Across the sectoral spectrum, we now witness digital transformation taking the lead in business development. That is why, if your business is looking to gain a competitive edge, it is crucial for your business to learn how to adapt and change quickly.

As Forrester pointed out in their report “Change Management is a New Differentiator in the Digital Era” (2016 – Forrester Research):

“Companies will compete on their ability to change their business models. As digital technologies disrupt nearly every industry the ability to adapt to changing channels, product portfolios, revenue streams, and other business model elements will be a company’s primary way to sustain growth. Change management will be an embedded part of adapting to new business models.”

But, while organisations have been deeply focused on digital transformation of their customer-facing businesses –  smart organisations are realising that, to drive up productivity and take full advantage of market opportunities, they must strategically invest in workplace technologies to make it happen –  the application of digital tools to promote and accelerate internal change has received far less attention.

A digital change management solution is a single, SaaS based application which provides all the learning, planning and analytics capability you need to successfully plan and roll-out your change initiatives in a standard, consistent and cost-effective way – 24/7/365.

Selecting the right Digital Platform for your needs

So, assuming you have identified the benefits of - and need for - a digital change solution, how do you ensure you find one that makes your work simpler, collaborative and more effective?  To help with the process, we have created a simple 10-point guide to help guide your buying decision.

However, before we get to the detail on the guide there are some mandatories that your digital change solution needs to hurdle before they are even worth looking at in more detail.

Any platform worth its salt will be a scalable, data-driven and cost-effective cloud-based solution, and it will always include:

• A step-by-step planner – a visually driven guide to the entire change process which fuels the productivity in your team by leading them through key steps in a structured and consistent way
• Easy-to-use planning templates - designed to shorten time to implementation on your change projects, proving proven approaches and tips
• On-demand learning – personalised and contextual learning delivered as part of the step-by-step planning process and just as the user needs it at key stages in their project
• Ability to report on progress – a dashboard driven approach to monitoring and reporting on key project risks with key project stakeholders

Taking these features as ‘givens’, what are the 10 most important questions to ask when considering licensing a platform?

1. Is it secure

1. Is the transformation tool you are using for transformation your business secured and protected?
2. What to look For
   1. ISO 27001, SSP Authentication and SSL Certification as a starting point
   2. Insist on the highest levels of security and data privacy
      
      

2. Is the platform intuitive and easy to learn?

1. Does it take into consideration the mindset of the learner?
2. What to look For
   1. Simple to follow, consistent approach
   2. Menu driven approach to build your plan
      
      

3. Does it have annual renewable licensing

1. Are you locked in to long-term inflexable commitments?
2. What to look For
   1. SaaS based pricing
   2. Annual renewals
      
      

4. Does it give you plans that are easy to build

1. Does it use pre-populated actions and other tools that make implementation easier?
2. What to look For
   1. Proven process for change
   2. Step-by-step planner
   3. Prepopulated actions and templates
   4. Detailed process instructions
      
      

5. Can you download the outputs?

1. Is downloading the outputs easy, quick and in a usable format?
2. What to look For
   1. PDF export and download of your plan
   2. Export data to excel
   3. Export graphs for use in presentations
   4. Create and store change plans and project files
      
      

6. Does it have integrated diagnostics?

1. What tools does it offer to track and mitigate change risks?
2. What to look For
   1. Dashboard driven approach to showing data
   2. Suite of integrated, proven diagnostic and risk assessment tools
   3. Risk mitigation insights and advice
   4. Ability to respond to assessments in multiple languages
      
      

7. Is there built-in video learning?

1. Does it integrate video to help people can get up to speed quickly?
2. What to look For
   1. Well documented learning plan that is presented through video format
   2. Delivered Just-in-Time when the user needs it
      
      

8. Can the platform be configured to meet your needs?

1. What tools have been provided to assist in configuring your needs?
2. What to look For
   1. Easy-to-change labelling
   2. Editable fields
      
      

9. Does the platform allow you to collaborate easily?

1. How easy is it to communicate & collaborate with your users?
2. What to look For
   1. Single click sharing of plans across teams
   2. Systems that consider how people interact
      
      

10. Is there industry-standard On-Boarding?

1. What considerations are in place to accommodate onboarding?
2. What to look For
   1. Full onboarding support
   2. Optimised onboarding processes, that is in alignment with established industry standards
      
      

We are currently working on a new buyer guide to buying a digital change solution – if you would like to receive a copy on publication please leave your details and we will send it when available.

Introducing Roadmap Pro

If your organization is in the midst of its own digital transformation and looking to select a digital change solution you may be interested in Roadmap Pro, our SaaS based change management toolkit.

Based on our proven approach it makes it quicker and easier for people to ‘learn-while-doing’ and rapidly builds your organizations agility to deliver change - in a highly cost effective and scalable way.