Digital transformation and technology shift – CIOs need to manage change as it affects departments, employees and organizational procedures.

IT leaders are responsible for effective transformation planning and implementing actions to make the organization ready for digital transformation.

Change is a difficult process and requires effective management for handling strategic decisions and managing the change process. IT leaders play an integral role in introducing the change in terms of digital transformation without a strong change management process. The main challenges that are faced in the organization are the resistance of employees towards change. One of the main resistance can be the upper management itself. IT leaders should also have effective change management skills. It is an essential skill for CIOs due to rapid development in technology. There are some of the strategies defined by CIOs for effective management through which effective digital transformation acceptance can be made in the organization. Some of the strategies are the following:

Understand the Issues with Change Management

Major development and incorporation of modern technologies like Artificial Intelligence and BlockChain Management are revolutionizing the business operations but not all these modern technologies are suitable for every business. Problems need to be considered first and technologies should not be imposed even though it is not suitable for solving the problem. Change always begins with the identification and detailed analysis of the problem and it needs to be legitimate in accordance with the situation that is being faced by the organization.

Employees Opinions Must Be Valued While Drafting Solutions

One of the important factors in change is the employees who will be directly affected by the change process. Upper management needs to value the opinion of employees regarding the problems and its change in technology. Employee engagement in problem identification and solutions can build confidence in employees in the change process. It is beneficial for the CIOs and the change management board to understand the difficulties employees face regarding the problems and all the possible solutions available to them. This helps the employees towards getting comfortable with the solution and work effectively. It gives the impression to the employees that their opinions are valued and the change process is enforced on them and not imposed on them.

Valuing User Experience

The main priority of CIOs is to help the employees in performing their tasks effectively with better use of technologies, new services and procedures. These help the employees in accepting the change process and perform in accordance with the requirements sought by the organization. The main focus is on developing a better user experience from the beginning for better acceptance by employees. The user experience and design should be the first priority of CIOs for change acceptance procedures.

Reasonable Change Speed

It is important for the CIOs to analyze the culture and structure of the organization before initiating a change process. The pace of the change needs to be set according to the following factors:

• Nature of change
• Mindset of employees
• Effect of change delay on business processes

If the pace of change is higher, it can lead to employee’s dissatisfaction, stress and in the worst-case scenario to employees turnover and will negatively impact the organization. Scheduling the change and informing the employees with the change can be one of the techniques to make the employees ready for change.

Identify Early Change Agents Promoting Benefits from Change Based Perspective

It is not possible to apply the change to the whole organization all at once, CIOs would not be able to control the resistance. Applying the change in steps and department wise is a better and manageable strategy. CIOs should be intelligent enough to identify the group of people who are suitable to start the change process and further use them to spread the change to all the concerned departments. These people will act as an easy and early change agents. Just getting the support from early agents for the change is not enough. It is important for CIOs to apply the change using these early agents to test and attain maximum benefits from change and promote them.

Identify Projected Loss

Identifying loss and the possible negative impact of incorporating the change is essential for organizations. It is the responsibility of CIOs and the change approval bodies to identify the losses taking preventive and early actions. If the losses are not handled properly then organizations can face serious damages. These losses cannot be ignored under the argument of temporary effect or side effect. Employees can use these loses as an excuse for resistance.

Adopt Leading Rather Than Managing

The CIO should be the change leaders and not managers. CIOs require to adapt to the new environment similar to other employees and must be open about the change necessities and challenges. This helps in defining effective parameters of the change management process. Leading the change process gives the employees an impression of operating as a team. CIOs can strongly collaborate with the teams and learn the actual problems of the employees that are being faced during the change process.