Some people say "Urgent times call for urgent measures", at Waeg, an IBM Company, we say “Urgent times call for Change Management”.
A company is a dynamic organisation, which implies that at some point in time, you will face tough challenges that force you to have a closer look at the current structures. These might range from the set-up of departments, conflict-resolution-procedures that aren’t working and the role of the management board to offering no longer relevant products.
To make this picture visual, I would like you to imagine someone standing in the middle of a bridge and realising the steps to go back are broken and the steps to go forward have not been created yet. This person needs to move forward, but is stuck in between two dilemmas. As you can imagine, they are going through a rollercoaster of emotions from fear, doubt, uncertainty and frustration to even feelings of hopelessness. The positive side is that they don’t have to stay there and neither do you.
The only thing certain in life is change itself and how we deal with one change determines how we will be able to deal with the next.
The changes in your company can be driven by internal factors like enlarging your product range, using different technology or machines to produce, or getting a different management board. However, external factors such as the government implementing new regulations or more strict fiscal measures, ever-changing customer demands and digitised customer feedback channels are also catalysts for change.
Not addressing necessary changes can harm your enterprise in the long run. Ignored, they can morph into growing blindspots that take up more time, money and other resources in your company. When even more blind spots appear, you will be forced to deal with even bigger issues down the road.
Waeg, an IBM Company is here to help
At Waeg, an IBM Company, we understand that implementing changes (e.g. a sales platform) and successfully adopting these changes can be very costly and time-consuming.
That’s why we have specialists in Change Management who think with you, making sure the operation requires fewer resources on your side and reduces the amount of time needed to implement the change. For the transition to be successful, everyone involved in the process is engaged from the very beginning, which we will talk about in our next article, The Three Golden Rules of Change Management.
In projects, it’s very common that internal parties lack the necessary alignment on the changes to be made, which can (and in most cases certainly will) cause friction. As a Change Consultant myself, I can confirm that this is one of our most important tasks: ensuring proper alignment among all the interested parties.
The current age of doing business and the implementation of sales platforms
The current way of doing business is not the same as before - many employees still work from home and safety regulations have reduced travelling, which was once a symbol of freedom. Having frequent face-to-face meetings with clients is nearly impossible and therefore done mostly through virtual meetings. This change eliminates a great deal of communication, but at the same time, it can also be seen as an advantage from a sales point of view.
Now that end-users have gotten even more familiar with purchasing products online, your company can benefit from having a digitalised sales channel, which can also be implemented for B2B sales, not just B2C. This change in itself, including building the sales platform, requires quite some expertise, especially if you want to do it right. There’s more than meets the eye to get a well functioning sales platform. It’s the result of a very extensive process that requires time and a team of highly skilled technicians and consultants to make it work.
Another critical aspect is the global world we live in, where tangible geographical limits are no longer an obstacle to reaching new markets. For example, suppose you were active in Scandinavia, and wanted to expand your sales channel to the Netherlands. In such cases, we can provide seamless support and create sales platforms for clients active in multiple countries in Europe to match their company's needs.
A great benefit is that we guide you along the entire process and provide end-to-end solutions, which means we do everything from building the platform to making sure that you’re able to receive payments through your new sales portal. All thanks to our experts who create a thorough plan and do a follow up from the very beginning of the project till the end. It ensures that we can monitor and make adjustments when you have concerns or when a different approach is needed.
Change Management isn’t merely a set of rules that must be learned by heart, it’s a way of thinking, which is why we think with you!
Hiring a Change Management team for your projects has many benefits. Some of these are: having the knowledge of steps that need to be taken and investments to be made beforehand. The support of an expert on this journey entails a higher return on your investment.
In the first place, you have to make sure that your sales platform is being used correctly. Not having the experience or know-how to do so creates drawbacks on projects, and not to mention that you lose valuable time. You want to earn your investment back as soon as possible. Other than that, using the sales platform is a handy tool for generating metadata for sales and marketing purposes.
In Change Management, we provide tailored solutions to best fit your needs, whether the solution is more oriented towards managing people, the technicalities of the whole process, or a blend of the two. That’s why at Waeg, an IBM Company, we can help with:
Developing project strategies and plans, including stakeholder assessment, communications, and end-user training in relation to Salesforce.
Leading and implementing change initiatives related to business processes.
Providing direct support and coaching to front-line managers and supervisors as they help their direct reports through transition.
Providing training and motivating users to enhance their capabilities to successfully adopt the changes, ranging from new platforms to new management structure.
Take a look at our website and be inspired by our customer stories.
We would be happy to analyse your company's changing needs to provide the best possible solutions. You can contact us by sending an email to Sanne Leeuwin - sanne.leeuwin@waeg.com or Diana Graur - diana.graur@waeg.com.
Sanne Leeuwin, Customer Adoption and Change Management Consultant @Waeg Envision
