“Change is hard because people overestimate the value of what they have and underestimate the value of what they may gain by giving that up.” – James Belasco and Ralph Stayer, Business Leaders and Authors
Without buy-in from a team, any technology initiative will fail. That’s always been true, and some organizations understand the human side of change management. But not many do.
The same is true with a Cloud migration. When you’re putting time, energy and money into moving from an on-premises solution to the Cloud – whether it’s one application, or your entire system landscape – you want a solid ROI. But you may not get that if individuals often don’t understand the value of the migration, particularly what’s in it for them.
That means it is critical to dedicate as much time to change management as you do to the technical aspects of a Cloud migration. If you don’t, your organization will suffer from:
- Low adoption levels
- Unrealized benefits
- Poor employee engagement and morale
Enavate leaders have shared 13 tips on how organizations should think about change management when it comes to software implementation, upgrades, and Cloud migration in order to be successful.
1. Dispel Fears
When it comes down to it, how a technology will change someone’s day is what matters most in change management efforts. And team members come into a project with expectations that may or may not be aligned with reality.
For example, though the Cloud allows for reliable backups and recoveries, someone may just feel better about having critical documents on their computer or server. The existing solution may be awful, but to that worker, it may feel safer than giving up perceived control.
Understanding the root of that feeling and then communicating about it is paramount. So, how do you uncover the fears your team has about a migration?
Find specific tips in our Change Management eBook here.
Understand that poor morale related to a project may be due to stories or expectations that aren’t true. When you know what your team is most worried about, you’ll be able to speak up in a way that people can understand and provide the context they need to understand what’s in it for them and the entire company.
“Some of the fears that our clients have is just not knowing what their options are. A lot of times that's a big piece of it. They don't even realize that there's a there's multiple options out there for them. So, by us having strategic conversations, we can take a lot of that fear away.”
– Jennifer Ranz, Product Leader, Enavate
2. Test to Ensure your Solution Works as Expected – and to build confidence among your team
Testing is a critical part of the Cloud migration and application implementation process. Your team needs to understand the value of testing.
If you test nothing else, consider the “what-ifs.” For example, what if somebody is updating an account record – and somebody else needs to be in it? If your power goes out, does a transaction hang there and wait until it comes back or does the transaction pretend it never got started? If you’re a retail operation, have you tested it at the volumes you’ll see during peak operating times?
Understand what it will be like for the person using the application, both an inexperienced person and someone who knows the processes well.
Users are going to want to make sure everything’s functioning, and functioning in a way that makes it a good experience.
When you conduct testing, you build confidence in the solution and increase buy-in. Include people who haven’t been involved in the project. When you ask them to perform everyday functions with minimal direction, you’ll find out what’s intuitive and what doesn’t make sense.
There’s no better test than watching, shadowing someone else using the system to find out how it changes their day and routine.
3. Test Your Messaging
Communication is a standard part of any change management plan – reinforcing the why of the project. A single email won’t cut it. Communicate on multiple channels.
Test your message before sending it to a broader audience. It’s not about testing the strategy. You’re testing the language and the tone you’re using to communicate that strategy.
Send your messages to a cross-section of people who haven’t been involved in your project. Then, reach out and say, “I just wanted to get your feedback on this announcement. Was it clear? Did it make sense? What questions or concerns do you have?” Then, you can clarify that communication or add a quick list of FAQs.
While you may get pieces of it right, there is always going to be something that you miss that will seem obvious once someone else points it out – so testing is pivotal.
4. Make Expectations Clear
Instead of communicating how a new process should be handled differently, let people know what processes to avoid.
For example, when a CFO sends out instructions to the team about handling certain transactions, they should mention what to stop doing: Stop using spreadsheets because now you can do it all in the system.
If someone needs time to transition to new processes, designate a time frame in which they can still do things the old way – but be clear about when the spreadsheet needs to be burned in a fire pit.
See more specific examples in the eBook
5. Avoid Doing it Multiple Ways
If 10 percent of the team is still doing things the old way after launch, they’re tainting the water.
Fractional adoption results in exponentially fewer benefits or outcomes in a Cloud migration. For example, if salespeople entered good quality data 90 percent of the time, while 10 percent of the time they just entered whatever they wanted, the validity of the solution comes into question.
That 10 percent might be owed to friction with the new process, which needs addressing.
6. Identify Champions
People are much more likely to get on board with a change when they see their peers adopting it and thriving.
Develop a network of champions in your company so you’re not just relying on top-down communication to get buy-in. Those champions can then disseminate the message through various channels. Equip them with the right knowledge and understanding so they can communicate the message in a way that’s meaningful to their audience.
According to WalkMe, 67% of C-suite executives agree that change champions are crucial to successfully delivering on their goals.
