The “C” in Business Optimization
COLLABORATIVE WHITEPAPER SERIES
COLLABORATIVE WHITE PAPER SERIES:
The “C” in Business Optimization
In this white paper we answer the question, “Why do your business improvement initiatives
sit on a shelf, not adopted?” and we offer a strategy for mitigating the risk of failure for these
initiatives.
The intended audience for this paper is C-class executives who represent buyers of business
transformation services, and mid-level management who represent the implementers of business
improvement initiatives.
I. Introduction
Change is the heart and soul of business optimization. Yet many business optimization
initiatives struggle in achieving success and up to 70%1 fail to execute or meet budget
and time requirements. The one key reason is a failure to recognize and manage the
impact of the changes on the organization.
Conceptually, business optimization is an ongoing process of determining where
and what change is needed, incrementally designing and implementing appropriate
improvements, and monitoring and measuring performance. These improvements may
include changes to processes, organizational responsibilities and systems; all of which
impact the people involved in the processes and the knowledge and skills required to do
their jobs. The best operational designs, BPM tools and technologies do not guarantee
the desired outcome. The organization and all parties involved must understand the
need for change, have effective preparation and incentive to change, and have sufficient
support during the change. The natural resistance to change must be mitigated.
Otherwise, business improvement initiatives may be extremely costly endeavors that
take longer than expected and have a high risk of failure.
The “C” in business optimization is change management, a key dimension in selecting
and managing your portfolio of initiatives, and an integral part of each business
initiative’s plan and budget.
II. What is change management?
Change management is the human and organizational side of business optimization,
understanding its impact on the people, organization and related business processes.
When an internal business process changes, it affects the people involved, the
related customer-facing processes, and ultimately, the customer experience. Change
Management takes into account the effect that change has on all the constituents that
execute, influence, or are influenced by a business initiative. Change management also
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Figure 1: Indicators and factors of how human attributes may inhibit successful change
Indicators that human factors may be inhibiting
business improvement initiatives
Human behaviors and factors that impede change
•  Business transformation fails or slows
•  Habituation to the “old way”
•  Creation of work-arounds
•  Fear of the unknown
•  Employee non-compliance, dissent, or protest
•  Fear of impact to job security, compensation, or changes to
responsibility
•  Reversion to old processes or tools
•  Lack of incentives for change or change presents disincentives
•  High levels of errors, rework, omissions
•  Project budget overruns
•  Misunderstanding or lack of knowledge about the change i.e.,
they don’t understand why it is important for the business
•  Requests to increase staff, excessive overtime
•  Lack of competency or skills to facilitate the change
•  High levels of employee or customer dissatisfaction with
changes e.g., complaints
•  Extra work required to change about and beyond daily
activities is too intensive or seems either unfair or
uncompensated
•  Business performance degrades or alarming business metrics
occur e.g., increase in inbound customer calls, excessive repair
orders, increase in help desk calls
•  “Change fatigue” i.e., employees have seen so many failed
attempts to implement changes that they have little confidence
in new ones
•  Employee attrition
•  Degradation of employee morale
takes into consideration those who are likely to resist and
why, allowing mitigation strategies to be put into place.
does not match the way they do business today. This is the
case in many ERP implementations. That is to say, the new
technology might unexpectedly affect the business process.
A recent client implementing Oracle ERP discovered that,
due to release constraints, the first release was temporarily
taking online ordering capability away from customers.
How to communicate that change to the customer, how
their resistance could be mitigated, and the impact to
the help desk was not even considered until the client
began its change management impact analysis. In fact,
key process owners did not even realize an Oracle ERP
implementation was going to occur, highlighting a broken
communication process.
Flavors of change initiatives
Any change in the business environment, processes,
data, or technology may impact both the business and
technical dimensions of operations. No matter what the
driving force, whether business or technical, strategic or
tactical, any change initiative can affect any and every
aspect of operations and thus impact the people and the
knowledge and skills to do the job. A change to a business
process initiated as the result of a business environment
or operations change likely will require changes to its
supporting applications and data. Enhanced levels of
automation will likely impact business processes and
could impact the data consumed and produced, affecting
upstream and downstream processes. More automation
could mean shifting roles and responsibilities, and a need
to reassess staffing levels. New offices and locations could
require a need to reassess the technical infrastructure and
support processes.
