As we wrap up another successful year of tax technology & transformation (3T) training—including through our partnerships with WU Vienna Tax Law Technology Center and e-bright’s Belt System—a recurring theme has emerged: applying new learnings from training programs to daily roles is hard!
This challenge is not new or specific to 3T training. While personal development is widely valued, its tangible business benefits—like productivity gains or employee satisfaction—are hard to quantify. Typically, training is seen as a “soft” investment without a direct ROI, and budgets are quickly cut during a financial crunch.
Yet, as a direct consequence of the growing impact of rapidly evolving technology on tax, tax groups now regularly incorporate statements like “constant learning” and “continuous innovation” in their departmental mandate. High-quality, external training is essential to prevent reinventing the wheel during upskilling.
However, training has its limitations. Programs may be generic and externally-focused, whereas tax professionals seek specific, internally-focused answers. There’s often a gap between academic principle and its practical application at a company—namely, the actions needed to cause change are quickly subsumed by corporate structures and cultural frameworks ill-suited to accommodating them.
The same applies to technology bootcamps. For example, a person can learn the basics of Python, AI, or the data sciences, but this is a far cry from the mature adoption and meaningful integration of those technologies into the organization—classic symptoms, by the way, of “shiny toy syndrome.”
Moreover, “tax transformation” evolved in 2024—specifically, the TX-style of transformation, or “true” transformation as described by the Five TX Laws and advocates people before technology. A pillar of the TX approach is that each proceeds at precisely the speed that suits them or their organization—”overwhelm” or undue risk-taking is strictly avoided (because misguided transformation efforts have an 84% failure rate)!
Our mission next year is to bring that principle into our training offerings and help bridge the learning-to-application gap by providing tangible, incremental steps that make transformation more accessible, actionable, and achievable. Transformation is, after all, a journey, not a destination, whether fast or slow.
So, watch this space! What matters most is everyone can move forward at their own pace with the best information, insights, and resources available.
In the meantime, thank you for contributing to this year’s success, even if just by reading this newsletter! We wish you a joyful holiday period filled with rest and inspiration for the challenges ahead.
Until 2025 …
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