7. Acknowledge the Good – and the Not-So-Good of the Change
On that note, don’t gaslight your team. Communicate the positives, but don’t shy away if there is something that is not quite as awesome. Inevitably there will be some feature or function that one team will feel they got the short end of the stick on. Don’t try to convince them that something they think is bad isn’t bad. That will breed discontentment and distrust and those users will be less likely to adopt other new processes.
Your employees aren’t stupid. Just own it. Try saying, “You know, that piece, maybe it isn’t our favorite, but there are a lot of other things that make this change worth it.”
For example, one team may feel like a feature is amazing. But another complains they have an extra step or extra fields to contend with now. Listen to the team’s concerns to determine if there were any issues that should have been considered. Explain that the other team needed the extras, and paint that picture as to why the solution overall is better. Or acknowledge it’s 90 percent or 95 percent of the way there.
Transparency will build trust among your team.
8. Timing is Everything
If you go live during your busiest time of year, you may be asking for things to go wrong and morale around the solution to drop. At the same time, it doesn’t have to be a big-bang implementation, so why do it all at once? What degree of disruption is worth it? Remember, the moment you go live, the project’s not over, so be prepared.
Every time Enavate engages with a client, before they commit to the Cloud or doing a migration, we set timelines. We start by asking, “If you decide to move your apps to a cloud platform, what target date would you like to have that happen by? Are there any mitigating factors along the way that might delay that?”
See an example in the eBook
9. Stop Frustration at its Source
After go-live, your users will inevitably have a lot of questions. Plan to field those. Some companies identify super users from the project team to float around the floor. In a virtual world, this could be on a Slack or Teams channel.
Create an informal mechanism for users to ask questions in the moment so frustration doesn’t build. This also gives you another source of input to update FAQs that can be shared with the whole team.
10. Training Should Not be One-and-Done
Yes, you need to do training on the features and functionality of the Cloud solution and any applications that were migrated. Don’t limit training to a one-time exercise.
69% of executives who found their change programs to be successful offered training before and after the changes were introduced. (WalkMe)
Also, think bigger than just a traditional classroom structure. Some users will inevitably prefer just-in-time training to be able to get the answer when they need it. Send out tips based on FAQs you’ve collected, or build cheat sheets or tip cards that can be accessed when needed. Get creative.
11. Phase Improvements to the “Old Ways”
You have a lot of expectations for your Cloud migration. If you didn’t, you would not be making the investment and risk the disruption to your organization’s operations. In addition to getting your team on board, plan to take advantage of the ways your new solution can improve your processes. What can you do in your new environment that you couldn’t do in your old? Introduce new functionality in stages – monthly or quarterly, for example.
When Enavate plans a migration like this, it may not be the entire organization that moves, at least not all at once. It could be the purchasing department or distribution, or some other component of the company is going to move first and then a staged or staggered migration will occur. The complexity may make it too impactful to the company to move all at once.
The key is identifying the right strategy for your organization to be set up for optimal success.
“We can put together some really good plans, we can do some whiteboarding, and we can show clients that we can do phased approaches. So if somebody is not ready to make big changes, we can make small changes and give them a roadmap to visualize how they can get from where they are to where they want to be.” – Jennifer Ranz
12. Mitigate Risks with Proper Governance
Any change to business processes or technology platforms introduces risks to your organization. Governance teams can mitigate risks and ensure minimal interruption to adoption or innovation efforts, according to Microsoft. Governance often has a bad name, but a level of formality and rigor can mean the difference between success – and failure – in a Cloud migration.
Rigor and governance do not mean red tape. It doesn’t mean filling out unhelpful forms. There’s a reason that doing risk management is good. There’s a reason that testing is good. Leadership needs to reinforce that those things are important and no one can afford to cut corners.
Give the same amount of attention to a project that benefits your organization as you would for a client. There’s a ripple effect to everything you will do, and it’s easy to not see the forest for the trees. A process and structure will ensure you’re not doing this in a vacuum.
See an example in the eBook
It’s vital that all the critical pieces of the business are documented and those pieces are tested as part of the migration.
13. Get Help
Internally, it’s hard to understand how complex your environment truly is. A partner with an outside view will see that more clearly and will ensure you have the right resources and project management to get it right.
They will also bring rich experience from hundreds of other migrations and implementations to the table. An outside facilitator, like a Cloud expert at Enavate, will explore your needs and ask the right questions.
“I'd say the primary thing that we offer is unbelievable personal care. We take that very seriously. We make it as seamless and simple as possible. We are there with you along the whole entire journey from start to finish and make sure that you're satisfied.”
– Chad Sogge, Executive Vice President, Enavate
Considering a migration to the Cloud? Learn more about partnering with Enavate.
Originally published September 9, 2021. Updated for relevancy and accuracy.
