Enterprise Change Management - An Executive Perspective

Enterprise change managementWhite paperJune 2009
Enterprise change management with
IBM Rational Change software.
Change management-an executive perspective
David Anderson, IBMEnterprise change management with IBM Rational Change softwarePage 2
Executive summaryContents Given the relentless pace of today's business environment and unceasing innovations in technology, managing change effectively is becoming a critical 2 Executive summary part of business sustainability and success. However, the methods by which 3 Change is not just incident tracking executives manage the effect of change on their businesses are even more 5 Implementing best practices critical. Managing change must be high on the executive's agenda because 7 Introducing IBM Rational Change tolerance for failure is low; therefore, change management is becoming a key 10 IBM Rational Change as an ECM component of an organization's infrastructure.solution12 Conclusion Although effective change management is viewed as strategic, it gets overwhelmed in operation. For example, who takes ownership? How does it get measured? How do various functional areas cooperate? How does a CIO Fast-paced business environments take constantly changing business directions and translate them to local work have made change inevitable and efforts that need to be executed at various levels of the organization?constant, driving the need for effective change management. Change management has been a CIO priority for years. Unfortunately, it often does not receive the attention it deserves while the CIO focuses on traditional activities that affect shareholder value or top- and bottom-line growth. What often is not recognized is that focusing on effective change management can contribute significantly to the company's success.
Importance of enterprise change management (ECM)In today's business environment, change is inevitable and constant. Change management at the enterprise level is arguably one of the most important issues facing companies today. Change is happening everywhere. Successful executives recognize that controlling change in an organization not only improves their day-to-day operations but also sparks tremendous interest in the boardroom because a well implemented change management system provides access to the data that is necessary for superior decision making.Enterprise change management with IBM Rational Change softwarePage 3
Why is ECM not implemented in every company today?Highlights Few companies have a comprehensive change management framework in place to identify, track and control changes at all levels within an organization. Many companies fail to recognize the need for change management or are simply too disillusioned by expensive, inflexible, valueless solutions that obstruct the implementation of a capable enterprise change management (ECM) system. Some organizations attempt to implement change at an enterprise level but choose poor solutions or fail because they lack the domain expertise and experience needed to implement these systems. It is important to note that not even the correct technology solution will work in the absence of executive vision, leadership and proper execution.
This white paper asserts that ECM is a core organizational competence. Additionally, this paper will reveal how the IBM® Rational® Change solution can implement an ECM solution designed to deliver the kinds of benefits needed to achieve long-term success.
Change is not just incident trackingEnterprise change management For years, change management in software and IT organizations has generally addresses more than incident tracking been defined as a technique for tracking bugs (also known as incident tracking), and bug fixes. It extends to all aspects help desk tickets or even change to hardware or software assets. However, of IT that support core business change management can also be used to control changes to the environments operations. and processes that build these systems.
ECM involves all aspects of IT that support core business operations; this includes managing the physical applications and the deployment of those applications to production. Taking it a step further, companies need to manage all of their IT assets, regardless of their location or type. In this approach, ECM impacts virtually every department and line of business within an organization.Enterprise change management with ... [download for more]