In our application you wouldn't be changing the whole column, since the power unit would likely be grafted into the steering shaft with some u-joint adaptors. But is it just the motor that fails, or part of the gear system that drives the steering shaft? If its in the electronics, that part is replaced by an aftermarket controller.
Still curious, but obviously I don't want to get into fabbing up a custom steering shaft, making brackets and altering the column based around a part that's going to constantly be a problem.