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Change Management

 
Organizational change refers to the actions in which a company or business alters a major component of its organization, such as its culture, the underlying technologies or infrastructure it uses to operate, or its internal processes. Change management is the structured methodology to ensure successful implementation of organizational change.
 
It can be helpful to think of change as a spectrum. On one end, you’ll find adaptive change, which speaks to those modest iterations. On the other, there’s transformational change, in which vast change is pursued.
 
Adaptive changes are small, incremental changes organizations adopt to address needs that evolve over time. Typically, these changes are minor modifications and adjustments that managers fine-tune and implement to execute upon business strategies. Throughout the process, leadership may add, subtract, or refine processes.
 
One example of an adaptive change is an organization that upgrades their computer operating systems from Windows 8 to Windows 10.
 
Transformational changes have a larger scale and scope than adaptive changes. They can often involve a simultaneous shift in mission and strategy, company or team structure, people and organizational performance, or business processes. Because of their scale, these changes often take a substantial amount of time and energy to enact. Though it's not always the case, transformational changes are often pursued in response to external forces, such as the emergence of a disruptive new competitor or issues impacting a company’s supply chain.
 
An example of a transformational change is the adoption of a customer relationship management software (CRM), which all departments are expected to learn and employ.
 
Many changes will fall somewhere between adaptive and transformational on the spectrum.
 
We can help you with change management as part of a project for which we are partnering, or as a project in itself.

Training

 
As part of a project roll-out, or as a project in itself, we can deliver previously prepared training material from vendors or your internally developed material. We can also develop customized traing material based on your requirements. Training is key to the success of any technology or process roll-out to ensure users understand what is ahead of them so that they can "hit the ground running" once implementation takes place.
 
Another aspect of training is educational on a variety of topics, like using desktop software like word processing, spreadsheet, or presentation creation.
 
We can assist your organization with your training needs at one or more of your locations, or we can provide a classroom setting in most major cities.

Solution Options

 
Build vs buy? That is always the key question, and often the toughest to answer, for any organization requiring a significant investment in technology to transform their business. There are no hard and fast rules, but we have found success in recommending clients purchase software/subscriptions for core business functions such as accounting, inventory management, business intelligence and others. Areas where an organization needs a technology investment in ares of the organziation that are very proprietary or give a significant competetive advantage might be better served with a custom solution. Often, a hybrid solution is the answer. Most major business application vendors provide interfaces with which developers can create custom modules to meet their specific needs.
 
Another key question is: On premise hardware or cloud? Again, it depends on your needs and strategy. Many companies are moving to the cloud as they replace older systems or implement new systems that they never had before. One advantage of using the cloud is that you no longer need to worry about managing and replacing hardware. One disadvantage of the cloud is that in most cases is that the infrastrucuture costs often switch from cap-ex to op-ex, while on-premise hardware allows you to purchase and depreciate the equipment.
 
And finally, the qustion of whether to purchase software outright and put it on a maintenance plan or purchase a subscription. Here again, purchasing the software outright is usually categorized as cap-ex while purchasing a subscription is op-ex. However the reality is that most enterprise software is now only available by subscription, and therefore there is no option if you want that particular software.
 
We have, as they say, "been there, done that." We can work with your business, finance, and technology leaders to review options and determine the best direction for your situation.

Process Modeling

 
If not already done so, documenting your "as-is" processes is the first step in implementing change. This is not the time to change things--just document them. Completing this step will allow leaders and front-line workers to align on what is really happening today. Once alignment occurs, you can move into the phase of documenting the "to-be" processes. This will shed light on what is working well and what needs to be changed. Completing this step will also help determine if current technology can support better processes, or if new technology is required. Further, if new technology is needed, the "to-be" documentation can be valuable in the RFP process to see what vendors have a viable solution, or it may lead to a decision that a custom solution is the best option.
 
We use structured methodologies to accomplish this very important part of the project lifecycle so that you are best prepared to achieve success.

Data Modeling

 
Data modeling is mostly associated with business intelligence and custom solutions. Once your future state has been determined, designing a data model to support that future state is imperative. It enables developers to rapidly build and enhance solutions because the data is already modeled based on how the processes it supports operate. Data modeling is also forward-looking. While you many not solve every problem with the next project, having discussions on what future visions are can help build a data model that will be closely aligned with those visions. This leads to a lesser need to "break up the concrete" to make a pivot with your existing or newly added requirements.
 
We can take on the data modeling phase for you, or partner with you to build a model that will meet your current and future needs.

Application Development

 
When a custom application is required to meet a business need, we are here to help with the requirements gathering, design, development, testing, and implementation of web, mobile, or Windows PC applications. For web and mobile we utilize responsive frameworks so the application will look good and properly function on any screen size.
 
We have resources that can build solutions on whatever technology platform your organization currently uses. We can also work with you to develop a technology strategy and roadmap for building or transforming the future of your applications.
 
We can deploy your applications to your present cloud provider or within your internal infrastructure. We can also migrate existing applications to/from cloud/on-premise.
 
We also provide support for all custom applications. There are a variety of options for support, including pay-as-you-go, contracted standard support, and contracted premium support. We are happy to discuss the options for support that will best suit your needs.

Deployment

 
We're not done until you say everything has been completed to your satisfaction. Deployment can mean many things depending on the cirucmstances. We may deploy a new business process without touching technology, or we may deploy a 3rd party software application, or perhaps we are deploying an application that we designed and built just for you.
 
In all cases, deployment and post-deployment support are a critical part of a successful project. And once you've declared "mission accomplished" we do like to celebrate the victory with everyone who worked to achieve it.