The company’s information technology is the basis of all business processes and thus critical to business success. Thereby, it is not static, but must continually evolve with the company or even change. WhiteWave Foods understood the implications. However many IT transformation projects in German companies fail. The low success rate is one of the biggest obstacles on the way to a sustainable business development. Because only with a sustainable and adaptable IT infrastructure companies can streamline their business processes and accelerate and are thus overall profitable”, says Claudia Schmidt, Managing Director of Mutaree GmbH, the experts in change management. Employees are critical success factor IT transformation projects fail often, that management underestimated the magnitude of the change and therefore too little wraps the affected employees. There are so few technical or administrative factors such as poor IT concepts or unprofessional project management, the borrowing a failure. IT projects fail mostly because that man too little attention was paid to the factor.
First convey necessity and urgency In the first step the company management must make it clear why the transformation project is necessary and urgent. A simple presentation of the change project by management is often insufficient to achieve understanding, acceptance and active support for managers and employees. Understanding takes time and continuity, a recognizable focus and a clear roadmap of project, from which it is evident what degree and what has the project for the successful development of the company. (Source: A. F. Chief of Staff ). Early show positive and negative consequences of company management must the affected managers and employees practical point, why the project is necessary. This includes those affected should be addressed target group-specific. Objectives, required behavior and expectations need to be formulated clearly and unambiguously. The Stakeholders must consciously with a such projects deal, to recognize and understand that there is no alternative to this solution. “Consciousness, time, information, but also continuous dialogue are necessary”, says Schmidt, Managing Director of Mutaree.
Create acceptance and implementation will arouse to achieve acceptance and implementation will require a shared vision, the individual benefits to move the parties to join in. For a reliable commitment, the conviction is also necessary that the change will be really successful. Therefore, first successes should be aggressively communicated. So that people start actively trading, they need visible role models and above all safety. That’s why need make the staff room to experiment also for the error. Nevertheless, it will take long until new behaviors, new processes and new practices sustainable have established themselves and achieve the benefits expected those responsible. It requires permanent Observation as well as continuous training”, says Claudia Schmidt from Mutaree. About the Mutaree GmbH: The Mutaree GmbH is a specialist in change management. The services include the planning and control of processes of change, as well as the implementation support to achieve the objectives of the change. Where is the human being always at the Center. Mutaree advises clients from various industries: banks and insurance, chemistry and pharmaceuticals, energy, healthcare, telecommunications, public administration and tourism. The Mutaree GmbH is a member of the Federal German management consultant Association (BDU) and partner of Fraunhofer-Institute for production technology (IPT) in the framework of the research project ChangeEffect”.