If the pandemic has been the biggest accelerator to digital transformation, then a lack of change management might be the most significant restrictor to progress.
Companies across the country were quick to adapt to remote working, ensuring employees had the equipment, tools and software to do their jobs effectively from home, but slow adoption is holding organizations back from maximizing their use of cloud-based tools.
In fact, according to a study from Forbes, a staggering 84% fail with digital adoption. More often than not, new software is implemented to streamline operations, but limited change management means teams do not successfully adopt the new software and processes around it, leading to increased onboarding time and poor user experience.
Why is change management important?
In a time where we’re not just continuing to adapt to new ways of working, but under pressure to do so with speed and agility, change management needs to become part of any significant IT project.
Aside from the simple fact that you’ll want to get the most from your new tools and see a return on investment, there’s also plenty of studies to suggest that better change adoption produces better outcomes. Research from Prosci shows that projects with excellent change management produce six times better results than those with poor change management, and this of course has a huge impact financially.
Conversely, a lack of change management can have far-reaching effects on your business:
- Loss of productivity – not fully understanding or being confident using new software leads to a slower work rate and decreased levels of output
- Lost time – time is lost through increased onboarding times, as well as simple tasks taking longer than they should
- Increased costs – lost time and productivity naturally increase costs, but poorly management adoption can also lead to overrun budgets
- Delayed projects and missed deadlines – which in turn impact finances, customer relations and reputation
- Security risks and shadow IT – as a result of mismanaged IT changes
- Poor user experience – this in turn can lead to a negative impact on company culture
- Mismanaged operations – different people using different tools is more disruptive to operations than none of your employees adopting new technology
There’s also lost potential to consider. One of the most valuable elements of migrating to the cloud and embracing cloud-based software and tools is that it helps to promote inclusion. Tools like Microsoft 365 play a big role in enabling all workers – long past the pandemic – who are unable to access the workplace for whatever reason, whether that be through illness, disability or childcare, for example. It enables these people to still work efficiently, effectively, and most importantly, collaboratively, from home, but can only happen if everyone around them fully adopts this technology too.
Often, something as simple as better communication, or improved training can go a long way to increasing digital adoption. Find out how to put a more effective change adoption strategy together, in our latest blog.
Or alternatively, contact one of our specialists to find out more about our ACM services.