One of the biggest barriers to new projects and transformation is a lack of communication. Learn how a case for change document builds awareness, creates support and minimizes resistance, so your project runs smoother. We share three questions to include to make sure it’s as effective as possible.

Programs and projects fail for a variety of reasons. When embarking on a new project, we often hear

Last time we tried this, it did not work out the way we had hoped. What can you do to help us realize the benefits we are expecting from this program?

Because of this recurring theme for many organizations, let’s look at why this continues to be an issue in so many companies: One of the major causes of failure is a lack of communication about the reasons for even doing the project.

Often, senior leaders agree on a change and walk out of the room with a basic understanding of what’s changing and why. Without a strong case for change everyone agrees on and funnels down into the organization, messages mix and different perspectives from leaders end up flavoring what their respective departments hear.

While it may sound so simple, companies often overlook it. However, creating the case for change can act as a solid foundation of awareness and communication for your transformation and change efforts. And, it’ll help you with leadership alignment at the same time.

Building the Case for Change

The case for change builds awareness, support and commitment for the project by communicating to key stakeholders:

1. Why are we doing this? Why should our stakeholders care?

A key component of any transformation or change within your organization is a clear statement of why you are making the change. When you give your people the perspective on the decision-making behind the project and why it should matter to them, it reduces any confusion and minimizes potential misinformation about the work you are doing.

People are more open to supporting new ways of doing business when they understand why they are doing it and what is in it for them. Socializing these ideas will serve to build support for the change and can often minimize resistance.

2. What is going to happen? And How?

Once your people understand the “why,” it is equally important to cover the “what and how” surrounding the change event. Sharing schedules, responsibilities and expectations are all key components of building support and commitment for the program and often leads stakeholders to advocate for the project.

We have found that one of the most significant barriers to change is the fear of walking into the unknown. Let your stakeholders know how you’re defining success and how they will be involved in that success. What are you hoping to gain? And what are your expectations for your stakeholders?

3. What are the costs of not doing this?

This question often creates a eureka moment for some of our clients. You can’t only focus on how this will benefit your organization. In building support for your initiative, take the time to identify and calculate the costs associated with not doing the project.

Some projects will make you a better, more efficient company. Others will provide an opportunity to sunset expensive, outdated systems as well as the costs associated with maintaining the technology. You might be able to terminate service contracts that no longer provide value.

In short, you must weigh the negative aspects of inaction along with the positive benefits and drivers for the change. What will we able to do in the future based upon what we do today?

Our three-part blog series discusses how three areas, three areas: people, process and technology work together to bring your business the best solution for your complex business problems.
Some things are just better together.

Peanut butter? Great. Peanut butter and jelly? Match made in heaven. Peanut butter and jelly on bread? Boom.

We often take that third ingredient, the bread, for granted but add that, and you have less of a mess on your hands (literally) and a portable vehicle of deliciousness.

Alone, all of these ingredients are great. There are moments that each shines brightly on its own. But sometimes, you just need sweet and savory delivered on a couple of slices of perfection. Who’s having PB&J for lunch now?

In consulting, this is also true when it comes to solving complex problems for our clients. It’s better together. In this three-part series, we’ll talk about how people, process and technology can combine to provide your business with a complete solution to your most complex problems.

In this series, we’ll be focusing on three areas: organizational change management (people), process improvement (process), and data and analytics (technology). Again, alone, all three of these offerings can do wonders for your organization and can make complex or challenging problems easier. However, combine the three, and you’ll arrive at an even stronger solution that will truly transform your business.

Our experts introduce the six major areas to address when becoming Business Anywhere and why these matter in our white paper.
Building on our remote work experience, we used the following components to create a custom framework that will ensure your digital-first success:

Customer Experience

Data gathering has evolved beyond client-satisfaction surveys, which do not uncover true points of friction or value. Only a robust insights model, embedded into your organization’s fiber, can truly capture and leverage your customers’ voice and improve your operational future.

Process

Remote workers need easy, convenient and intelligence-driven tools and methods so they can work smarter from anywhere. By driving operational excellence across your processes, you can maximize customer experiences and ensure your workforce focuses on value-added activities.

Technology

Technology is more than a set of enablers — it is a critical business driver for both customers and employees. As a result, your organization’s technology strategy must enable your customers’ desired outcomes and provide your workforce with the right tools to facilitate them.

Information

In the past, organizations mainly used data for business intelligence (BI) reporting and dashboards. Business Anywhere organizations know that data’s greatest value often lies hidden and unexplored beneath the surface. Business Anywhere organizations use data from across the enterprise at key decision points.

Structure

Technology, processes and information are essential for empowering people to be productive and drive business. Your organization’s structure must also align with your strategy, goals and business requirements to enable the execution of your strategy, facilitate growth, manage disruption and develop a culture of agility.

People

Businesses need employees who can collaborate, lead and thrive amid the challenges of fully virtual, in-person or hybrid operations. Meeting these challenges will likely start with technology, but it will quickly require instilling a people-centric workforce strategy designed for collaboration, well-being, productivity, engagement and team effectiveness.

Take the emotion out of IT outsourcing in your company with a strategic approach that considers your core business, your processes and your reasons for outsourcing.
The decision to outsource IT functions isn’t always easy. On the one hand, some employees may take offense, feeling the decision is a commentary on their skills or work. On the other hand, others may be relieved they can “hand off” a particularly cumbersome problem.

However, when done well, outsourcing is not about either of these concerns. Outsourcing IT should not be about the quality of employees’ work or about “fixing” problems. Instead, it should be about filling gaps so your IT employees can do their jobs easier, allowing the rest of the company to focus on the core business and improving processes for long-term success.