In Figure 1, indicators and factors of how human attributes
may inhibit successful change are listed.
Most process and technology change initiatives include
training of the people directly involved; however, training
is not enough. In the case of a process change, the
individuals involved in related processes might not know
that they will receive different results at different times,
adversely affecting their respective processes. In the
case of a technology change, the individuals directly
involved with the solution are likely trained in the solution.
However, the solution might implement a process that
Change initiatives come in different flavors, as depicted in
Figure 2.
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COLLABORATIVE WHITE PAPER SERIES:
The “C” in Business Optimization
Figure 2: Types of initiatives
Business Operations Change
Business Environment Change
Need to improve a workflow to
reduce costs, increase productivity
and improve quality
Changes to Markets, offerings,
channels, goals and/or strategies
•  Process consolidation
•  Acquisition
•  Market strategy change
•  Outsourcing/in-sourcing
Business
Processes &
Organization
Applications
& Infrastructure
Data
Skills
Technology Solution Change
Business Information Change
Introducing, replacing or eliminating
an application or system
Data source added, changed or
eliminated
•  ERP packages
•  3rd party sales history
•  SOA
•  Credit history qualification
•  Automation of a business
function
Business operations change: Business optimization
initiatives may focus on improving the performance of the
business through restructuring of the organization and the
business processes. Changes in how a business process
is performed, where it is performed or by whom, and any
changes in business rules can have direct impacts on
the organization involved, as well as indirect impacts to
other functional areas, governance structures and external
parties. More often than not, a change to a business
process results in changes to supporting applications
and data, expanding the degree of impact to competency
requirements of the individual.
Business environment change: Business environment
changes, by their nature, impact every aspect of operations.
Significant research and planning is required to understand
how the environment change will be executed, taking into
consideration every constituency that the environment
change touches, either directly or indirectly. This includes
customers, suppliers and partners, and internal business
units, such as marketing, sales, product management,
billing, customer support, and IT.
Types of business environment changes include:
•Mergers and acquisitions
•New product and service development and rollout
Examples of operations changes include:
•In-sourcing or outsourcing business functions
•New line of business development and rollout
•Business unit consolidation
•Divesting a line of business
•Business process time to market improvement,
quality improvement and/or cost reduction
•Regulatory change
•Supply chain consolidation
•Globalization
•Business transformation
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Technology solution change: Some changes are initiated
from a technology perspective. Technology Solution change
includes changes such as when technologies evolve,
legacy systems are enhanced, upgraded or replaced,
either as part of a strategic plan to better support the
long-term business goals and objectives, or more tactically
to maintain a stable technical environment that provides
effective support of the business on a day-to-day basis.
It is more likely that the strategic development projects
will impact more people than tactical enhancements
or maintenance. However, it is not safe to assume that
is the case. As a simple example, the change in credit
processing rules in a quote-to-order application could affect
the knowledge required by customer support to effectively
answer customer questions after the order is placed.
Business information change: This includes changes to
what and when data is available, from what source, and
how it is formatted, used, transformed and/or repurposed
during operations.
Typically these initiative fall into three categories:
•Strategic development, such as migration to a SOA
model or the implementation of a new software
package
•For example, a new customer information data source
becomes available that can be leveraged during the
quote-to-order process. This could require that the
existing process leverage new types of information.
•Tactical enhancements, such as changes to improve
automation of tasks
•Maintenance to “keep the lights on,” such as
upgrades to hardware and software, or fixing bugs in
applications
Business architecture provides context
There are three perspectives to managing change (phrased
as questions an organization may ask themselves):
Figure 3: Business architecture framework
Business Goals
Strategies
Imperatives KPIs
Business Environment Markets
Products and Services
Involved Parties
Enterprise Architecture
Process
Information
•  Business events
•  Domains and structures
•  Process Portfolio and KPIs
•  Rules and quality measures
•  Process ownership
•  Data ownership
•  Workflow and rules
•  Consumers and usage
•  Roles and responsibilities
•  Producers and sources
•  Information flow
Systems Architecture
Application Architecture
Data Architecture
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Technical Architecture
COLLABORATIVE WHITE PAPER SERIES:
The “C” in Business Optimization
•Why are we changing?
and objectives of the business, business imperatives,
and milestones.
