IT change management best practices are important for improving a company’s performance. Changes in a company’s information technology infrastructure library, or ITIL, have a major impact on how customers interact with that business and how that organization operates. For example, moving all of a company’s collaborative apps to the cloud will change the daily workflow for many of its employees, and transitioning to a mobile-first approach will alter how customers will likely engage with the organization. Whether these changes have a positive or negative impact on the business and how large that impact is will depend on how these changes in digital infrastructure are handled.
This is why a good ITIL change management process is vital to any business that is undergoing digital transformations. Change management consulting is a tool that enables businesses to apply a structured method of project management to minimize the risks of digital transformations and ensure positive outcomes. But what is change management consulting? And how does it better prepare your business to undergo changes in digital infrastructure? With change management consulting, a business’s board members and senior leaders collaborate with a hired consultant on how to best tailor the ITIL change management process to your business specifically.
According to Atlassian, IT change management requires a delicate balance between speed and proper execution. It is just as important to complete a task properly the first time as it is to finish that task in a timely manner. There is no universal method of striking this balance, meaning companies will need to create a plan that accounts for their individual risks.
Every company has its own culture, risk tolerance, and regulatory requirements that should be addressed. A good change management consultant should run risk assessments to understand what challenges face the change management process. Data gathered from risk analyses can be used to adapt the change management process, enabling it to better mitigate future hurdles as well.
Change management has a reputation for being a cumbersome, clunky process full of difficulties. Many professionals despise the documentation and constant board approvals that are inherent to the change management process. For example, employees in charge of writing and implementing code during the development of a new app can feel that these additional tasks take time away from more important work.
While some documentation and approvals are entirely necessary, too many additional tasks can slow the change management process down considerably. Metaphorically speaking, simple machines run smoother and have less chance of breaking down. Simplifying the process and removing unnecessary red tape will allow changes to happen more quickly and efficiently. Another benefit of simplifying the change management process whenever possible is that it makes keeping a team on the same page much easier. This will improve the overall collaboration involved in change management.
Traditionally, IT organizations task a change advisory board (CAB) with assessing the technical and business implications of requested changes. This model is mostly effective, but it also has inherent shortcomings. These challenges include slow releases, clunky processes, and impediments to communication and collaboration. The CAB model can be adapted to address some of these shortcomings by making it more nimble. The goal when adapting the change advisory board model to your specific needs is to retain the value of the change advisory board’s assessments while giving change implementors more freedom. Consider making these changes to your CAB model:
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