In business, organisational change is inevitable. An organisation has to adapt to changing demands – of the customer and the market, of technology, and of the wider environment. With changing demands, it’s the organisations that can keep up with that change that survive, whilst the others fall behind and eventually by the wayside
Think of an organisation as a moving conveyer belt with the customer at one end. To reach the customer, the company must keep moving. If the company as a whole can’t keep up with the pace, they will fall behind and eventually off the belt altogether. As an extra challenge, if individual departments are not in sync, the customer can’t be served effectively.
Effective change in an organisation is then keeping the functions and participants in-step with each other, moving in the same direction and finally keeping pace with changing customer wants.
An IT Business Partner will be in the unique position of having the knowledge and experience of innovative technologies and how they could be used within the organisation, and curating a plan for organisational change. The IT Business Partner’s ability to get everyone on the conveyer belt to move in the same direction at the same speed is q great test of leadership ability. This will in part depend on their negotiation and influencing skills that we have been discussing last year.
So how best to clarify the role of the IT Business Partner over the lifecycle of change in an organisation?
Their role is helping:
- Adapt Innovation – to look out for opportunities for growth and development through research and observation.
- Organisational change – considering and communicating the impacts of change and identify ways of implementing the change.
- Decommissioning – Considering what needs to be disposed of to free up resources.
With new technology such as Blockchain and Artificial Intelligence approaching, there are smaller, more agile startups creating new services and products that incumbent companies recognise either as a threat or an opportunity. A good IT Business Partner can help drive your business forward helping to identify potential opportunities, and challenges, so that the organisation is ready for change.
Download our white paper on Conveying Change and how an IT Business Partner can help at Conveying Change