•Who is impacted, what is the impact, and when is
the change occurring?
Business architecture also quantifies change by isolating
what exactly is changing in the business environment, who
is impacted by the change, and what the optimal operations
framework of processes and information is to enable the
organization.
•How is the change managed and how does the
business know if it is achieving the desired results?
To answer these questions you need to look at the
components of business architecture, and the macro
business planning and management process.
Figure 4 represents the macro process for business planning
and design, and for performance management. Looking at
the macro process, business architecture extends strategic
planning by providing a framework for operational planning
and design. The business plans include incremental
milestones and specific initiatives designed to achieve
the strategic goals and objectives of the business. Finally,
business performance management monitors progress
against the plan and determines if adjustments are
necessary in the plan or in the portfolio itself.
Figure 3 represents the framework and components that
constitute business architecture.
Business architecture is a blueprint of the enterprise that
provides a common understanding of the organization and
is used to align strategic objectives and tactical demands.
The idea is to make sure that all initiatives, both business
and IT, are in line with where the business is going. It does
this by mapping those initiatives back to the strategic goals
Figure 4: Macro process
Why?
Who, What, When?
Strategic Planning
Operational Planning
•  Define vision
•  Select and approve investments
•  Assess business environment
•  Fund change initiatives
•  Define business strategy
•  Create operational roadmap
•  Identify business imperatives
•  Execute change programs
•  Develop strategic roadmap
Business Architecture
Operational Design
Desired Framework
Executable Design
An optimum design to achieve all
aspects of the strategic roadmap
A pragmatic design to achieve a
waypoint on the operational roadmap,
adhering to the principles of the
desired framework
How?
Business Performance Management
•  Monitor business and adjust plans
•  Govern the process portfolio
•  Manage organizational change
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So to answer the questions you need:
based on a number of factors: appetite and ability to
change, budget, and pragmatic migration strategy, to
name a few.
•Business Architecture to define “Why” as it relates to
the long-term vision.
Managing communications at this level is essential,
otherwise the organization is likely to lose the big picture
and be inundated with many communications from each
individual initiative, each posing the risk of presenting
conflicting messages. Also, many opportunities to gain
economies of scale exist by identifying overlapping areas of
impact where one education program could benefit multiple
initiatives, and where a cohesive staffing plan could open
up opportunities for transitioning staff.
•Business Operations Design to define “Who” and
“What” at each milestone in the business plan by
doing a gap analysis against the current state and
performing an impact assessment to determine the
affects.
•Business Performance Management to define “How”
the change will be managed and governed.
Managing a portfolio of change
However, if you do not have a mature portfolio management
process, or are just establishing a formal business
optimization practice and change management processes,
it is advisable to prototype and pilot change management
processes with just one initiative, and gradually build
towards a mature, portfolio change management approach.
Organizational change management cannot be done
effectively by looking at just one initiative. There are
always many initiatives in flight or planned that overlap.
It makes sense to step back and look at the portfolio
perspective and balance the amount and timing of change
Figure 5: Portfolio of change
Portfolio
Management
Competency
& Education
Staffing
Your Initiative’s Impact & Plan
CRM
ERP
Product Launch
…
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Communication
Governance
Metrics &
Measures
COLLABORATIVE WHITE PAPER SERIES:
The “C” in Business Optimization
Before implementing change, it is imperative to know the
impact, mitigate the risk, and evaluate the change from a
total cost perspective and communicate the change.
to share this vision with everyone who is affected by
the change. A high-level analysis should be done before
communicating the vision to determine who the involved
parties are, both internal and external, determine their
informational need and craft the message appropriate for
each group.
