It’s usually a question of trust.

In the current global economy, fraught with trade restrictions and supply chain disruptions, business change is not only helpful – it is essential.

A recent survey from the Economist Intelligence Unit makes clear the link between workforce transformation and strategic performance.  As many more of us are realising, working from home is great for productivity: for most staff, there is no need to be physically present or travel elsewhere.

So why, then, are some businesses not transforming? The Economist’s survey also suggests staff are unclear about what transformation requires or are resistant to change.

As organisational behaviour pioneer, Peter Senge, once said, ‘people don’t resist change, they resist being changed.’

Employees prefer their current way of working: it’s familiar and they have built their careers working that way.

Plus, it may not be perfect, but employees have their own ways of minimising failings. They might stash paper copies, “just in case”, to balance the risks of data loss and IT system downtime, for example. Or they might set up a clear file of essential quick reference material – despite the possibility of working with out-of-date information.

Use people-centric process –

Experts say we must take people with us. We need to listen to employee’s pain points and wish lists, and link some to specific benefits of how the ‘new way’ will help.

With the potential benefits and opportunities understood, your staff can also be involved in designing business processes improvements. Enabling employees to see how changes will create opportunities to increase their job satisfaction and better serve customers is a powerful way to build engagement.

Ensure success from day one –

The fastest way to undermine confidence in new ways of working is to focus on what can go wrong in the early stages of implementation. Avoid focusing on the challenges or the “I knew it wouldn’t work” and “yet another improvement project that isn’t” and “at least the old way worked” cliché.

Even when early glitches are quickly fixed, a feeling of vulnerability remains. Employees might seek to protect themselves by secretly reverting back to old ways, or doing the bare minimum in terms of adopting what the new system has to offer.

That’s why many projects fail to deliver expected benefits, even when the technology is working fine. People don’t want to risk changing with it. And if there’s a customer-facing element to a business change that doesn’t work as expected first time, the consequences can be significantly more brutal.

Know that expectations are higher in the cloud –

When you’re stepping up to take advantage of the cloud, a new set of rules applies. Application and data availability are even more important and achieving high availability in private, public or hybrid cloud environments requires a different approach.

Like all disruptive change, the cloud’s benefits and elevated user expectations are coming at speed. Research from Cloud Data Management leader, Veeam, shows some 73% of companies struggle to meet demands for uninterrupted workload access, while 51% said their digital transformation initiatives are being held back by unplanned downtime.

Slow-to-transform businesses risk falling behind competitors, or destroying employee and customer trust by claiming to be there when they’re not.

Do it once and do it right –

Most companies that are readily stepping into a cloud environment with success partnering with specialist providers. These specialists immediately bring the expertise, experience, software and technology required to ensure the organisation hits the cloud running. And the right partner will stay on to bring you the consistency of migration – to ensure you maximise the benefits and retain your leading position into the future.

Are you ready to step into the cloud?

See the Umbrellar Cloud Partner Network, viewable in the Partner Directory, for the best New Zealand has to offer in specialised cloud expertise.