Info-Tech Reports Finds Organizational Change Management Practices are Key to IT Success

By W.B. King

According to a new report from Info-Tech Research Group, effective organizational change management (OCM) can no longer be considered a second thought when implementing new technologies.

“While the speed, frequency, and interdependence of changes increase, so too does the rate of change failure. The missing piece of the puzzle is about people: their expectations, emotions, behaviors, culture, habits, beliefs, and resistance,” noted Laura Herran Sanchez, Info-Tech research analyst and author of Drive Adoption and Sustain Transformational Change—Extract ongoing value from large organizational changes.

The London, Ontario, Canada-based technology research and advisory company serves over 30,000 IT professionals and bills itself as producing unbiased and relevant research aimed at helping CIOs and IT leaders make strategic, timely and well-informed decisions.

“Technological evolution continues to accelerate, but the on-time, on-budget execution of projects won’t drive value if customers and users are not willing, able, or committed to adopting these projects’ outcomes,” she added.

Investing in supporting people during change, she noted, should be as important as investing in the latest technologies. “Only then will we be able to realize and sustain the value we want and expect.”

Digital Transformation Investments

Among the report findings was that 85% of organizations agree that embracing new technologies will drive transformation in their organization. Fifty-one percent of C-level leadership have not seen an increase in performance or profitability from digital transformation investments.

Technology and adoption obstacles include:

• IT leaders and business leaders are not aligned before, during, or after transformation initiatives.

• Transformation and change are terms often used interchangeably, resulting in the false belief that both are happening when they’re not.

• People believe that they can transform the organization simply by implementing technologies, deprioritizing or overlooking the critical human aspects.

• Organizational change is perceived as a project with an end date instead of as an ongoing practice, so it is rarely sustained, and the anticipated post project value is not realized.

• Last-minute approaches to OCM are always ineffective and inauthentic.

• While stated belief in OCM concepts is virtually ubiquitous, the reality is that the adoption of OCM practices is near zero.

  
  

“Forty-seven percent of employees believe alignment issues have been preventing projects from meeting objectives,” the report found. While IT projects may finish on time, without OCM IT leaders do not fully realize or anticipate outcomes.

“Sixty-five percent of projects with excellent OCM stay on or ahead of schedule and 71% of projects with excellent OCM stay on or under budget,” the report continued. “Effective change management can deliver ROI that ranges from 200% to 650%.”

OCM Alignment Issues

Between 2020 and 2023, the report stated that organizational change management effectiveness ranked, on average, 42 out of 45 IT core processes. “Forty-seven percent of employees believe alignment issues have been preventing projects from meeting objectives. Sixty-eight percent of organizations started change management after project initiation and 61% of organizations do not allocate a dedicated OCM budget.”

For effective change to be realized, the report stated that organizations must adopt OCM practices. “Fifty-six percent of senior executives that have seen an increase in the number of change projects have seen an increase greater than 25%, while an additional 25% have seen an increase greater than 50%,” the report noted.

“Changes are not only driven by crisis but also by emerging technologies, changing needs or expectations of interest groups, fierce competition, anticipated opportunities, and other internal and external forces,” the report continued. “Organizations in the modern world need to do more than react to change drivers. They should actively anticipate and embrace them to stay relevant and generate value.”