From technology to customers: how McKinsey suggests rethinking digital investments

McKinsey has identified a paradox in digital transformation: despite years of investment and billions of dollars, companies receive less than one-third of the expected value. The research reveals a fundamental error in how most organizations approach digitalization—and how to fix it.

The Classic Mistake of Large Companies

The problem begins with the choice of starting point. The traditional approach is almost universal among large companies: an organization masters advanced technological capabilities—cloud platforms, AI systems, big data analytics—and then looks for where these tools can be applied. It's like searching for a nail to fit a hammer you've bought. It sounds logical, but the result is the opposite.

The result is fragmented solutions that are not connected to each other. Different departments implement their own systems without a common strategy. Synergy is lost. And most importantly—the customer remains out of focus. When technology is your starting point, the needs of real people become a secondary task. The company spends its budget on what it considers progressive, not on what its customers actually need.

Customer-back engineering — The Reverse Path

McKinsey proposes to completely invert the process. Instead of "we have technology, let's find an application," shift to "here's a customer need, what technology solves it?" This is called customer-back engineering. Start with a deep understanding: what pain points does your customer experience right now, what goals does he pursue, how does he currently solve the problem in alternative ways (often inefficiently). Only then move backward—to technologies and systems that solve these needs best.

This order is crucial. You don't start with technology, but with a person. With their real problem. Only then do you choose the tool that solves this problem. It sounds obvious, but most companies work in exactly the opposite way.

Why this approach works better:

• The solution truly addresses a real problem, not an imagined need that the company invented for itself
• All company departments—from product to engineering—speak the same language: the language of the customer, his goals, and his pain points
• Investment in technology is justified by concrete results and ROI, rather than the other way around—"we bought a cool system, now find where to apply it"
• Much less waste on implementing unused or underutilized systems that seemed promising but turned out to be unnecessary

Result: investment efficiency increases multiple times over because each system solves a real problem, rather than being implemented simply "because it's modern" or "because a competitor uses it."

Why This Is Critical in 2026

Today, in the era of artificial intelligence and cloud computing, companies have an unprecedented array of tools and capabilities. An organization's technology stack can include dozens of systems—from AI assistants to automated analytics, from big data to cloud platforms. But here's the problem: a tool without a task is simply a cost. Beautiful, modern, working cost, but cost nonetheless.

McKinsey shows that a typical organization's technology stack is used at only 20-30% of its potential. Why such underutilization? Not because the systems are bad or poorly implemented. Simply because no one asked the customer what they actually need. The company bought the best technology, invested millions in deploying it, but didn't solve the best problem. Result: the system works, but delivers no value.

What This Means

For companies, this means a shift from "we have technology, how do we monetize it" to "here's a customer problem, what technology solves it?" This requires a cultural shift: you need to listen to customers longer than you present technology to them. You need to understand their world before proposing a solution.

But McKinsey's data suggests that the effect pays off—and many times over. Companies that apply customer-back engineering report a 3–5-fold increase in ROI from digital investments. This isn't just a marginal improvement. It's a shift into a completely different league of efficiency. And it applies not just to large corporations—the approach works for startups and mid-sized companies just beginning digital transformation.