Twitter Facebook LinkedIn Flipboard 0 Change Management has had high relevance within my employer’s practices. Everyone wants to know “What is Change Management? And why is it important to my business?” I wanted to take some time to highlight the idea of Change Management, why businesses are loving it so much, and why you should, too. What is Change Management? Change Management is the process of building and maintaining a coalition to gain forward momentum toward a predefined goal or ideal. Think about a recent implementation you completed (or are the midst of completing). Did you install a new software system? Get a new coffee machine in the break room? Move your old fax system to cloud fax? Or initiate a new method for order management? In the workplace there is change all around us, and it’s not going away. The unfortunate side effect of change is the inevitable fact that some people just do not like it. These people can often create a huge barrier in the success of a project, by easily turning others against the situation representing the change. In turn, the project at hand [that is costing your company a lot of time and resources] has a higher likelihood of not performing to its greatest capabilities, all due to one person who was resistant to the change simply because they “have always done it this way.” Now, back to the definition of Change Management. The idea of building and maintaining a coalition starts in the very early stages of a project/goal. Any new feat should always be handled and communicated appropriately to all of the stakeholders. Better yet, create a team comprised of those who know the goal and are interlaced into the strategy to move the goal/project forward. Keep this team engaged with the rest of your staff to ensure that all aspects of the project are known. As you work your way through the project, continuously seek feedback. Your best insights into features and functionality that would make your implementation top notch will come from the people who are up close and using the application everyday. Marry this idea with an agile implementation approach, and you have a high likelihood of successful projects in your future. Embracing Change Management Most vendors focus solely on the technical aspect of implementation. A company will ask for features A, B and C and the vendor will deliver. However, Esker sets itself apart by recognizing that project success is equally dependent on user adoption as it is on user-friendly features. Learn more about Change Management within this eBook on SlideShare and discover how you can improve your implementations to help manage the impact of change and foster project success. Twitter Tweet Facebook Share Email This article was written for Business 2 Community by Kalyn Lewis.Learn how to publish your content on B2C Author: Kalyn Lewis Follow @KalynLewis715 As a marketing, social media and blogging enthusiastic in the SaaS environment, Kalyn spends much of her time following efficiency trends on how companies can improve their business processes to establish a competitive edge. When she's not writing about SaaS solutions for order processing, customer service, or invoice processing solutions, or diving into… View full profile ›