Insight: 4 lessons on replatforming

Over the past few weeks, I have shared a series of 4 out of 8 lessons from my career of more than 20 years. Each with a lesson you can use to keep your digital transformation moving.

Lesson #1 - Rebuilding is impossible

A frequently heard request: “The new platform must contain everything it contains today - we will improve it later.”

The current platform is usually the result of years of iteration, exceptions, and undocumented decisions. Rebuilding one-to-one sounds safe, but it often means recreating complexity, technical debt - and missed opportunities. And the truth? That ‘later’ rarely comes - and the costs of copying the past are enormously high.

Lessons I have learned:

• What is live today is rarely fully understood - or fully documented.
• Copying the old means continuing with what no longer works.
• You don’t have to rebuild everything, only what adds value.
• If you start with a clean MVP, you can move forward, not backward.

Lesson #2 - Oops, everything is a must-have! (make choices)

The replatforming project is finally here! Time to fix EVERYTHING. You start gathering requirements, but the finish line keeps moving. No one wants to compromise. Every feature is a must-have…

Lessons I have learned:

• Make difficult choices. Dare to say no.
• One person’s “nice-to-have” is another person’s “must-have” - seek alignment with each other early in the process.
• Pay close attention to the discovery phase, don’t just focus on implementation.
• Unclear requirements lead to waste, because the sprint train keeps moving.

Lesson #3 - Change requires different skills than daily operations

Keeping daily operations running is not the same as transforming them. I have seen strong teams underestimate how much focus and time change requires. A lack of this is why transformation often stalls. Companies are good at running their business, but leading change is a completely different skill.

Lessons I have learned:

• Your digital transformation needs its own pace, team, and way of thinking.
• Most organizations do not have the capacity and ability to carry out major changes alone.
• Fully understanding the new technology is essential to implementing it successfully.
• Change is temporary, but the impact is lasting. Make sure it counts.
• Enlist the help of people who have done it before.

Lesson #4 - Composable doesn’t mean replacing everything with SaaS

Headless, API-first, MACH - it’s the new standard. But one pattern keeps repeating: brands try to become composable everywhere at once. Trading a monolith for five SaaS tools sounds modular, but it can blow up your project, budget, and timelines. Not everything needs to be replaced at once.

Lessons I have learned:

• You don’t have to be fully composable on day one.
• Start with what is actually broken - and keep what works.
• The frontend often benefits most from speed and flexibility; start there without replacing a host of back-end systems.
• Targeted change delivers more value than full disruption.