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Selecting Digital Transformation Priorities: A Decision Framework Based on Strategic Value, Capability Readiness, and Implementation Risk
Firms face an expanding set of digital transformation opportunities, including process automation, analytics platforms, customer experience systems, artificial intelligence applications, cloud migration, and ecosystem integration. These opportunities promise efficiency, growth, responsiveness, and innovation, but they also compete for limited financial, technical, managerial, and organizational resources. As a result, digital transformation is increasingly a problem of strategic selection rather than simply technological adoption. Many organizations struggle to distinguish between initiatives that are strategically essential, operationally attractive, technically fashionable, or politically sponsored. Without a structured prioritisation approach, firms may approve too many initiatives at once, spread scarce resources across weakly connected projects, and create initiative overload. This can produce fragmented execution, duplicated investment, capability strain, and weak alignment between digital spending and strategic objectives. This article develops the Digital Transformation Priority Framework as a practical decision framework for selecting and sequencing digital transformation initiatives. The framework evaluates initiatives through three pillars: strategic value, capability readiness, and implementation risk. It is designed to help managers make transparent prioritisation decisions when competing initiatives differ in expected value, organizational preparedness, and execution uncertainty. The article is based on a conceptual synthesis of peer-reviewed articles published across strategic management, information systems, project portfolio management, digital transformation, and decision sciences. It does not report new empirical data. Instead, it integrates existing research into a practical model that managers can use to structure judgment, compare alternatives, and communicate prioritisation decisions. The framework provides assessment criteria and scoring guidelines for each pillar, integrates the three assessments into a unified prioritisation logic, and demonstrates managerial application through a decision matrix. Five tables specify strategic value dimensions, capability readiness indicators, implementation risk categories, the integrated prioritisation model, and an example portfolio application. The article concludes that systematic prioritisation can improve resource allocation, reduce initiative fatigue, and ensure that digital transformation efforts are strategically focused and execution-ready.
Journal of Digital Business and Management Studies
Original Research | Open access | 18 September 2025 | Article: 88