Why digital transformation still feels superficial: Digital talk vs. digital reality

Across Ghana’s corporate circles, “digital transformation” is a common phrase repeated in several strategy sessions for “automation,” “IT upgrades,” or “going online.” But, much of the activity remains surface-level technology layered over rigid business practices.

Getting new software doesn’t mean an organisation has transformed. Putting forms online isn’t the same as innovating. And adding a WhatsApp number doesn’t make a business digital-first.

Millions of people already have the tools and connectivity required to engage with digital services. Yet nearly half of mobile users still rely on basic and feature phones, limiting the range of apps they can use. According to the NCA’s Q1 2025 Communications Statistical Bulletin, Ghana’s mobile penetration stands at 120.19%, with smartphones making up 58.44% of all connected devices.

This means access is widespread; the gaps show in how people actually use it. Even among those with smartphones and data, engagement with productivity-focused or service-based digital platforms remains low.

The reason is because many of the digital services designed for learning, business, payments, or public service delivery are not intuitive, reliable, or compelling enough to sustain usage. Users may have internet access, but the apps meant to enable productivity often feel inconvenient, poorly optimised, or disconnected from real user needs.

As a result, people naturally spend more time on platforms that deliver consistent value i.e., entertainment, social communication, and streaming rather than on local productivity or enterprise apps. The constraint isn’t connectivity alone; it is the lack of well-designed, user-centred digital services that make productive digital engagement worthwhile.

Ghana is mobile-connected, but its digital services are not yet designed to keep users meaningfully engaged — a gap that continues to limit the depth of true digital transformation.

From Surface Connectivity to Institutional Experience

This gap between how digital Ghana appears on the surface and what actually happens behind the scenes becomes clearer when you look at how institutions roll out technology. Many of the solutions labelled as “digital innovation” simply upgrade the front end, while the workflows and decision-making processes behind them stay largely the same.

In practice, it creates a modern interface sitting on top of old operational habits. And when systems don’t support richer, more productive digital experiences, people naturally use the internet for what it handles best, often entertainment, social connections, and everyday communication rather than work, learning, or enterprise activity.

The Cosmetic Upgrade

Many institutions in Ghana follow this pattern, technology on the surface, analogue operations beneath. This is exactly why, despite widespread mobile access and rising data usage, productive engagement with digital services remains low: the services themselves are not digital by design. They are digital by interface.

The A recent example is the Ghana Armed Forces recruitment exercise. Although applicants began the process online, the underlying system wasn’t redesigned to support a fully digital workflow. Thousands were still required to gather physically for screening and documentation, resulting in overcrowding and a tragic stampede. It illustrates how simply putting a form online, without transforming the process behind it, can create risks rather than solve them.

The banking sector offers similar examples. Between 2020 and 2022, several banks launched “digital branches” and installed smart ATMs, yet internal processes such as reconciliation, approvals, back-office operations still relied heavily on manual steps. Many mobile banking apps rolled out between 2019 and 2023 mirrored USSD functions without reconsidering customer experience or using data to redesign services.

Meanwhile, Ghana’s mobile data traffic surged 47.5% year-on-year, reaching 755 petabytes in Q1 2025 (up from roughly 512 PB in Q1 2024). Yet average usage per subscription slightly dipped compared to late 2024, reflecting a rise in entertainment-driven consumption rather than enterprise or productivity-driven behaviour.

The launch of Ghana’s e-ticketing platform in March 2022 by the National Sports Authority and the Ministry of Youth and Sports was meant to modernise stadium access by enabling fans to buy tickets online, reduce queues, speed up verification, and improve transparency in ticket sales.

However, while the platform digitised the purchase process, key parts of the operational workflow such as gate management, vendor interactions, entry control, and on-ground verification remained largely analogue.

As a result, the system improved convenience at the front end but did not transform the full value chain, demonstrating once again that without redesigning the entire process, digitisation often becomes cosmetic rather than truly digital by design.

The Business Model Shift

Amid the many surface-level digital efforts, there are encouraging signs of deeper progress in Ghana. Some innovations show that when digital services are built around customer needs and designed end-to-end, users adopt them more naturally and consistently.

Across Africa, platforms like M-Pesa and Paystack demonstrate how thoughtful design can reshape everyday behaviour. Ghana is beginning to develop its own versions of this shift.

Some emerging ones include:

• MTN Ghana – Its evolution from basic telecom services into MoMo, Ayoba and an open API ecosystem shows what happens when digital services are designed to fit naturally into people’s daily lives. Usage grows because the value is clear.
• CalBank – Through CalPay and a more platform-based approach, the bank is gradually building services that integrate into customer routines rather than simply digitising old processes.
• gov – What began as a simple payment portal is slowly becoming a more central and integrated access point for public services, showing how redesigned digital journeys can simplify citizen interactions.

Growth in machine-to-machine connections—rising to 2.84 million in Q1 2025—also hints at a broader move toward automation and smarter infrastructure.

When digital services are intuitive, reliable and designed with the user in mind, adoption increases naturally. If more institutions apply this level of digital by design thinking, Ghana’s digital ecosystem will gradually shift from entertainment-heavy usage toward a more balanced and productive digital environment.

Why the Shift Is Still Stalling

Although there are encouraging models of deeper digital progress, several structural issues continue to slow down wider transformation across sectors:

• Digital initiatives are still treated as isolated IT projects
  Many leadership teams focus on installing tools rather than rethinking how value is created and delivered, which limits the strategic impact of digitisation.
• Fragmentation occurs at multiple levels, not just within departments
  While HR, Finance, and Marketing often digitise independently, the challenge extends far beyond individual organisations. Institutions across sectors frequently build digital systems that do not connect with one another. As a result, users repeat verification, re-enter information, and move between digital and physical steps because the broader ecosystem is not integrated.
• Long-standing structures and practices are difficult to redesign
  Existing workflows and organisational hierarchies tend to be preserved, making it easier to digitise current processes than to rethink them from the ground up.
• Regulatory frameworks evolve cautiously
  Regulators must balance innovation with stability, which can slow the adoption of new approaches, especially where infrastructure or standards are still developing.

These factors help explain why Ghana’s digital progress—while improving—continues to develop more gradually than its potential suggests.

Improving the Digital Journey

As digital services expand across Ghana, there is room for institutions to work more closely to make these tools easier and more useful for the people who rely on them. The goal is less about adding new systems and more about ensuring that existing digital processes work well across different organisations.

A few areas that can support this shared progress include:

• Integrating digital thinking into everyday planning, so tools and services naturally support broader goals.
• Improving practical outcomes, such as smoother workflows and clearer user experience.
• Encouraging collaboration among start-ups, corporates, public institutions, and universities to build solutions that reflect real needs.

With 26.72 million active data subscriptions and more than 40 million connected devices, Ghana already has a solid base to build on. As digital services become more connected and user-friendly, more people are likely to adopt them for learning, payments, health, and work.

 Joseph Osapah Mankoe Jnr is a seasoned IT and Digital Infrastructure Leader with extensive experience in cybersecurity, systems design, and strategic technology management across the financial sector. He currently serves as Head of IT at Merban Capital, and Group Digital and Infrastructure Consultant, where he leads transformation initiatives spanning infrastructure modernization, data governance, and network security. Known for his results-driven leadership and passion for innovation, Joseph has played a pivotal role in shaping resilient digital frameworks that support business growth, compliance, and operational excellence.