In 2026, digital transformation in the home furnishing industry is no longer an optional question, but a mandatory question related to survival. From flexible production of customized furniture to scenario-based marketing of smart homes, from transparent supply chain management to digital experiences in terminal stores, the digital wave has swept every corner of the industry. However, a harsh reality faces many enterprises: the advanced systems introduced with heavy investment often fail to bring expected business growth and may even become expensive decorations.

After deeply analyzing many success and failure cases, we found a truth that has long been ignored: 80 percent of the key to success in home furnishing enterprise digital projects lies in people, not systems.

1. The limits of systems and the unlimited potential of people

When many home furnishing enterprises launch digital projects, they often fall into the misconception of technology first. They believe that as long as they buy the most expensive ERP, the most advanced MES, or the smartest CRM, the enterprise can automatically reduce costs and improve efficiency. As a result, system selection becomes the only focus, implementation becomes the responsibility of the IT department, and business departments passively wait for the system to empower them.

However, a system is only a tool, a collection of cold code and logic. It cannot automatically understand complex non-standard processes in the home furnishing industry, actively coordinate contradictions between design and production, or change operating habits that employees have held for many years.

Systems can only solidify processes, while people can optimize processes. If the original business process itself is chaotic, digitalization will only accelerate that chaos. Only when managers have the thinking to reconstruct processes and frontline employees are willing to execute new processes can systems truly play their role.

Systems can only process data, while people can uncover value. Data lying in a database is only numbers. Only when designers, salespeople, and production supervisors know how to use data for decision-making can data turn into insights and profit.

Systems can only provide functions, while people can create scenarios. Facing increasingly personalized consumer demand, rigid system functions often lag behind. Only employees with innovative thinking can use system tools to create new service scenarios and business models.

2. Three core people-related challenges in digital transformation

Since people are the key, what people-related challenges do home furnishing enterprises face during transformation?

1. Cognitive resistance: top leader project versus understanding by all employees

Digital transformation is a top leader project, but this does not mean it is enough for only the boss to understand it. In reality, many executives still understand digitalization only at a shallow level, such as paperless office work or buying software to manage inventory. A lack of strategic determination in top-level design makes projects easy to waver when resistance appears. At the same time, middle managers and frontline employees often see digitalization as extra workload or a monitoring tool, creating instinctive resistance. Cognitive misalignment is the primary reason for project failure.

2. Capability gaps: old skills versus new requirements

The home furnishing industry has traditionally relied on the experience of veteran craftsmen and the eloquence of salespeople. But in the digital era, designers need to master parametric design tools, production workers need to operate intelligent terminals, and store managers need to understand data reports. Existing talent structures often struggle to match new digital requirements. The phenomenon of having systems that no one uses, or having people who do not know how to use them, is common, directly leading to idle systems after launch.

3. Cultural conflicts: empiricism versus data-driven decision-making

For a long time, decisions in home furnishing enterprises have often relied on intuition or old experience. Digital transformation requires building a culture of speaking with data. When system data conflicts with the experience of veteran employees, should the enterprise trust data or experience? If the corporate culture cannot tolerate trial and error or encourage rational decisions based on data, digital systems will never truly integrate into the enterprise's bloodstream.

3. The way to break through: people-oriented digital implementation strategies

To break the curse of system launch equals failure, home furnishing enterprises must shift their focus from selecting systems to cultivating, using, and retaining people.

1. Top-level design: shift from buying software to buying change

Enterprise leaders must make it clear that digitalization does not buy software licenses, but a management transformation. At the beginning of a project, a transformation committee led by the top leader should be established. It should not only be responsible for system selection, but also for communicating the vision and unifying thinking. Digital goals should be linked to employees' personal performance and career development, so that everyone can see benefits rather than threats in the transformation.

2. Talent reshaping: build compound teams combining digitalization and business

Do not expect external suppliers to solve all internal problems. Enterprises need to cultivate amphibious talent who understand both home furnishing business and digital tools.

Layered training: provide strategic thinking training for senior management, process management training for middle management, and practical skills training for frontline employees.

Practical drills: before system launch, organize multiple rounds of simulated operation so employees can discover and solve problems in real scenarios and eliminate fear.

Incentive mechanisms: set up digital innovation awards to reward employees who use systems to optimize processes and improve efficiency, establishing role models.

3. Cultural soil: build a data-driven agile organization

Establish a transparent data sharing mechanism and break down departmental walls. Encourage employees to make improvement suggestions based on data, and recognize even small innovations. Tolerate the pain and mistakes that occur during transformation, and create an open, collaborative, and learning-oriented organizational atmosphere. Only when looking at data, talking logic, and valuing collaboration become the new common sense of the enterprise can digitalization truly take root.

On the journey of the home furnishing industry toward Industry 4.0, advanced digital systems are undoubtedly a well-equipped giant ship. But without excellent helmsmen, namely managers, and skilled sailors, namely executors, this ship will not only fail to reach the other shore, but may even hit rocks and sink in the harbor.

Eighty percent of success depends on people, which means the essence of digital transformation is the transformation of people. Only when every employee of the enterprise becomes a participant, beneficiary, and promoter of digitalization can systems truly release tremendous energy and help the enterprise break through in fierce market competition.

In this long and critical transformation journey, choosing a partner who understands the industry, management, and, more importantly, people is essential. Soonfor Software has been deeply engaged in the home furnishing industry for more than 20 years. It not only provides leading digital system solutions such as ERP, MES, and CRM, but also focuses on helping home furnishing enterprises connect people and systems through consulting accompaniment, all-employee training, and change management.