In this post, we’ll take a deeper look at these reasons to outsource IT functions. We can then think about expectations for your outsourcing project and give you some final tips for making your outsourcing engagement a success.

To Outsource or Not to Outsource?

Outsourcing is a valuable tool to have in your IT toolkit. It can allow your employees to focus on core, competitive operations, improve processes and save money. But each of these areas has some important caveats:

• Limit outsourcing to IT and business functions that are not core to your business or offer a competitive advantage. Generally, you should keep functions deemed critical in your analysis of business requirements within the walls of your company. You may benefit from supplementing your existing talent base to implement key strategies, but it is typically best to keep these under your direct control.
• Seek to improve processes, not just maintain the status quo. You should avoid outsourcing to fix individual problems and instead focus on improving processes. In other words, at the end of your engagement, you should be doing business better, not exactly how you did it before you encountered a roadblock. The catch is, the better your processes are before you start, the better your outcome. So, it’s valuable to assess the process fully at the beginning.
• Save money, but don’t let that be the driver. Depending on the functions you outsource, you might save operating expenses by having a third party do some work more cost-effectively.  Areas such as Asia, Eastern Europe and South America tend to have lower hourly rates than the U.S.  However, cost-savings should not be the reason for outsourcing. Instead, outsource when you need to fill gaps among your current staff or improve processes to deliver service levels above what you are currently achieving.
  Once you understand why you should outsource, you can begin thinking about specific capabilities you can outsource to allow your employees to focus on the work that differentiates you from competitors.

Capabilities to Outsource

While by no means exhaustive, many IT functions lend themselves to outsourcing. Again, your goal is to identify processes that are not competitive differentiators, such as:

• Help or support desk
• Legacy system application support and maintenance
• System modernization (e.g., migrating existing code to newer technology platforms)
• Data entry
• Routine infrastructure tasks
• Back office functions (e.g., payroll, accounting, billing, HR)
• Social media monitoring
• Legal services
• Website optimization and security
• Digitizing paper documents.

Avoid the pain and frustration of a failed Salesforce implementation. This blog provides a detailed guide for success.

Executives have signed on the dotted line, or more realistically, within the DocuSign box. The whole world is now in front of you with this turnkey, ever-evolving Salesforce solution ready to fit any business need.

To get to this point, though, you have undoubtedly sat through countless proposal meetings and have put together enough facts, figures, and diagrams to make anyone’s head spin. It’s already been a journey, but now, how do you bring it to life and ensure you get the most out of Salesforce?

Planning and Preparation

Learn from those who have set up Salesforce and avoid the common pitfalls. Implementations fail because of a lack of adequate planning and road mapping, lack of ownership or clear lines of responsibility, and a mismatch between stakeholder expectations and subsequent results.

This pain and frustration can be avoided, and the list below will lay out the best ways to plan for success. Deep breaths, you’ve got this!

1. Identify and Prioritize Goals

Many clients realize immediate value from Salesforce when the implementation is broken into phases. We recommend you take the time now to lay out short and long-term goals and build your roadmap.

Key Questions:

• Who are the stakeholders, and what do they want out of this implementation? Do they have the same goals? For example, are the goals decreased contact center costs, increased revenue, or the elimination of multiple third-party systems?
• What sold your executives on Salesforce? Find out how Salesforce sold the platform. Did the company show multiple clouds or features, and who was part of the initial purchase? If your executives are jazzed about a longer-term vision, make sure you’ve aligned the plan to deliver those expectations.
• Is the project time-bound for a specific reason? For instance, is it part of a merger or acquisition, is it part of a conversion from another software (in other words, a software that has deprecated, one whose licenses were not renewed, and more), or product launch? What is driving the need to do this now?
• Can the implementation be phased? Are there certain features you need now, and others that can wait?
• What are the risks? Will this implement net new features or augment or replace current capabilities? Make sure to structure the rollout in a way that best mitigates risk.
• Is there an existing organizational structure to support the platform ongoing? If not, this is another good reason to phase the implementation and give the organization time to hire and train the right people for the right roles.

2. Organize Your Salesforce Implementation Team

Spend the time to ensure you have the right resources in key roles. Implementations can span long periods of time, employees can leave, but if the team’s structure and roles are defined, these changes will be a lot less impactful.

3. Understand Current State and Gather Requirements

Gather requirements by pairing key team members who understand current business processes and those who understand the Salesforce platform to ensure the most effective solutions.

Does your company have processes that have been around for years, built around a previous platform’s capabilities? This low code, high configuration platform means you may need to adjust business processes to make the most of out-of-the-box features.

Define what matters most upfront. If you aren’t sure what Salesforce is capable of, consider using a partner to help guide requirement gathering and solution design.

In an excerpt from our white paper, we make the case for Business Anywhere, our digital-first blueprint for fully modernizing your organization.

The future of business is remote and digital – one where every interaction is smart, seamless and secure, every process is fully automated and paperless, and everyone can work from anywhere, anytime. That future is here, now.

As business leaders, your challenge is to improve current operations while transforming your organization to meet these new demands and evolving human behavior. The path forward is clear: It requires modernizing to a fully digital organization.

But, if you truly want your organization to do business anywhere, you must go beyond technology when adopting a digital-first approach. As a company that pioneered remote work over 20 years ago, we understand that firsthand.

Building on our remote work experience, we created a custom framework covering six interdependent components critical to digital-first success: customer experience, process, technology, information, structure and people. We call it “Business Anywhere.”