Challenges of managing change from new software

The real challenge of change management lies in managing the change in a deliberate and focused direction and within a specified timeframe. Without necessary efforts, consideration, and tools in place, results can be unpredictable at best and harmful at worst.

While building software, businesses often mismanage the change by lacking: 

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• Communication - They don't communicate their visions and missions to the involved team players. Communicate to every single person involved in software building - everyone should know all the "whys, ", "hows, ", and "whats " of software. 

• Commitment - They are not committed to their goals; they keep shifting their focus. Stay committed to a goal until you achieve it before moving to the next. Express your commitment on all levels - planning, building, and launching. 

• Collaboration - They lack collaboration within the team.

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Along with these, businesses also need to focus on all the activities involved in managing and controlling market change. Even the best-laid plans and the sleekest software could leave your organisation behind the mark if you don't consider: 

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The people side of change - Many businesses focus solely on the business side, and end up ignoring cultural impacts on their software. Always consider people and where they come from while managing the change.

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Changing with time - Moving with time is the secret of a successful business. When you recognize a shift in the market, analyze your options and intended outcomes to determine how external factors can affect your transformation. 

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Communicating the change - Tell users and other stakeholders why you are embracing a particular change and how it will affect their experience for good. Your users need to know things like why it has to happen. And what's there for them? And how will you improve the software? Focus on explaining all the "whys" behind the change to avoid unnecessary confusion. 

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Organisations that are ignoring any of these are paying the higher cost of poor change management. A few of the major consequences of poor change management are: 

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• Productivity plunges: Poor change management can cause massive dips in productivity. If you won't communicate the changes timely to the people involved, the outcomes will not align with the organisation's vision.

• Employee attrition: Good employees can't survive poor management. When people in organisations don't feel heard or valued, they move to places where they are well-managed, heard, and valued. To keep counting on value-adding employees, focus on managing the change well.

• Lowered work quality: An organisation's health gets reflected in everything. A poorly managed organisation can't deliver quality work.  To improve the work quality, embrace change in every way possible - be it time, people, or product. 

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To avoid such risks, start managing the change better.

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Here's how to do it right:

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• Prepare for the change: Know why your organisation needs a change and how it is affecting the organisation's overall growth. 

• Communicate the vision: Have a crystal-clear vision of what you need to change and how it will benefit the organisation. 

• Implement strategically: Make a ground-breaking strategy to land exactly where you planned. Break your plan into milestones to achieve the best of it. 

• Consider organisation culture and process change: While bringing change to the organisation, always begin with its culture, policies, and process. It will improve the flow of changed management process in the organisation. 

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Remember, how you embrace change defines how it changes the other things around the organisation. Make sure you do it right!