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Change is sometimes difficult for people to accept. Recognising the need for a change that will benefit your business, and then implementing it, requires a specialist skill set and a carefully planned strategy to achieve results.
It also requires 100pc commitment from the senior management team to drive change forward into the business, so that it is incorporated into the culture, and employees are comfortable with the change rather than fearful of it.
Wirebird employs a Prince2 project management methodology with an ITIL (IT Information Library) approach to service management to ensure that it works closely with customers so they have a comprehensive understanding of every aspect of a project.
Wirebird provides IT services to businesses, which range from fully managed services and hosting through to complex infrastructure projects and business IT transformation programmes.
Change is evident in the technology sector, and the team at Wirebird specialises in managing that change. In essence “change management” is in its DNA.
Making the shift from change management to change leadership
The point of change leadership is to inspire and empower people to take calculated risk.
Change management refers to Wirebird’s governance, which keeps any change effort under control. Its goal is often to minimise the distractions and impacts of the change.
Change leadership, on the other hand, is the inspirational aspect of change. A change leader will engage all stakeholders in the change, and ensure there is a communication to everyone involved.
Conscious thought and calculated risk have to be seen to be effective when making changes to client systems and infrastructures.
The obstacles that Wirebird encounters on a daily basis when dealing with customers include the fact that the change is not supported fully by the senior management team, and has not been communicated to the business as a benefit.
Communication and training, therefore, are major factors. Wirebird holds change-management workshops where it trains employees on how to use the new technology and communicate what benefits they deliver to the business.
The fear factor
Customers are often scared of what could go wrong. Of course, things can go wrong, so Wirebird has a risk management strategy where the expected risks are ascertained and the solutions to deal with those risks are put in place.
A recent example included a customer who was nervous about changing from a Windows 2003 server, even though Microsoft had stopped supporting this platform and, naturally, they wanted their IT infrastructure to be protected from malware and viruses on the network.
The team at Wirebird held meetings, conducted demonstrations and held change-management and risk-management workshops to put the customer’s mind at ease. Once Wirebird implemented the new IT infrastructure, it then spend time training up staff on the new systems, and explained to them the business benefit of being on the latest Windows technologies, and how this would save them time and money and bring a true return on their investment.
Questioned answered
As one of Microsoft’s leading partners, and having helped many organisations move from Server 2003 to other platforms, Wirebird knows it can be challenging, and many questions are asked. These include: what should you expect? What will the implications be? What sort of challenges will you run up against? And what is the easiest or best method to migrate with minimal effort? Wirebird addresses these sorts of questions through its change-management processes.
The second step is the journey itself which, for the most part, will not follow a linear path – there may be surprises along the way. To minimise these surprises, Wirebird evaluates all eventualities so it can plan to adapt or reverse the change should serious problems be encountered.
The destination is the third step, along with handing over the change and reviewing the process.
Wirebird follows processes, structures project plans and trains teams on change management and how to understand the consequences of what they do. Even if a customer is only making a change to an application, Wirebird can discuss it and put it through its Change Approval Board, where it has the necessary experts to assist in the decisions.
Engaging fully with the customer, alongside offering a very personable approach, means Wirebird has successfully maintained “trusted adviser” status with its clients – something the company is particularly proud of.
Wirebird is an IT support and managed service provider with a portfolio of offerings, ranging from fully managed services and hosting through to complex infrastructure projects and business IT transformation programmes. Wirebird has offices in London Liverpool Street, Reading and Auckland.
For more information, email ninadally@arrowpr.co.uk, call 07808 207140 or visit wirebird.co.uk »