The challenges that companies face today are significant, unprecedented and varied: the impact of the pandemic, inflation, globalization, shortages of talent. It’s no coincidence that the average life expectancy of an S&P 500 company in 2020 was just over 21 years, compared to 32 years in 1965.

In an effort to adapt to the new reality, to the needs of customers, as well as to their human resources, many companies are investing in their digital transformation.

Digital – and beyond – the transformation of a company takes time and effort. However, in many cases, the emphasis is only on the technological part of this process. Replacing one system with another, more modern one is the first step. But every business is made up of 3 pillars: its technology systems and tools, its human resources, and the processes that run it. Ensuring that people will use and eventually adopt new technologies is the “key” to successful transformation. At this point, the role of change management begins. So what is change management? It addresses the people-centric side of change and focuses on all those activities that need to be planned to ensure that the company’s human resources successfully embrace change (new system, new processes, new roles/responsibilities).

Here are some of these events:

Creating a vision with which to communicate corporate goals and expectations from digital transformation, as well as the competitive advantages it is expected to bring.

In an effort to adapt to the new reality, to the needs of customers, as well as their human resources, many companies are investing in their digital transformation.

Recording the effects (assessment of the impact of changes) of digital transformation on human resources in order to facilitate planning for the appropriate strategic management of them. A communications strategy and plan to keep the entire organization up to date on digital transformation progress in a consistent and timely manner.

An experiential learning strategy and plan that will cover the full range of knowledge required for human resources to succeed in a transformed organization (how to use the new system, what are the new processes and how they affect it, how its role has changed). , etc.).

All of the above activities should be linked to key performance indicators (KPIs) in line with the vision and business case (business case) for the transformation. Continuous monitoring of these metrics and appropriate adaptation of change implementation activities – where and when deemed necessary – ensure, on the one hand, that the company is ready for digital transformation prior to the introduction of the new technology, and, on the other hand, that the changes will be accepted by its human resources after its installation.

A comprehensive change management framework reduces investment risk while accelerating the adoption of new practices, processes, and technologies, ultimately making digital transformation successful. After all, at the center of every company and every transformation is always a person.

Ms Natasha Maraka is the Senior Human Resources and Change Manager at PwC Greece.