Why Digital Transformation Failed to Make Companies More Productive

Technology has never been more powerful, more available, or more affordable to deploy. Cloud computing, SaaS, DevOps, automation, cybersecurity platforms, data tools, and now AI were all supposed to make IT faster, cheaper, and more valuable to the business. But the numbers tell a more uncomfortable story: organizations are spending more on technology than ever, while productivity gains and business outcomes are not keeping pace.

In this conversation, David Linthicum breaks down why IT may actually be getting worse at its core job: turning technology dollars into measurable business value. The issue is not that the tools are failing. The issue is that IT organizations have become buried in complexity, technical debt, poor architecture, bloated processes, cloud waste, and metrics that reward activity instead of outcomes.

If global IT spending keeps climbing while productivity growth slows, then leaders need to ask a harder question: are we really becoming more efficient, or are we just buying more technology to work around the problems we refuse to fix?

This episode challenges the conventional wisdom around digital transformation and asks whether modern IT has lost the plot.