South African organisations are investing heavily in new technology, from ERP modernisation and digital banking platforms to artificial intelligence, automation and enterprise-wide transformation programmes. The investment is visible, the implementation plans are detailed, and executive teams are closely tracking delivery against budget, scope and timelines. Yet one of the most important questions in transformation remains surprisingly difficult to answer: can the organisation prove that people are actually changing the way they work?
This is the question Marchant van den Heever, Head of Product at AMP, will take to the stage at CIO Pitch Parade 2026. His perspective challenges one of the most persistent assumptions in digital transformation: that a successful implementation automatically results in successful adoption. It does not. A system can go live on time, training can reach almost every user, and a project can meet its technical milestones while the business continues to operate through workarounds, legacy processes and familiar behaviours.
For executives, this distinction matters because technology does not create value simply by being deployed. Its value is realised when people use it consistently, when managers reinforce the new ways of working and when the intended behaviours become part of everyday operations. Without that shift, organisations may complete the project without achieving the transformation.The visibility gap in digital transformation
Most large transformation programmes generate a significant amount of data. Executive teams can see whether the project is on schedule, whether integrations have been completed, whether users have attended training and whether key milestones have been achieved. These measures are essential for managing delivery, but they say very little about whether adoption is taking place across the organisation.
Training attendance, for example, confirms that an employee was present. It does not confirm confidence, competence or sustained use. A completed implementation milestone confirms that a system is technically available. It does not show whether teams are using it as intended. Even strong user satisfaction results do not always reveal whether people have returned to spreadsheets, created manual workarounds or continued relying on old processes under pressure.
This creates a visibility gap between what the project team can report and what the business is actually experiencing. Transformation leaders may believe adoption is progressing because the project plan is green, while operational teams are finding ways to keep working around the new system. By the time these patterns begin affecting performance, the organisation may already have lost months of productivity and part of the value promised in the original business case.
Why adoption can no longer remain an assumption
The pace of digital change is increasing. Organisations are no longer implementing one major programme at a time. ERP upgrades overlap with AI initiatives, customer experience programmes, operating model redesign and regulatory transformation. Employees are expected to absorb these changes while continuing to meet demanding operational targets, and managers are required to translate strategic intent into practical action across increasingly complex environments.
In this context, adoption cannot be treated as a soft measure or a post-implementation concern. It needs to be understood as a core business performance issue. If employees do not change their behaviour, the organisation does not realise the intended value of the technology. If managers continue reinforcing legacy processes, the transformation remains incomplete. If leaders cannot see where adoption is weakening, they cannot intervene early enough to protect the investment.
This is why the conversation is shifting from assumed adoption to evidenced adoption. Executives need more than confidence that change is happening. They need a way to see where it is taking hold, where it is slowing down and where targeted intervention is required.
The question executives should be asking
Transformation programmes are typically governed through questions about delivery. Is the project on time? Is it within budget? Have the technical risks been resolved? Has training been completed? These questions remain necessary, but they are no longer sufficient.
Executives should also be asking whether employees are using the system in the way the business intended, whether new processes are being followed consistently, whether managers are reinforcing the right behaviours and whether adoption differs across regions, teams or business units. They should be able to see where the organisation is progressing and where the transformation is vulnerable.
This is not about creating more reporting for its own sake. It is about improving decision-making. When leaders can identify weak adoption early, they can respond before workarounds become entrenched and before operational value begins to erode. When they understand which teams are adapting well, they can identify the leadership behaviours, support structures and local conditions that are helping the change succeed.
Making behavioural adoption visible
AMP was developed around this challenge. It is designed to help organisations understand whether change is translating into behaviour, rather than relying solely on project milestones, training completion or periodic feedback. The objective is to make adoption visible in a way that gives leaders practical insight into how transformation is progressing across the organisation.
