Digital Transformation
Current state, technology landscape, people and change, target state, and risks.
Reach for it when: A programme rather than a project, usually with more stakeholders than sponsors.
- sections
- 10
- questions
- 35
- required
- 6
- AI assisted
- 35
Every section, every question
This is the template as it ships. Edit the wording, reorder the sections, or delete what does not apply to your studio.
About Your Organization
- Business name*Short text
- IndustryShort text
- Company sizeSingle choice
- Geographic footprintSingle choice
- Primary products or servicesShort text
Business Overview
- Describe your business operations*Long text
- What are your biggest business challenges?*Long text
- What is driving this transformation initiative?Multi choice
Current Processes
- Which areas need improvement?Multi choice
- Describe your current workflow challenges*Long text
- Which processes are mostly manual today?Long text
- Are processes documented?Single choice
Technology Landscape
- Which systems do you currently use?Multi choice
- What technology limitations do you face?Long text
- How satisfied are you with your current systems?Single choice
Data & Reporting
- Where is business data currently stored?Multi choice
- Is data centralized or fragmented?Single choice
- What reporting challenges do you face?Long text
- Which metrics are most important to your leadership?Long text
People & Change Management
- Which teams will be affected?Multi choice
- Approximately how many employees will be impacted?Single choice
- Are employees open to change?Single choice
- Will training be required?Single choice
Automation & AI Opportunities
- Which areas are candidates for automation?Multi choice
- Are you interested in AI solutions?Multi choice
- Describe any specific AI goalsLong text
Future State Vision
- What would an ideal future operation look like?*Long text
- Where do you want the business to be in 3 years?Long text
- What does success look like?*Long text
Risks & Constraints
- What concerns you most about this transformation?Multi choice
- Compliance requirementsMulti choice
- Technical constraintsLong text
Budget & Timeline
- Desired timelineSingle choice
- Budget rangeSingle choice
- Additional notesLong text
* marks a required question. Every question in this template has AI suggestions available while the client is writing.
How to write a digital transformation brief
The word "transformation" does a lot of hiding. It can mean replacing one system, or it can mean changing how several hundred people work. The brief's job is to find out which, before anyone quotes.
This is the digital transformation brief in Coligna — ten sections, thirty-five questions. It's the broadest and most strategic template in the set, and it's shaped like a programme rather than a project.
The ten sections, and what each one is for
About Your Organization. Industry, size, and geographic footprint. Footprint rather than market, deliberately — multi-region changes compliance, rollout and timezone assumptions.
Business Overview. How the business operates, its biggest challenges, and what's driving the initiative now. The driver matters: a board mandate, a failed audit and a competitor launch produce different projects.
Current Processes. Which areas need improvement, workflow challenges, which processes are manual, and whether they're documented. "Documented" is the field that predicts how much discovery you're really quoting.
Technology Landscape. Current systems, their limitations, and how satisfied people are with them. Satisfaction is a political reading as much as a technical one.
Data & Reporting. Where data lives, whether it's centralised or fragmented, reporting challenges, and the metrics leadership actually watches.
People & Change Management. Teams affected, headcount impacted, change readiness, and training needs. The section that distinguishes this from a technology project — see below.
Automation & AI Opportunities. Candidates for automation, interest level, and specific goals.
Future State Vision. How the business should operate, the three-year target, and the definition of success.
Risks & Constraints. Concerns, compliance requirements, technical constraints. On a programme this size, the risk answers are scope.
Budget & Timeline. Horizon, range, and notes.
Two questions clients answer badly — and two the brief doesn't ask
"How ready is the organisation for change?" — and treat a confident answer with suspicion. Change resistance is one of the reasons transformation programmes stall, and it's the section clients skip because it feels soft. It isn't: headcount affected and training needs are line items, and a programme that budgets for technology and not for adoption has budgeted for half of it.
"What does the future state look like?" — and push past the tooling. Clients describe systems they want. The useful answer describes how work gets done differently, and the systems follow from it.
Two more worth asking in the kickoff call, even though the template doesn't ask them:
"What's already been tried, and why did it stall?" Many transformation programmes are not the first attempt.
"Who is sponsoring this, and what happens if they leave?" A programme measured in years outlives executives. Sponsor risk is real risk.
From brief to project
A submitted brief arrives in your inbound queue, sectioned and typed. It becomes an estimate, and the accepted proposal becomes a live project — which on a programme this size matters more than usual, because the future-state definition written at brief stage is what you'll be measured against in year two. See how the full lifecycle works →
A PDF gets filled in once and filed. A brief-capture link needs no account and starts the work at submission.
Frequently asked questions
What should a digital transformation brief include?
How the business operates now and what's driving change, current processes and which are manual, the technology and data landscape, who is affected and how ready they are, the future state, and what constrains it.
Is this a project or a programme?
Usually a programme. Ten sections and thirty-five questions is a deliberate signal — work at this scope has multiple workstreams, multiple stakeholder groups and a horizon measured in quarters. Briefing it as a single project is the first mistake.
Why does it ask about people rather than just systems?
Because transformation that changes systems without changing how people work produces expensive systems nobody uses. Training needs and change readiness are deliverables, not commentary.
What happens after the client submits it?
It arrives as structured answers, ready to review, estimate and convert into a project without re-typing anything. See pricing for what each plan includes.