Governance and management of digital transformation projects: an exploratory approach in the financial sector

Purpose This paper aims to study the impact of the digital transformation on the role and governance of Information Technology departements. The study focuses on banks and insurance companies because they have been allocating significant resources to managing their digital transformation. Design/methodology/approach Inductive qualitative research of an exploratory type based on the Gioia method involved face-to-face interviews at the IT departments of seven financial sector companies in France. Axial encoding of the answers, recommended by Gioia, was used to classify the raw data and structure the analysis using a graphical presentation. Findings Four IT governance maturity situations were determined within the financial steering and performance analysis modes of digital transformation projects. This research aimed to enable companies to position their practices within the analysis framework defined through modelled maturity situations and to help them steer their digital transformation. Originality/value A panel was composed with most of the banks in France and some insurance companies. The link was done between Digital Maturity, and Digital and IT Governance, and with the use of the graphical qualitative research using the Gioia method.