2021-01-01 15:55:28    Brenda Fox, IT & Technology Writer

What is Organizational Change Management Software and Do You Need It?

Organizational change management (OCM) software ensures your team's commitment and change capacity remain at optimal levels. But what features should you look for when choosing the best software for your business?

Managing organizational change is difficult even in the best of times, layer in a pandemic and the transition to a nearly full remote workforce and the challenges become that much greater. This is where OCM software can help. 

What is Organiztional Change Management Software?

OCM software is an integrated suite of tools for automating organizational change management. It ensures that you can accurately assess team members' ideas, thoughts, experiences, and expectations of the change whether it be a leadership change, implementation of new technology, a merger, or digital transformation. OCM software helps you to quickly identify change 'hot spots' and where you should put more attention or communications to ensure people are moving in the same direction to support the change intiative. 

The OCM software will help you know when team members are onboard and committed or simply going through the motions. It can also help you organize your change and employee engagement information related to organizational change. 

Most software is now cloud-based, which will reduce your hardware costs making the software more accessible. Pricing is typically charged on a monthly or annual basis, and the plans are flexible depending on the size of your business. 

Whether you're running a 200-person firm or a global business, OCM is a must-have. Not only will it make managing change easier, but it will also give you insights into business performance and workforce. 

Here are the five biggest benefits of OCM software:

Improved accuracy: When you are initiating an organizational change or transformation team members' expectations are in a constant state of flux. The right software will make it easier to understand team members' expectations, saving you a lot of time and frustration throughout the change journey. By automating organizational change management, you're removing the risk of people-related change risks such as delays or costly faitures. 

Insight into your people: The right OCM software will give you additional instights into your people and what matters most to them to make the change effort a success. You can identify trends over time and see what factors are driving change-related engagement. You can also see what factors are creating resistance and barriers.

Cost savings: Poor organizational change management can cause you to lose money due to avoidable errors and poor change leadership practices. By automating this process, your business can save money in the short-term and long run by identifying people factors linked to change failures and cost overruns. Plus, this will create better relationships with your team.

Better worker change experience: When you're able to effectively manage change, you will create a better overall workplace experience. You organization can meet business change needs by always having the right insights into the people-side of your organiztion (e.g., change sentiments, commitment/capacity assessments, task-tracking / planning, change predictions).  

What features should you look for in an organizational change management platform?

Mobile app:  Ideally, the software you choose will come with a mobile app. A moble app allows you to assess and track change senitments and view change data from anywhere. 

Change tracking integration: Integration of change sentiment analysis and change task management will ensure you not only understand what team members think about the change but you can put in place an effective change management plan complete with task reminders to enable you and your leadership team to stay on track. 

Automated change task management:  Change-related communications can get tricky because it is always best to address change needs before it is too late to adequately address them. Automated task management simplifies this process by enabling you and your team to receive and track reminders on what tasks need to be completed at each stage of change to ensure it remains on track and key stakeholders have the informaiton they need when they need it. 

Reporting features: Change reports will give you a more detailed look at your organizational change status and history. You can compare groups to one another on separate change dimensions. This reporting will show you where team member are most engaged and where greater focus is needed to improve change buy-in and commitment.

[Read more: How to Improve Organizational Change Leadership]

How to find the right software

The right OCM software can help you automate your organizational change management journey and increase workplace effectiveness. The software that is right for you will depend on your business and change goals. Before investing in any OCM software, you should find out how much of learning curve there is to getting started.

Before committing to a software, consider how well it will integrate into your business. Is the software relatively intuitive to use? Does it integrate into your current OCM processes? Do you have a OCM framework you use or leverage? Organizational change is tied directly to many areas of your organizational decision making, so making these systems capatible is critical.

You also want to look for a solution that can grow with your organization's needs. Your OCM needs may be minimal right now, but it won't always be that way. Look for a solution that can scale with your company so you're not starting over with new software in a few years. 

About the Change Shop™

The Change Shop™ platform is an integrated, package of six change measurement and management tools that transforms the way leaders support their teams during change and transformation. Our award-winning, mobile-enabled platform allows leaders to capture critical, team members input about planned or in-progress organizational changes. It is also a data modelling platform that uses collected assessment data to benchmark, track, and predict change commitment and buy-in to increase the success rates of change outcomes. 

Start a conversation with us about effective organizational change practices and find out how The Change Shop™ can help your team build the change capabilities your organization needs. Contact us toll-free at (877) 412-6628 or email us at Contact@TheChangeShop.com to schedule a free consultation or platform demo.