Bianca Visagie
13 October 2022
Change is never easy, especially on the people side of change. While project management focuses on delivering the “project side” of change, change management focuses on the people side. Project management delivers technologies and systems to organisations. Change management ensures these technologies are used by the people working within them.
Change management is especially important where enterprise applications are implemented. Change can be difficult for employees, so it’s important to have a plan in place to help them through the transition.
What is Change Management?
Change management is the method in which a company describes and implements change within both its internal and external processes. This includes preparing and training employees, establishing the necessary steps for change, and monitoring pre- and post-change activities to ensure successful implementation.
However, change management is not just communication and training. Effective change management (CM) follows a structured process and employs a holistic set of tools to drive successful change.
Why Do You Need Change Management?
70% of all change management initiatives fail. When it comes to your business, you often can’t afford to fail. Especially after implementing a new enterprise application, which costs you time and money to build. Hence, effective CM is now more important than ever. Here are three main reasons why you need effective change management:
Ignoring change management will be costly
Poorly managing the people side of CM can lead to decreased productivity, budget overruns, and even abandonment. Valued employees might leave the organisation due to stress and burnout. Your customers might also start to feel the negative effects, and profits will decline.
Risk mitigation
Change comes with risks, and failing to manage those risks could lead to unintended consequences. Change managers can mitigate risks through risk assessments, predictive modelling, and responding to problems as they occur.
Change management increases project success rate
Studies have shown that projects with excellent CM strategies are six times more likely to meet project objectives.
Decreases resistance to change
As previously mentioned, change is hard. People are often set in their ways, and resistance to change is inevitable. It takes time for employees to overcome their resistance, and effective CM can help them get there faster.
Benefits of Change Management
The benefits of CM come in many forms – from improved work processes to enhanced employee experiences. Here are 5 benefits you won’t be able to overlook:
1. Improving performance and productivity
When you adapt to improved ways of working, it increases productivity. At the same time, it encourages innovation. As a result, it guarantees improved performance and places your organisation in a healthier environment better able to succeed.
2. Improved business processes
The world is constantly changing, and so should your business. CM is specifically designed to evaluate, redesign, and implement new business processes.
3. Improvements to your company culture
Your company culture has far-reaching effects on your business. Even seemingly irrelevant change projects can impact your corporate culture for the better.
4. Training and upskilling
By improving training and upskilling initiatives, change managers can decrease time-to-competency and learning timelines. The result is improved engagement, decreased frustration, and improved productivity.
5. Reducing costs
When positive change is applied correctly, it helps to reduce waste and therefore reduce costs. Effective CM helps an organisation make smart choices. It increases productivity, decreases risks, and helps to improve the profitability of an organisation.
Change Management at Integrove
The people side of change is not the soft side of change, it is the harder side of change. Investing the time and energy to manage the people side of your business will pay off in the end. At Integrove, our bespoke digital solutions come with application support and change management. We’re here for you from the planning phase to the implementation phase, to the training phase. Let us help you make your next product a success.