Sustaining Value After Digital Transformation: Application and Infrastructure Management Services (AIMS)

The Challenge: Value Erosion After Transformation

Digital transformation is a significant investment—one that promises to unlock new value, drive efficiency, and position organizations for long-term growth. Yet, the reality for many businesses is that the greatest risk to this value comes not during the transformation itself, but after the initial implementation. Studies show that up to 95% of digital transformation initiatives fail to achieve their objectives, with the most substantial drop in value occurring during the maintenance and operations phase. This is when the momentum of transformation can stall, knowledge is lost, and the return on investment (ROI) begins to erode.

Why does this happen? The reasons are both technical and organizational:

Loss of critical knowledge as transformation teams hand over to internal IT or third-party support.
Siloed operations between business, product, and support teams, leading to slower issue resolution and missed opportunities for improvement.
Lack of proactive monitoring and continuous improvement, resulting in systems that degrade over time rather than evolve.

For organizations that have completed or are nearing the end of a transformation project, these challenges can threaten the very gains they set out to achieve. The question becomes: How do you sustain and enhance the value of your digital transformation for the long term?

The Solution: Publicis Sapient’s Application and Infrastructure Management Services (AIMS)

At Publicis Sapient, we recognize that true digital transformation is not a one-time event, but an ongoing journey. Our Application and Infrastructure Management Services (AIMS) are designed to ensure that the value created during transformation is not only preserved, but continuously enhanced.

Preventing Knowledge Loss

One of the most common pitfalls post-transformation is the loss of tacit and tribal knowledge. When a project is handed off to a new team—whether internal or external—critical insights about the system’s architecture, business logic, and operational nuances can be lost. This leads to:

Increased time to troubleshoot and resolve issues
Lower system adoption and user satisfaction
Higher operational costs

Publicis Sapient’s approach is different. We involve support engineers and experts during the transformation phase itself, ensuring they gain a deep understanding of the digital platform. This continuity means that the same experts who built your systems are available to maintain and optimize them, preventing knowledge gaps and ensuring seamless operations.

Accelerating Issue Resolution

When issues arise, speed matters. Traditional support models often struggle because the teams responsible for maintenance lack the context and expertise of the original transformation team. With AIMS, you benefit from:

Faster diagnosis and resolution: The experts who built your systems are the ones solving your issues, leading to lower Mean Time to Resolve (MTTR).
Proactive monitoring: We don’t just wait for problems to occur. Our teams continuously monitor service level agreements (SLAs) and key performance indicators (KPIs), identifying and addressing issues before they impact your business.

Ensuring Continuous Improvement

Digital transformation is not static. Customer expectations, market conditions, and technology landscapes evolve rapidly. To stay ahead, your digital platforms must continuously improve. AIMS enables this by:

Regularly tracking performance and issues to identify opportunities for optimization
Implementing enhancements and automation through tools like our Sustain Engineering Platform (StEP), which overlays your IT service management tools to provide a unified view of your IT estate
Automating routine tasks with bots for self-healing, cloud provisioning, and business process monitoring, freeing your teams to focus on higher-value activities

Ongoing Partnership for Operational Excellence

The most successful organizations view digital transformation as a partnership, not a transaction. By continuing to work with the team that delivered your transformation, you ensure:

Seamless user experiences for both employees and customers
Sustained digital momentum that adapts to new challenges and opportunities
A healthy balance between value and cost, as your business focuses on what it does best while we keep your critical applications and infrastructure running securely and efficiently

The Value of AIMS: Real-World Impact

Organizations that leverage AIMS experience tangible benefits:

Reduced operational risk through the retention of critical system knowledge
Lower support costs by resolving issues faster and automating routine maintenance
Higher ROI as digital platforms remain optimized and aligned with business goals
Continuous innovation as new features and improvements are implemented proactively

Take the Next Step in Your Digital Transformation Journey

The key to maximizing your investment in digital business transformation lies in sustaining its momentum. With Publicis Sapient’s Application and Infrastructure Management Services, you can be confident that your digital platforms will continue to deliver value—today and into the future.

Ready to unlock greater value from your digital transformation? Let’s connect and explore how AIMS can help you achieve operational excellence and long-term ROI.