How do you find the balance between chaos and control in your data center? An effective change management program lets you make necessary changes without disrupting vital operations. Change management needs to:

1. Make sure technology choices are appropriate

There are many cool technologies to choose from, but “coolness” should never be a factor in selecting technology. It’s also likely that there’s more than one technology that provides the features and functionality you need, but you don’t need to flip a coin to pick one. Instead, any technical change should be driven by a clear set of business and/or technology goals, allowing the choice of a cost-effective solution.

2. Understand that technology change is never just about technology

No matter what technology you’re deploying, the impact won’t be limited to hardware and software. There’s always a people impact, whether it’s end users or data center operations. All change planning should assess that people impact and make sure the necessary training and transition support is in place. It’s far likelier for a technical project to fail because people are resistant to the change than because the technology simply doesn’t work.

3. Partner with the business

Because of the people impact, technology changes should never be handled by the IT team in isolation. At the very least, there needs to be discussion between IT management and business management to discuss the impacts of the change, agree to its importance, and support the business in its adaptation. All changes with significant business impact should have visible support from the business management team to help drive acceptance.

Technology changes constantly, as do business requirements. Organizations that don’t have a strong change management process can fail to keep up with the changes the business needs and experience resistance to change from end users.

IT management services from Prescient Solutions ensure all technology services are delivered in accordance with business needs. Start with an infrastructure assessment to identify your vulnerabilities and then develop a comprehensive strategy to build new strengths. The expert team at Prescient Solutions provides IT consulting and managed services to businesses in the Chicago and Schaumburg areas to help them make the changes needed to achieve stable technology and business success. Contact us to learn more about how our services can help your business adopt new technology and new processes that empower employees and propel business growth.