What 2025 Taught Me About Digital Transformation (After 18 Years in Fintech)

Published: December 15, 2025

A Message from Anna

I've been delivering digital banking solutions to credit unions for 18 years. In that time, I've watched dozens of "transformation initiatives" launch with fanfare and fizzle within months.

2025 was different. Not because the failures stopped—they didn't. But because the industry finally started asking the right questions about why they fail.

The data is sobering: CCG Catalyst reports that 93% of bank digital transformation initiatives fell short of expectations this year.

That's not a rounding error. That's a systemic problem.

Here's what I learned—and what I wish I'd known earlier.

Lesson 1: The Front End Is the Easy Part

For years, we celebrated interface updates. Cleaner websites. Faster apps. Better onboarding flows.

And yes, these matter. But The Financial Brand's analysis puts it bluntly:

"Banks look digital on the surface, but inside, outdated processes quietly decide how fast—or how far—transformation can really go."

The real friction sits inside the organization:

Systems built before real-time services became the norm
Operational processes no one has examined in years
Workflows that have grown heavier with every new regulation

Many institutions underestimate the weight of this foundation until they try to launch something genuinely new—and discover that the architecture cannot support their vision.

What I learned: Stop asking "how does it look?" and start asking "how does it actually work?"

Lesson 2: Budgets Miss the Hidden Cost

Here's the pattern I saw repeatedly in 2025:

Credit unions budget $500K for a new digital lending platform. They allocate for software licenses, implementation fees, maybe some training. The project kicks off with enthusiasm.

Six months later, it's stalled. Why?

MDT's 2025 Credit Union Trends report captures it perfectly:

"Credit unions are budgeting for technology investment, but not for the internal lift required to execute it."

The real costs nobody budgeted for:

Conversion labor: Someone has to migrate the data
Parallel workloads: Staff running operations AND managing implementation
Integration debugging: APIs between systems that were never designed to talk
Change management: Training, documentation, process redesign

What I learned: If your technology budget doesn't include a line item for "execution capacity," your project will fail.

Lesson 3: Vendor Fatigue Is Real

2025 brought an uncomfortable reckoning for many institutions: the cost of staying modern has exploded.

The Broadcom/VMware acquisition created shockwaves. Some credit unions reported infrastructure cost increases of 600% or more. Smaller institutions lacked the leverage to negotiate better terms.

Digital Transformation Challenges 2025

But it's not just infrastructure. The average credit union now manages relationships with dozens of technology vendors—each with their own:

Contract renewal cycles
API specifications
Support escalation paths
Security requirements

As one CU executive told me: "I spend more time managing vendors than I do thinking about members."

What I learned: Consolidation isn't just about cost savings. It's about preserving leadership bandwidth for what actually matters.

Lesson 4: "AI Readiness" Was Mostly Wishful Thinking

In 2025, every credit union claimed they were "exploring AI." Very few were actually ready.

The gap between interest and capability was enormous:

Boards approved AI budgets without understanding governance requirements
Vendors embedded AI into products without clear documentation
Teams deployed tools without monitoring frameworks

The institutions that moved fastest weren't necessarily the best prepared—they were the ones willing to learn from inevitable mistakes with proper guardrails in place.

As the MDT team observed:

"Many think they're ready for AI, but they're not. Guardrails, monitoring, oversight—most credit unions haven't even started."

What I learned: AI readiness isn't about technology. It's about governance maturity.

Lesson 5: The Winners Built Capacity, Not Just Features

Here's what separated the institutions that thrived from those that struggled:

Struggling institutions:

Measured success by features shipped
Treated transformation as a project with an end date
Delegated technology decisions to IT
Hoped vendors would solve integration problems

Thriving institutions:

Measured success by operational improvement
Treated transformation as a capability to build
Made technology a board-level strategic priority
Invested in internal expertise alongside vendor partnerships

The successful credit unions I worked with in 2025 didn't necessarily have bigger budgets. They had clearer priorities and more realistic expectations.

What I learned: Transformation isn't something you buy. It's something you become.

Lesson 6: The 93% Failure Rate Has a Silver Lining

Here's what the pessimistic statistics miss: failures created clarity.

Credit unions that struggled through botched implementations in 2025 now have something invaluable—institutional knowledge about what doesn't work. They know:

Which vendors overpromise and underdeliver
Where their internal processes actually break down
What their teams can and cannot absorb
How long things really take

This "failure equity" is underrated. The institutions that learned from 2025's difficulties will make better decisions in 2026.

What I learned: The only wasted transformation is one you don't learn from.

What I'm Taking Into 2026

After 18 years, I'm finally comfortable saying: digital transformation is harder than anyone admits, and that's okay.

The institutions that will thrive are those that:

Start with honest assessment — Know your operational reality before designing your technical future
Budget for execution — Technology is maybe 30% of the cost; people and process are the rest
Consolidate strategically — Fewer, deeper vendor relationships beat many shallow ones
Build governance before AI — The exciting stuff comes after the boring stuff is solid
Measure capability, not features — Can you adapt? Can you execute? Can you learn?

The 93% failure rate sounds damning. But embedded in that number is the 7% that succeeded—and the lessons that will help the rest catch up.

2025 was a year of painful education. 2026 can be the year we apply what we learned.

I'm Anna Khalzova, Co-founder of Jupid. We help credit unions and community banks win and retain small business members through embedded AI-native financial services. If you're planning your 2026 transformation strategy, let's connect.

Sources

CCG Catalyst: Lessons from 2025's Banking Tech Triumphs and Tribulations - 2025
The Financial Brand: How to Pivot When Digital Ambitions Crash into Operational Realities - December 18, 2025
MDT: 2025 Credit Union Trends and Lessons - December 17, 2025
ABA Banking Journal: Community Banks Navigate Digital Adoption Challenges - December 17, 2025