The 2018 GRC and Finance SAP Insider Conferences took place in mid-February in Las Vegas. Our SAP teams spent time attending conference sessions, and their observations on what’s trending across the industry are compiled here in a five-part series. In this part we take a closer look at Change Management.
During the conference, we had the opportunity to deliver a session around S/4HANA® Change Management, where we shared our perspective on how to successfully transform businesses in a digital world. Our approach is based on “The Shared Risk, Shared Gain model”, which not only allows individuals to be involved in the creation and implementation of a new idea, but it also encourages them to own a stake in its success.
This model enables those that perceive the change as a risk to become champions of change by understanding the commensurate value of the change. This enablement helps increase user adoption of new technologies and encourages individuals to think outside of the box and design new/better ways to leverage technology. The key steps in our Shared Risk, Shared Gain model includes:
- Identify & Align – The first step is to review the Mission and Vision for the organization and identify how the outcome of the change relates to the direction of the organization, align the change to the strategy and establish an implementation culture of ownership and accountability. It’s important to continuously create awareness throughout the organization for the need to transform and gain support from all employees.
- Document & Map – After aligning the change to the organization’s strategy, identify all processes to be transitioned with the change. Conduct a process review of your current state and develop a cross-functional process map for the future state to highlight the commonalities between the current and future state. You should use the future state process documentation for training purposes. Don’t forget to ensure process ownership by assigning appropriate individual(s) to processes in the future state.
- Design & Develop – It’s important to encourage a smooth integration of process components into the new environment by facilitating periodic reviews between the design/development teams and process owners. Another way to assist with the transition is to develop effective training materials so that new process owners can understand their responsibilities. Lastly, be sure to develop an appropriate issue response method to support the implementation – it will help you handle employee concerns that arise as you transition to the future state!
- Implement & Adopt – You want employees to adopt the new implementation to increase the chances of the change enduring for the long run. Training is crucial – and should be coordinated for the process participants. Participants should also understand the process issue support method developed. You should keep a discussion forum with key stakeholders to solve any issues that arise together. Be sure to continuously monitor engagement and cross-functional ownership of the change.
- Feedback & Improvement – To make future changes and enhancements easier, a governance plan for post-implementation should be developed. Be sure to include metrics to monitor process performance to quantify the success of the change. Continue to conduct periodic reviews to get feedback from the broader organization and make adjustments as necessary. Lastly, identify and communicate ongoing performance progress and celebrate success to employees. It’s important to showcase the successes of the change!
Find more information on the 5 key steps to a change management approach in our recently published white paper: Shared Risk; Shared Gain and check out our client story.