III. How do we manage change?
There are three fundamental components of a successful
change management program:
Identifying each constituency’s informational need and
determining what matters to them goes a long way towards
mitigating resistance. There may still be resistance but it
will be from people who disagree with the vision rather than
from people who don’t understand the vision.
•Creating a sense of urgency
•Devising and maintaining a formal communications
process
Change impact assessment: Once everyone understands
why change is happening, the next logical question is “How
does it affect me?” Conduct a series of impact assessments
to quantify how each constituency is affected; people are
generally willing to make time to participate in an impact
assessment once they understand the “why” shared in the
vision.
•On-boarding management
Figure 6 focuses on communications. The communications
program takes the many constituents into consideration
even before sharing the vision for the change. Each
constituency has individual informational needs; executives
and management need very different information than
front-line workers.
The impact assessment triggers momentum by getting
people thinking about change. In this way, they begin
preparing for the change. They understand the impact on
their processes, authority, roles and responsibilities, and
tools. It provides the basis for organizational planning for
the forthcoming change and more detailed communications
to involved parties.
Communication planning, therefore, must target each
constituency with very specific messages that explain
the vision beginning day one. In so doing, the various
constituencies understand why they will be asked to
participate in upcoming impact analysis. Informing
people about change early in the life cycle and keeping
them up to date on progress opens up opportunities for
understanding issues and concerns that can impact the
success of the change.
Conducting impact assessments with each constituency and
making the effects of change known mitigates the risks that
come with misunderstood change.
Communication perspectives
Sponsorship and change leadership: Successful change
requires an executive sponsor – someone who has authority
and budget. This individual is the vision’s principal
communicator and has regular interaction with involved
parties to hear their concerns and reassure them.
Business vision: A perception exists that people resist or
somehow fear change. However, it is not change that they
fear but rather the unknown. Begin the communications
program early; explain why the change is needed; what
is to be accomplished; how the change contributes to
achieving those accomplishments; explicitly acknowledge
anticipated impact and describe the process to understand
and deal with the impact. This eliminates the “unknown”
factor.
As soon as change is implemented, those upon whom
the change is thrust are no longer the experts. They were
experts in the old ways, not the new ways; or they were
experts with the old tools, not the new tools. That makes
those who conceived of the change the experts because
they know more about the change than anyone. So the new
experts must be part of a support structure that enables a
The business vision is the driver and provides the context
for answering “why” a change is needed. It is imperative
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Figure 6: Change management overview
Change Impact Assessment
Assess the change to existing
processes and business areas with
regard to workflow interactions, tools,
resource allocation, responsibilities
and competencies
Communication
Program
Communication
Program
Human
Process Change
Business Vision
Assess the alignment of the ongoing
initiatives with the business vision
Provide processes, skills,
and tools to excel in the
new environment
Organizational Change
Align resource allocation
changes with updates
to roles and
responsibilities
Communication
Program
Incentive Program
Create and deploy a program to
inspire staff to achieve desired
performance results
Communication
Program
Sponsorship and
Change Leadership
Ensure that the plan is successful by
collaborating with key sponsors and
leaders to champion the initiative
successful roll-out. Without sufficient support, as soon as
the first hurdle is met, the former experts revert to their old
ways, lament their old tools, and the business does not
realize the value it anticipated. Those who are responsible
and accountable for the change must be active participants
in communicating the change, conducting the impact
assessments, and supporting the change. Create a support
organization that monitors the changes and proactively
seeks out opportunities to help move things along.
Define an incentive program that above all else rewards
change. A good, aggressive reward system even mitigates
the need for negative incentives.
IV. Assessing the impact
Any business initiative, no matter how small, may result in
change in any of the following domains.
Business process and rules: Activities can be added,
outsourced, in-sourced, or eliminated. The workflow design
and, as such, the corresponding data flow can change.
Underlying policies may be adjusted, and levels of personal
authority may shift as it relates to activities, data access and
decision-making.
Incentive program: Yes! People must be motivated to
change. Even if they understand why they need the
change and how they are impacted, and even if they are
sufficiently supported they must be motivated – they need
an incentive. Many incentive programs exist today from one
extreme (elevating those who embrace the change) to the other
(firing people who do not) and everywhere in between.
