Digital Transformation (DT) opens up to new opportunities for companies by providing organizational flexibility and improving their business models. Due to lack of resources in form of financial power and qualified employees, family-owned manufacturing companies have a hard time reaching DT. However, these companies try their best to reach DT and along the road various challenges arise. The challenges that arise, result in a complex situation that is hard to understand. Organizations with complex situations have difficulties to perform successful IT initiatives that are required to reach DT.

The aim of this study was to identify challenges that family-owned manufacturingSMEs (FOMSMEs) encounter when striving for DT. Another aim of this research was to investigate how useful Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) is in helping family-owned manufacturing SMEs to understand their own complex situation. Also, the managerial practice called Enterprise Architecture Management (EAM) has been investigated regarding its usefulness in helping family-owned manufacturing SMEs to reach DT faster and easier. As a fourth and final aim in this study, an artefact has been created with suggested actions that address the identified challenges that FOMSMEs encounter when striving for DT.

By interviewing employees who have participated in IT initiatives at a family-owned manufacturing SME, this research has been able to answer the research questions. Several challenges were identified; communication errors, old systems and exceeding deadlines in projects. All of these challenges can, with the help of SSM, be associated with the identified root challenge: Lack of overview of IT-landscape and strategy. The informants’ thoughts of usefulness of SSM in family-owned manufacturing SMEs were positive. In contrast, the informants’ thoughts of usefulness of EAM in family-owned manufacturing SMEs were negative. The argument expressed by the informants was that as long as the owner family makes most of the decisions, a new managerial practice as EAM will not be useful in family-owned manufacturing SMEs.