People Change - the missing component in IT transformation

Sometimes it feels like IT systems change more often than the weather. The exponential and inexorable development of computing power means that no sooner than you’ve implemented a new system or practice, it’s starting to look dated. Dealing with this perpetual change, then, is something all organisations will be facing for the foreseeable future. The findings of a recent survey, though, suggest that IT initiatives are being hindered by inadequate consideration of the people side of change.

The survey of more than 6000 IT professionals identified critical issues affecting the implementation and support of top IT initiatives.

Among them were:

• change management/user adoption -  given low scores by 38% of respondents;
• and stakeholder management - low scores by 37% of respondents.

IT programmes also lack quantifiable metrics, the survey found: with only 56% of respondents reporting their use. The most under-utilised metrics identified included user adoption and revenue increases. “When a key objective of IT departments is to align with the business, showing how IT actually helps revenues increase and the business to adopt new changes is important,” says Rachel Russell, director of TEKsystems, which conducted the survey.

“Many IT leaders and decision makers lack the line-level perspective around key IT initiatives, which is a necessity to ensure project success,” says Russell. Such consideration – of the effect of changes on people’s day to day jobs – is a key tenet of Prosci® change management.

Recognising that no project will succeed in the face of employee resistance or indifference, Prosci® have developed an approach to change that focuses on all affected stakeholders. This ensures that people adapt their ways of working to facilitate change, with dramatic results: projects are six times more likely to stay on schedule and to budget, and to meet or exceed objectives if change management is applied effectively.

For anyone affected by change in IT, CMC Partnership offers a range of Prosci® Change Management training courses. Whether you manage projects implementing change, are responsible for change management within a specific project, or find your work affected by change, CMC has a course suited to your needs. Training is available both for individuals on public courses, or groups within organisations on private courses.

If you’d like to find out more, you can enquire online, training [at] cmcpartnership [dot] com (subject: CMC%20Website%20Prosci%20Change%20Management%20Training%20Enquiry) (email us,)  or call us to discuss your requirements in more detail on +44 (0)1600 888192.