Incentives help those affected take the first step towards
change. Once that first step is taken, the support structure
helps ensure that the stated goals and objectives are realized.
Organization: Changing roles and responsibilities often
impacts the structure of the organization. Individual roles or
entire organizational units can be added, eliminated, or changed
by increasing or decreasing scope of responsibilities, required
skill sets, and levels of knowledge and experience.
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Location: The physical location where a business process
is performed is influenced by decisions such as brick and
mortar vs. the web, or centralization vs. decentralization.
These decisions dramatically change the way business is
conducted, the facilities and staff required, and the support
processes and infrastructure needed.
The execution phase drives the impact assessment
process and develops specific strategies and tactics for
ensuring competency and capacity are realized, creating
the necessary communication, education, staffing, and
resistance management plans based on profiling.
Impact assessment: Answers questions in the following key
areas:
Applications: Systems change when software packages are
introduced or upgraded, services or functions are added,
workflow is automated, applications are merged or legacy
applications are retired. This includes eliminating localized
solutions like Excel and replacing them with centralized
application services.
•Responsibilities: Will there be new responsibilities
associated with a role, or changes to the current
responsibilities? Will the role be eliminated or a new
role created with new sets of responsibilities? All of
these possibilities have significant implications for the
individuals playing that role.
Data: Changes in data flow and data usage go handin-hand with process and application changes. New
sources of data are introduced, while other data sources
are eliminated. The format of data could change, as
well as how or when data is made available, refreshed,
transformed or repurposed. Quality measures and
processes may be instituted, along with governance and
ownership of data.
•Personal authority: Have authority level changes
been defined? Does it require staff to be educated
or certified? Authorizations to take action, make
decisions, and access and update data, are granted,
based on the individual’s proven ability to successfully
execute a specific role.
•Interactions and communication structures: Will
the individual be interacting with different roles,
internal or external, and are there new or changing
Infrastructure: Changes in networking, security,
messaging, database, and data warehouse technologies
may be required for any of the above types of change or
to simply evolve to better technical solutions. In the case
of a supply chain solution, this includes integration with
customer and supplier systems.
Figure 7: Change management activity areas
Activity tracks
Strategy
& Planning
There are six activity areas in any change management
program. Strategy and Planning and Communication begin
as integral parts of the overall planning of any business
initiatives.
Impact
Assessments
Strategy and planning: High-level planning provides a
preliminary assessment of the degree of change that will
need to be managed, and devises the approach, plan and
budget necessary for its execution. The plan must consider
the alignment of the initiative in question with other inflight or planned initiatives that could have overlapping
change management needs. (See Managing a Portfolio of
Change)
Organizational
Change
Management
Governance
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Communication
Profiling
Competency
& Education
Profiling
Staff
Profiling
Competency and education profiling: Identifies roles and
responsibility profiles for all stakeholders, providing new or
revised job descriptions, and identifies new or adjusted skill
set requirements, education requirements, and resistance
mitigation requirements. Education requirements include
three domains: business knowledge, technical capabilities,
and people skills, and can include training, mentoring,
and possible certification. It may also include specific
requirements for user manuals and/or online help services.
types of interactions? What inbound and outbound
communication structures are in play, and what is
changing with the format, content and mechanisms
of delivery? Any and all of these could require a new
level of knowledge or skill.
Communication profiling: Aligns with all tracks
to determine the what, when, who, and how of
communication with the following goals:
•Build awareness
Staff profiling: Identifies areas where changes or additions
in roles and responsibilities will require staffing decisions,
including staff realignment, upsizing, and downsizing.
Specific names are assigned to roles, and the staff profiles
are then aligned with competency and education profiles, as
well as communication profiles to generate specific plans for
individuals.
•Articulate organizational objectives
•Convey support
•Provide status
•Mitigate resistance
Figure 8: High-level context model
“A Company”
Executive Management
Division
A
Customers
Division
B
Division
C
Division
D
Distributors
National Sales & Service
Corporate Billing
Clients
Strategic
Partners/Suppliers
Financial Accounting
Technology Services
Other involved parties could include:
3rd Party Legal
Investors/Owners
Information Sources
Competitors
Regulators
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V. Strategy and approach
Governance: Aligns with all the tracks to identify metrics
and measures for assessing the effectiveness of the change
management program and establishes the governance
structure and processes where none exists or determines
how existing governance structures will be used.
