Why slowing down can save your digital transformation project

The speed paradox

In today's digital world, everything pushes us to go fast. Projects need to be delivered “for yesterday,” tools need to be deployed quickly, and teams feel constant pressure to move forward without pause. However, successful digital transformation projects are rarely the fastest; they are the ones that have taken the time to be well framed.

As our team often says, “Speed without direction is a waste.”

So why are we so afraid to slow down?

Does “going fast” really rhyme with “efficiency”?

According to McKinsey, nearly 70% of digital transformation projects fail due to a lack of clarity on needs and processes even before the technical phase. And according to Gartner, projects that spend at least 20% of the total time on analysis and scoping are 50% more likely to be adopted in the long term.

Understand before implanting

Before opening HubSpot or to set up a CRM, you must first understand how your organization actually works. This is where process mapping comes in.

This exercise consists of visualizing your current steps, identifying bottlenecks, redundancies and unclear areas in your sales processes or customer follow-ups.

Too many businesses want to “configure” before they even understand their internal flows. The result: everyone uses CRM in their own way, data becomes inconsistent, and adoption is crumbling.

Let's take a concrete example. A manufacturing SME with around 75 employees, with a sales team of 5 to 10 users, is implementing a new CRM without clarifying the lead follow-up process. Very quickly, each representative seized his opportunities differently. The pipeline is becoming illegible, and the reports no longer reflect reality.

Slowing down, in this case, means first mapping the “lead-to-cash” journey, validating each step, and only then setting up HubSpot CRM.

Mapping makes it possible to simplify before automating. And when it's clear, everything else lines up: automations, CRM-ERP integrations, opportunity management, and reports.

Cut to better deliver

Another lever that is often underestimated: the division of the project into sprints.

CRM projects divided into phases of three months are successful 2.5 times more often than those carried out in a single massive block.

Why?

Because intelligent division allows you to learn, adjust, and correct over time. This reduces pressure, promotes gradual adoption, and keeps teams motivated.

Chez Lakhos, this “stepwise” approach is often preferred so that each phase delivers concrete and measurable value.

Encourage adoption from day 1

Slowing down also means preparing the human behind the technology.

The success of a CRM project depends above all on its adoption.

Training and engaging users from the start, not at the end, changes everything.

When sales, operations, and management representatives participate in scoping workshops, they become project ambassadors rather than change resistants.

Slow down to go further

In project management, time saved is not always synonymous with success.

The true return on investment of a CRM project is measured by sustainability and adoption, not by the fact that it was delivered faster than expected.

To slow down voluntarily is to adopt a long-term vision.

It means accepting that a well-thought-out, well-mapped and well-adopted project will be a sustainable driver for growth.

Chez Lakhos, we see it every day: slowing down is often the surest way to speed up.