Process

Digital transformation inevitably involves process change, often with an eye towards greater efficiency and automation. At the same time, the revised or new process must be agile enough to adapt when necessary.

At ICP, we find with our clients that when new digital systems or processes are implemented, there’s not enough focus on the transition from program launch and into business-as-usual. We see the imperative to plan and support this transition, and often deploy teams to support long-term new process adoption and data quality.

Common steps in process change that we plan and make happen for our clients are:

• Using personas and scenarios help the implementation teams understand their community, what’s needed from the program in order to continue to deliver in their roles, and helps clarify the impact of proposed technology and process changes. Ensure that end users understand how the changes will benefit them in the future.
• Analyzing business process: it’s important to capture the “as-is” process for the impacted business areas and to map the “to-be” business processes – and validate them with the community. This helps the program team understand the new end-to-end process, and identify efficiencies and potential automation points within the new ecosystem.
• Using system demos to walk through new and automated processes with team members before signing off changes. Experiencing and validating parts of the new process, even when not fully configured for your business, can help build business confidence in the systems and alleviate anxiety about change. It can even help build enthusiasm and generate excitement. Employees need to want to engage with a positive mindset by the time they attend, ideally becoming ambassadors and advocates to their colleagues.

“Everything digital transformation can accomplish relies on change management,” points out Rachel Couvillon, Principal Consultant for Creative Operations & Change Management with ICP. How does it impact people, and everything you need to accomplish? This is when the whole thing might fall apart. People need to be engaged up front. You’re taking them on a journey.”

“You need to understand and mitigate the risk - to both them and the transformation program itself. What’s the payout at the end? Who are the biggest naysayers and detractors? There will always be a ‘Negative Nancy’ - but you need to turn complainers into advocates. You can’t expect people to embrace change just because the boss said so. Our teams dig deep on why there’s resistance, who agrees and why, what the roadblocks are. Some people want change for the sake of change, some resist change just for the sake of resisting.”