People, Process, Technology and Change

30 May 2014
What drives or prevents change? What are the obstacles that we need to overcome for successful change?

Changing elephants

 

Ready for change?

 

The importance of people, process and technology is often discussed in forums, seminars, and informal gatherings. There are those who believe that technology is a driver for change. There are others who believe it is an enabler. And others who think that technology – anything new – is disruptive and unhelpful. The last of these is of course true - there will be some disruption and some people will find this unhelpful - but let us focus on the need for there to be continual change in any industry if it is to improve, become more effective and efficient, if it is to be competitive.

I am in the ‘enabler’ group, believing that no amount of technology will work if people cannot use it satisfactorily. Who amongst us uses even 10% of the capability of the software at our fingertips? We could do so much more with it if we knew how.

At a conference I attended in May 2014 – an excellent conference organised by Ovum with whom I had no previous connection - there appeared to be broad agreement that people are most important, process is second and technology is third. This was at a conference where most, perhaps all of the exhibitors were primarily concerned with technology in some form – software, hardware, communications - so you might expect them to think of technology as a driver for change. This was not the case.

The message I heard was of technology being an enabler. It is people who need to adapt or rewrite processes to use technology effectively. The changes that people have to face provide the challenge when introducing anything new. Convincing them of the benefits, and helping them deliver those benefits are at the core of successful change.

People have to use and accept new processes. They also have to be able to challenge processes constructively to improve them. Making technology work is much easier.

People, processes and technology need to fit together, but it is people who are able to make the most difference when delivering successful change. For a discussion on this please contact me. Together, we can enable successful change.

 

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Telephone Number 020 8295 2009

Email Address barry@tuckwood.co.uk


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