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Mention ‘change management’ to many IT people and their thinking is often naturally constrained within the narrow confines of traditional IT. Most think you mean either configuration management (i.e. the control of changes to system files, applications and parameters) or project change management (i.e. the control of changes to project plans, requirements specifications, lists of project deliverables etc.).
Whilst these are undoubtedly important concerns, at IsecT we approach change management as a much broader field of concern. We are interested both in the proactive management of changes to the organization as a whole and the impacts on its people caused by changes to the information technology and processes.
Organizational and often IT changes are necessarily required ahead of most significant IT system implementations while later changes follow as a consequence of all successful implementations. Even within IT itself, IsecT’s view of change management takes account of changes to IT operations processes and relationships with IT user departments, aspects that are sometimes neglected by conventional IT projects.
Significant changes present both threats and opportunities. The model underpinning our preferred approach to managing change, shown diagrammatically below, is based on Elisabeth Kubler-Ross’ pioneering research on the grieving process:
Our consideration of organizational and IT changes leads us to look out for, and work with, change agents within the business - forward-thinking people who will actively promote the changes - as well as those who will inevitably resist change. At this level, change management involves tackling company politics and dealing with the human actors as well as the technology. Taken to the extreme, major investments in new IT systems can enable entirely new business strategies and can even change external markets - the revolutions in energy, equities and commodities trading are classic examples. Technology-driven changes on the scale of Amazon, Google and High Frequency Trading require vision and bravery, or rather creative risk management.
Thinking of changes in the broad leads to a somewhat unconventional approach to the management of IT system, configuration and project changes. These are still extremely important elements, of course, but have to fit in with the organization’s overall business objectives. We can help you reinforce the links between corporate management, IT management, project management and IT systems management, and regain control of all sorts of changes.
Call IsecT for help with techniques for evaluating, aligning and proactively managing organizational and IT changes.
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