Figure 9 demonstrates a typical change management
program. The process is cyclical, not a one-time swipe
through a change initiative.
Change management is considered a “program” because
each of the steps in Figure 9, in and of itself, a project. The
program requires coordination, oversight, and continuous
improvement. Although Figure 9 suggests a starting point to
which you return, in actuality each process step is executed
numerous times in the cycle before all tasks are completed.
Assessing the areas impacted
When performing an impact assessment it is important
to look internally within the scope of operations, but
also externally, as indicated above, to identify internal
and external customers and suppliers and supporting
processes. For the purposes of conveying breadth and
degree of impact to management, it helps to start with a
contextual view and then break the impact down by type
and degree of change within each primary process area
and then each supporting process area.
•“Why” change is needed comes from a vision that is
different from the current environment. But to understand
the current environment requires an assessment, and
assessments require planning, design, execution and
delivery.
A sample high-level context model showing process areas
and external parties is illustrated in Figure 8. Color-coding
can be used to articulate degrees of impact and risk.
•With the vision and current state assessment in hand,
develop a business case, which includes a high-level
Figure 9: Process steps of a change management program
Define change
and assess
environment
•  Define the why, what,
who and how
to change
•  Understand the current
environment
Formalize
implementation
plans
Identify key
sponsors and
their buy-in
•  Identify executive
sponsors (IT and
business)
•  Identify key project
milestones
•  Develop communication
plans
•  Ensure executive
sponsors are on board
•  Develop training plan
•  Develop metrics plan
Monitor, incent
adoption of
change
Implement
change plan
and audit
•  Constantly monitor
performance of
employees and
program
•  Implement change
management plans
•  Create incentives for
adoption
•  Identify internal and
external risks and
mitigate
•  Assess resistance to
change
•  Communicate
successes
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Identify
stakeholders
•  Identify stake-holders
at all levels
•  Prioritize stakeholders
•  Make sure key
stakeholders are on
board and involved
Communicate
•  Tailor communication
process to the
audience
•  Ensure top-down and
bottom-up
communication
•  Communicate to all
impacted groups
implementation plan, to get the executive sponsors on
board. The executive sponsors can provide the initial list
of stakeholders.
communication; go back and change the communication
if the message is not getting out effectively. Other times
it is due to insufficient support or even to insufficient
incentive. As successes begin to emerge, go back and
change the communication again to highlight the success.
•Engaging the stakeholders means going back to the
assessment stage to determine “what” will change
for each of them (i.e., the “who”). It also means
reevaluating the high-level implementation plan and
reengaging the executive sponsors to ensure their
continued support. Finally, it means engaging any
additional stakeholders discovered along the way that
were not apparent to the executive sponsors when the
initial list of stakeholders was drawn up.
•Something else to keep in mind is that as you progress
through the implementation plan and monitor the change,
you must continually reassess the current environment to
ensure that the current plan is still viable. There is always
that chance that the change program must be tweaked
to account for unforeseen results. This, of course, means
going back to the assessment, back to the planning stage,
back to the executive sponsors and stakeholders, etc. As
stated earlier, it is a continuous cycle.
•The need for effective communication cannot be
overstated. Communication starts early, when the vision
is first conceived, and it continues throughout the life of
the change program. What is important to know is that
change affects every stakeholder differently. Therefore,
communication must not only be timely but it must also
be specific to the stakeholder.
•One of the most effective approaches to change is to
prioritize stakeholders based on the degree to which
they are affected by the change and the degree to which
they influence success or failure. If there are limited
support and/ or communication resources available, focus
these limited resources where they will have the most
impact on the success of the change program. Figure 10
demonstrates the grouping of stakeholders by priority.