This matters because adoption is rarely uniform. One business unit may respond well to a new system while another struggles. Some managers may actively reinforce the change, while others continue asking for familiar reports and processes. Certain teams may need additional support, while others require fewer interventions than initially expected. Without visibility into these differences, organisations often apply broad change activities to highly specific problems.
A more evidence-based approach allows leaders to focus effort where it is needed most. It moves change management away from assumptions and towards targeted action, giving organisations a clearer view of whether transformation is producing the behaviours required to deliver business value.
Why Marchant’s perspective matters
Marchant brings a product and engineering mindset to one of transformation’s most difficult human questions. His background spans engineering, automation and the practical realities of building solutions that need to work in complex environments. That experience has shaped his view that adoption should be treated with the same discipline as any other critical performance measure.
His message is not that technology leaders have failed to understand the importance of people. Most executives already know that people determine whether change succeeds. The problem is that organisations have historically lacked the visibility required to measure this effectively. Transformation teams have had to rely on surveys, feedback sessions and retrospective assessments, all of which provide useful insight but often arrive too late to influence behaviour at the point where it matters most.
At CIO Pitch Parade 2026, Marchant will argue that adoption should no longer remain the least measurable part of digital transformation. If organisations can measure implementation, performance, risk and return on investment, they should also be able to understand whether the intended behavioural change is taking place.
A conversation for CIOs and transformation leaders
This question is particularly important for CIOs, digital leaders and executives responsible for enterprise transformation. The pressure to deliver technology value is increasing, while the gap between implementation and adoption remains difficult to quantify. Leaders are expected to demonstrate that investments are improving performance, reducing cost, strengthening customer experience or enabling new ways of working. None of these outcomes can be achieved through deployment alone.
The organisations that gain the greatest value from digital transformation will be those that understand adoption as it unfolds. They will know where the business is adapting, where resistance is emerging and which interventions are improving outcomes. Most importantly, they will be able to connect human behaviour to the value the technology was intended to create.
That is the conversation Marchant will bring to CIO Pitch Parade 2026. It is not simply a discussion about another platform or another dashboard. It is a challenge to the way organisations define transformation success.
Join us at CIO Pitch Parade 2026
Change Logic and AMP will be at CIO Pitch Parade 2026, where Marchant van den Heever will present a practical and timely perspective on the adoption question every executive should be asking: can you prove digital change is actually landing?
For CIOs, transformation leaders and executives responsible for major technology investments, this is an opportunity to rethink how adoption is measured and how organisations can move from implementation reporting to real evidence of behavioural change.
Register for CIO Pitch Parade 2026 and join the conversation.
Registration link: https://cio-sa.co.za/events/2026-cio-pitch-parade/
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Frequently Asked Questions
What will Marchant van den Heever speak about at CIO Pitch Parade 2026?
Marchant will focus on the gap between technology implementation and behavioural adoption. He will challenge executives to consider whether they can prove that employees are changing the way they work, rather than relying only on go-live dates, training completion and project milestones.
Why is adoption important in digital transformation?
Technology investments only create value when people use new systems and processes consistently. Poor adoption leads to workarounds, duplicate processes, declining data quality and reduced return on investment, even when the technology itself has been implemented successfully.
What is adoption intelligence?
Adoption intelligence refers to the ability to understand and measure how effectively people are adopting new systems, processes and behaviours. It gives leaders clearer visibility into where change is taking hold and where additional intervention may be required.
Who should attend CIO Pitch Parade 2026?
The event is relevant to CIOs, CTOs, digital transformation leaders, programme executives, technology decision-makers and anyone responsible for ensuring that major technology investments deliver measurable business value.
What is AMP?
AMP is an adoption management platform designed to help organisations make behavioural adoption more visible across transformation programmes. It supports leaders in identifying adoption risks, understanding progress and targeting interventions more effectively.
Why should executives measure adoption?
Without adoption data, executives may know that a system has been delivered but not whether the organisation has changed. Measuring adoption helps leaders identify problems earlier, improve decision-making and protect the value of major technology investments.
