts of this deadlock and how they connect. 

Lack of Prioritisation

First, there’s leadership inertia. If business leaders don’t prioritise employee experience and back-office improvements, those driving automation and operational changes won’t have the resources or time to make an impact. Leadership tends to focus investments on growth-oriented areas, which means crucial but less visible operations get overlooked. 

Underfunded Operations

Next comes technology debt. When systems that support internal operations are underfunded, they accumulate inefficiencies. Processes remain manual, data quality suffers, and silos develop between teams and systems. Often, IT investments are channelled toward growth-focused areas, leaving back-office functions to operate on outdated platforms. 

Involvement and Engagement

Finally, change management and communication play a crucial role. Even if you get leadership buy-in and address technology debt, real progress only happens when employees and stakeholders are brought along. Without engagement, even the best-intentioned change efforts will stall. 

How to Break the Business-Technology-Change Deadlock

Let’s look at Schlumberger’s story for an answer. 

Schlumberger, the world’s largest oilfield services company, set out to roll out new global SAP capabilities. With 120,000 employees interacting with SAP through various channels—email, chat, and telephony—it was critical that these new features didn’t disrupt operations. 

Using AI Talos, unique to the service management industry,  we analysed SAP, service management, and telephony data, overlaying these datasets to track employee journeys and find pain points. The first cut of the analysis revealed 14 processes responsible for 192,000 hours of MTTR per month. Out of those processes, 8% of activities were identified for automation, leading to $3.9 million in annual savings. 

But the real value wasn’t just in the savings. By targeting and automating these processes, we built the business case to invest in a new service management platform—addressing a key part of their technology debt. This small, focused intervention unlocked new opportunities for improvement, setting them on a sustainable path to transformation. 

The takeaway is simple: start small, stay focused, and build momentum. Use AI-led insights to pinpoint areas with the biggest impact, implement changes quickly, and demonstrate measurable value. These early wins create the case for further investment, breaking the deadlock one step at a time. 

So here’s the call to action: Don’t wait for perfect conditions to act. Start by identifying manageable areas where automation, process improvements, or tweaks to employee journeys can make a difference. Each success will build momentum, helping to reduce tech debt, engage employees, and unlock resources for bigger transformation efforts. 

Transformation isn’t about doing everything at once—it’s about taking the right steps, proving value, and letting each success pave the way for the next. With this approach, even the toughest deadlock can start to break apart, opening the door for sustainable growth and meaningful change. 

Keyvan Shirnia 

Chief Strategy Officer