•When executing the implementation plan, be sure
to audit the results on an ongoing basis. Notice
where there is resistance, for whatever reason, and
mitigate it. Sometimes resistance is due to ineffective
•Support comes in many forms. Identify requirements
for training, staffing, and realignment during the various
assessments. The need for training is obvious, though
sometimes overlooked. If you are asking stakeholders
to do more work, staff may have to increase. If the
change results in significant automation or transfer of
responsibilities, it may be necessary to realign staff. All of
these support issues need to be monitored over time and
adjustments made to the plan accordingly.
Figure 10: Stakeholder priority
High
Impacted by Project
Priority 2
Groups
Priority 3
Groups
Priority 1
Groups
•Establish a framework and develop a roadmap for
implementing change in the enterprise. While various
business and IT initiatives may follow a predicable path,
the change program does not. Figure 11 demonstrates a
classic waterfall approach to delivery. Overlay the change
management program and it becomes clear just how nonlinear the change program is. The point is to make sure
that the steps in the change program are done at the right
time in the project schedule; this ensures that training is
timely and that communications start early and continue.
Priority 2
Groups
Low
Low
High
Influence on Project Success
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The outcome of a good change program is always
measured by the degree to which goals and objectives
were met and in the realization of the vision. However,
a good change program also leaves behind a legacy that
includes:
The challenges that face a change program are the same
challenges that face any new project.
Budget: All too often, project budgets are based on how
much it will cost to develop and release a new product or
tool. Unfortunately, little consideration is given to the cost of
implementing the change across the many stakeholders that
are affected. If the difficulty of the change is considered,
training is usually the only consideration given. All other
elements of a successful change program are ignored.
What often is lost is the realization that the cost of failure
is typically much greater than the investment in success.
•A reusable curriculum and learning materials
•Well-documented roles and responsibilities and
related resources plans
•A vision statement that serves as a rallying point,
something that everyone can stand behind
•Impact assessments that identify precisely what
is changing and for whom
Knowledgeable resources: There are always too few subject
matter experts to go around. The problem with change is
that once the change is implemented they are no longer the
experts; they are learning like everyone else is. It may not
take them long to become the experts once again, but do
not discount the fact that the pool of experts has dwindled
slightly, albeit temporarily.
•An unambiguous incentive program that recognizes
and rewards success
•A change leadership program that lets everyone
know that senior management will stand behind
them
Balancing concurrent initiatives: This is more of a Program
Office issue than a change program issue. However, do not
lose sight of the fact that without both change management
and a PMO the chances of failure go up dramatically.
•And a complete stakeholder analysis that enables
timely, relevant communication and a well
documented communication plan
Figure 11: Roadmap
Month 2
Month 1
Month 3
Month 4
Month 5
Month 7
Month 6
On-boarding
Assessment
Design
Formalize
implementation
plans
Construction
Monitor, incent
adoption of
change
UVT
Define change
and assess
environment
Identify
stakeholders at
all levels
Identify key
sponsors and
their buy-in
Communicate
Implement
Change Plan
and Audit
Pilot
Migrate
14
VI. Conclusion
Change is inevitable in business, and the ability to effect
change quickly is essential to remaining competitive.
This will only continue to increase demands on portfolio
and program managers to ensure the needed change is
realized on time and within budget. Change management
is not “the answer” but it is an important component of
the answer, and the one most often overlooked, under
planned, or under budgeted.
Change management programs do not need to be huge
organizations adding layers of additional process to be
effective. You do not have to manage everything; you only
need to manage what puts you most at risk. But if you do
not take the time to identify where those risks are, and
implement mitigation strategies, you are likely to fall short
or even fail in your efforts. If you do take the time, change
can happen with minimal pain and maximum gain.
References
1 “... based on the analysis of about one hundred efforts in
organizations to produce large-scale change: implementing
new growth strategies, putting in new IT systems,
reorganizing to reduce expenses. Incredibly, we found
that in over 70 percent of the situations where substantial
changes were clearly needed, either they were not fully
launched, or the change efforts failed, or changes were
achieved but over budget, late, and with great frustration.”
Kotter, John. A Sense of Urgency. Boston: Harvard
Business Publishing, 2008.
15
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