Australia’s Digital Transformation momentum is growing fast, but Kevin Kline, Tech Evangelist, SolarWinds, warns that without a focus on people, processes and culture, many modernisation efforts could fail to deliver long-term value.
IT modernisation is everywhere in Australia right now: boardroom agendas, frontline implementation plans… Whether it’s migrating legacy infrastructure to the cloud, embedding Artificial Intelligence (AI) in workflows or meeting regulatory milestones such as the newly enforced CPS 230, there’s no shortage of ambition. But for all the talk of transformation, one uncomfortable truth remains: many of these efforts still stumble.
Why? Because the focus often lands squarely on the technology itself, not the people or processes needed to make it work. Tools get rolled out before teams are properly trained. Strategic goals get lost in translation between business units and IT. And in the rush to meet mandates, organisations skip the hard but essential work of aligning data, capability and culture.
Modernisation isn’t just buying the latest tech; it’s also making sure your people understand it, your data supports it and your systems are ready to carry it forward. Let’s unpack what’s too often overlooked in Australia’s modernisation agenda and what needs to change if we want these initiatives to deliver long-term value.
Start with people, not platforms
There’s no shortage of ambition when it comes to IT modernisation in Australia. From public sector agencies racing to digitise citizen services to banks replatforming legacy systems, the appetite for change is real. But while the strategy might come from the top, too many programmes stall because they fail to bring the people on the ground along for the ride.
Tech alone doesn’t modernise an organisation; people do. And yet in many Australian workplaces, IT teams are still siloed from the business units they’re meant to support. When a chief marketing officer decides to introduce a Generative AI tool to fast-track content production, IT is often left scrambling to catch up, tasked with implementation but not included in the initial strategy.
These gaps aren’t only inconvenient – they’re also costly. According to the SolarWinds 2025 IT Trends Report, “Fragile to Agile: The State of Operational Resilience,” nearly a third (32%) of Australian businesses say skills shortages are the biggest barrier to operational resilience brought about by technological transformation. In other words, we’re investing in systems faster than we’re investing in the people who need to use and support them.
The most successful modernisation efforts are those where IT is fully embedded in the day-to-day priorities of the business. When IT understands frontline needs and future goals, the transformation becomes sustainable.
Modernisation is now a regulatory requirement
If modernisation was once a ‘nice to have’, it’s now a regulatory imperative (at least for any entity regulated by the Australian Prudential Regulation Authority). As of July 2025, CPS 230 is live, bringing with it sweeping reforms in how financial institutions manage operational risk.
This new standard raises the bar on accountability. Boards and executives are now directly responsible for the resilience of their IT systems and third-party service providers. That means modernisation can’t just be about improving user experience or slashing infrastructure costs; it must also reduce risk, document dependencies and strengthen recovery capabilities.
For many organisations, this is a wake-up call. Systems that once ‘just worked’ in the background now need detailed architectural mapping, lineage tracing and full visibility from end to end. Observability tools – which track performance, usage and system health in real time – are quickly becoming essential. Now, they’re not only helpful for performance tuning but critical for compliance.
Upskill now or risk falling behind
One of the most consistent themes across Australian tech leaders today is the talent crunch. The push to modernise has outpaced the pipeline of skilled workers ready to support it. And while automation and low-code platforms offer some relief, they’re no substitute for foundational expertise.
That’s especially true in the era of AI and data-driven decision-making. Natural language prompts might make analytics more accessible, but someone still needs to understand the data models, security implications and performance benchmarks behind the scenes. Without this depth, organisations risk misinterpreting results or making high-stakes decisions based on flawed insights.
With CPS 230 raising expectations around system knowledge and operational ownership, building capability internally has never been more urgent. The good news? There are plenty of training pathways, resources and local initiatives ready to help close the gap.
Build a culture of connected modernisation
For all the tools, platforms and frameworks available, IT modernisation in Australia will succeed only with cultural alignment. That means moving beyond one-off projects and towards a mindset that values collaboration, transparency and shared accountability.
When IT understands the business, data is trusted and accessible and compliance is part of the design process, modernisation becomes the foundation for future-ready operations.
Because at the end of the day, it’s not the mandate that drives progress – it’s the people who carry it through.
