Organizational consulting services support digital transformation success

Digital transformation has an increasing impact on the organization, and to drive a successful digital transformation project, companies must embrace the organizational transformation, too.

A paradox in ERP implementation projects is that while top management and the IT team are thrilled, excited, and impatient to roll out new technology, the rest of the organization is often left frustrated and is resistant to change. Today, the biggest challenge in large IT projects is, in fact, that the organizational perspective of the transformation is underestimated.

Organizational consulting must be a natural part of digital transformation projects, so the heart of the entire organization beats in time. Therefore, we have joined forces with Metaplan, a strategy consultancy specialized in organizational design and social science with 50 years of consulting experience in Europe, the USA, Singapore, and China.

Our ambition is to co-create successful digitalization journeys from A to Z by offering and facilitating change in an organization alongside the IT implementation process. Companies can choose our organizational consulting offerings as part of an implementation project or as a stand-alone service.

#1 What are key elements in transformation?

Transformation requires a structured approach to ensure that changes to an organization’s processes and systems are implemented smoothly and effectively. Key elements are, among others:

Identifying the reason or need for the change

Evaluating the impact on the organization

Doing a maturity assessment of the organization

Planning communication strategies, training of employees, etc.

We apply an organizational Heat Map to uncover all obvious and hidden aspects of an organization to avoid failing a digital transformation process. See below.

#2 Why is organizational consulting a critical component of successful digitalization journeys?

Focus on formal and informal structures helps organizations manage the impacts of the changes brought about by new technology. Without effective change on the organizational level, IT projects are more likely to experience delays, cost overruns, low user adoption, and other obstacles that can compromise the overall success of the project.

Some of the key reasons why this is necessary for IT projects include:

Mitigating resistance to change: Helps organizations anticipate and address resistance to change among stakeholders, including employees, customers, and partners.

Facilitating communication: Helps organizations communicate the goals and benefits of the project to stakeholders and ensure that everyone is on the same page.

Improving adoption: Helps organizations create a supportive environment for the new technology, so that users are more likely to adopt it and use it effectively.

Sustaining the change: Helps organizations ensure that the benefits of the new technology are sustained over the long term.

3# How do we approach ERP implementation projects?

The organizational Heat Map is a fruitful approach to addressing the opportunities and challenges of digital transformation. To avoid failing a digital transformation process, it is crucial to take three sides of the organization under investigation: The display side, the formal side, and the informal side.

The three sides are in mutual relations with each other and have dependencies on each other. And – to no surprise – the informal side is where the blind spots of your organization are. Our IT experts can focus on the core of technical functionalities and digitalization challenges whereas Metaplan looks at the effects that these formal changes cause at organizational levels and how they influence informality.

Picture below shows the 3 sides of an organization that need to be considered for a successful digitalization transformation. All 3 sides of an organization are equally important.

#4 How will your organization benefit from the organizational Heat Map?

By identifying the sweet spots as well as the hot spots of the organization, the heat map becomes a valuable tool for optimizing on several aspects, such as

Reduce skill gaps and develop training programs

Improve communication strategies

Improve employee involvement

Reduce resistance to changes

Increase technology adoption

Increase efficiency and innovation

Increase customer satisfaction

We support you all the way. You benefit from our deep understanding and know-how in technical as well as organizational areas. We address all aspects of your organization – both the obvious and hidden aspects – that we believe are essential prerequisites for your long-term business success.

Book an introduction to the Heat Map.

It’s virtual and gives you a thorough understanding of the business value of a Heat Map Assessment. We help you all the way together with Metaplan.