The Adoption and Change Management Consulting Service (Introducing the Value Realization Services)

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As a business transforms, modernizes capabilities, and enables new ways of doing business, employees often need support and education to adopt new methods. Different businesses have different cultures, and different risks, when it comes to managing change and promoting adoption.

To help prepare for and manage change, and help ensure adoption, a Microsoft Architect performs the Adoption and Change Management Service. The service helps a business achieve more value from investments by carrying out plans for communicating changes, readiness and training, and support.

Adoption and Change Management is one of the services that Microsoft architects conduct with businesses as part of the Microsoft Value Realization Framework, introduced in our earlier post Welcome to the Value Realization Team’s Blog.

Overview of the Adoption and Change Management Service

The Adoption and Change Management service assesses a client’s Adoption and Change Management capabilities, develops adoption plans (such as training and support plans), and provides oversight and mitigates risk during adoption.

Objectives

The Adoption and Change Management Service:

  • Assesses the adoption risk factors for a business.
  • Supports change management and education at the stakeholder level.
  • Provides change management planning.
  • Provides support for overseeing the on-going value realization cycle, including reviews of metrics and revisions to the adoption plan.

Activities

The service includes activities for:

  • Preparing for and conducting kick-off meetings.
  • Adapting to a client’s preferred training and communications approaches.
  • Assessing adoption risks.
  • Creating change management processes for stakeholders.
  • Starting-up and overseeing the value realization cycle.
  • Identifying target end-user groups, prioritized scenarios, and necessary changes to skills and behaviors.
  • Developing plans for adoption, communications, and end-user training.
  • Reviewing the alignment of adoption, communications, and training plans.

Outcome

The Adoption and Change Management Service helps key stakeholders understand the changes that will occur within their organization and the impact these will have on employees, partners, and customers. The service produces a functioning Value Realization (or Adoption) Center of Excellence that supports value realization throughout adoption planning and execution.

The service promotes full stakeholder support for the overall program of change, and links value metrics to action plans.

Deliverables

  • Adoption and Change Management Assessment Report. Identifies the client’s adoption and change management capabilities, and highlights challenges in planning or carrying out adoption and change for the program.
  • Adoption and Change Plan. An updated version of the client’s existing Adoption and Change Plan that reflects changes in the end-user adoption approach and/or change management activities for the organization.
  • Adoption Status Report. Periodic summary of adoption activities driving benefits realization for the program of change. The Adoption Status Report also summarizes recommendations for changes in the Adoption & Change Management Plan based on current adoption status and projections for future adoption.

What Is the Value of Doing This?

The Adoption and Change Management Service provides access to proven offerings focused on enterprise adoption, and includes methods for monitoring and reporting adoption and the impact on value realized. Businesses obtain:

  • Ability to clearly communicate about upcoming changes
  • Ability to prepare people for change
  • Acknowledgment, measurement, and validation of adoption and value realization
  • Access to deep experience about Microsoft technology and integration
  • Scenario-driven adoption with personas
  • Support of Customer Success Managers
  • Sequenced adoption methods based on NPV

How Do We Achieve Value?

To perform the Adoption and Change Management Service:

  1. We validate adoption and change management capabilities. We determine whether the organization will have challenges planning or executing adoption and change for the program.
  2. We review Program Charter and Architecture Definition, and establish a shared understanding of the program charter and recommended architecture.
  3. We update the adoption and change management approach, developing the plan for driving end-user adoption and facilitating organizational change management.
  4. We oversee performance of the communications plan, helping oversee stakeholder communications and validating desire for change.
  5. We oversee performance of the readiness plan, validating that stakeholders have developed the necessary knowledge and skills to successfully execute the change.
  6. We oversee performance of the recognition plan. We reinforce productive use of the new systems and provide rewards and recognition to maintain realization of benefits.

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