IT change management is a structured approach to handling technology changes. It plays an important role in IT service management (ITSM). In other areas of the company, change management may deal with adaptations to goals, processes or teams as well.
Companies should understand how to start a change management process. The best practices below will help teams improve their processes. These tips are based on others’ experiences, key frameworks, and useful knowledge.
Why is change management important?
Changes to critical IT systems and services can cause serious interruptions and disruptions that might affect users. Suppliers and service providers should avoid this as far as possible.
A thought-out change management process evaluates the potential impact of suggested changes to ensure minimal disruptions.
Of course, dedicated change management is also useful in many other areas, including the following during:
- Introduction of new systems and software
- Implementation of new processes
- Process optimizations
- Organizational restructuring
- Introduction of new project methods
- Adaptation of business strategies
- Relaunches and implementation of new marketing channels
- Implementation of new communication channels such as AI chatbots
In these areas processes involved can be critical to the business and extremely error-prone. It is therefore obvious that the right best practices make a huge difference in change management. In many cases, success depends on how exactly those responsible initiate, implement and follow up the change processes.
10 ITIL-Related Change Management Best Practices
The following best practices are aligned with the ITIL framework and are particularly relevant for ITSM teams. They could also be adapted for other areas. Changes to IT services and infrastructures should be systematic and structured in order to be successful and minimize risk.
The practices mentioned here can be modified, revised and expanded upon based on your business. (More on this in the following section.)
Practice #1: Develop a format for change requests (RFC)
Every change should begin with a Request for Change (RFC). It should include all relevant information, such as the change’s benefits, risks, implementation details and a rollback plan.
Practice #2: Set up a Change Advisory Board (CAB)
Establish a team of key stakeholders who evaluate, prioritize and approve upcoming changes. An Emergency CAB (ECAB) can be established for urgent cases. The CAB should have an established approval process in place for determining if a change should be implemented.
Practice #3: Categorize upcoming changes
Assign upcoming changes to categories. This makes it easier to have a quick overview of how important and urgent they are. The following classification can be useful:
- Standard changes have been approved in advance, are often recurring and carry only a low risk.
- Normal changes require formal approval.
- Emergency changes. These should be carried out as quickly as possible to resolve critical problems – faster approval is used.
Practice #4: Clearly define roles and responsibilities
Managing change typically requires a:
- Change Manager – person who oversees the entire process
- Change Requester – person who asks for the change
- Change Implementer – person who ensures that changes are implemented
It’s not necessary to keep these titles and breakdown of responsibility. What is important is for clear responsibilities to be defined so that change processes run in a structured and effective manner.
Practice #5: Conduct risk assessments
Changes are always associated with risks – sometimes these are smaller and sometimes larger. Question how the change may negatively impact:
- operations,
- processes and workflows
- security
- compliance
- data protection
- employees
- other technology, or
- customers
Ideally, stakeholders should be aware of these risks at the onset and take steps to mitigate them when possible.
Practice #6: Ensure effective communication
Regularly discuss changes with stakeholders to promote the positive aspects of the change and increase its acceptance. This also helps people and teams prepare themselves for the upcoming change. In most cases, basic information on planned changes, status and potential problems are sufficient.
Practice #7: Conduct testing
Before making a change, test the technology and its implementation methods, especially in critical environments and processes. Do so in a safe environment such as a test system.
Practice #8: Conduct and document audits
Change management processes should be documented so that they can be analyzed. This ensures compliance. Regular audits check how effective the processes are and identify potential areas for improvement.
Practice #9: Schedule a change review
Change management does not end with the implementation of a change. Rather, in the post-implementation review (PIR), change managers ensure that changes are successful. They evaluate results and check for errors.
Practice #10: Continuously improve technology and processes
Changes that have been made become part of an ongoing process and thus become routine. To ensure long term success, teams should subject them to continuous improvement.
10 Best Practices – Independent of ITIL
While ITIL forms an excellent basis for IT change management, the framework simply offers recommendations. To improve your change management and set yourself apart from the competition, go beyond ITIL. Consider these additional best practices in addition to the framework.
Practice #1: Consider ITIL as a guideline
To use the ITIL framework profitably, don’t try to follow it strictly. Rather, align your teams around precisely those points that prove helpful for in your company. ITIL is simply a stable foundation on which ITSM teams can build.
“It seems strange: But a good practice can be to throw good practices overboard and replace them with more suitable ones.”
Practice #2: Communicate change goals and benefits
Why is a change necessary at all? Too often, teams only have a basic understanding of this. Instead, the background should be clear.
For example, a team requests a change to implement granular authorization management in the software, because certain customers have problems with their compliance requirements. The customers are threatening to leave.
The benefit for the company would be to avoid current customer churn as well as offer prospective customers an additional advantage. Stakeholders should understand this.
Practice #3: Get communication teams involved
Marketing, PR, and internal communications should know about important changes. This way, all communication channels can be used effectively.
The knowledge manager is also a key communicator. They can be made easier for people to adapt to the change by keeping documentation in a knowledge base.
Practice #4: Remember project management
Implementing change management is only one step towards making changes successful. Project management should be considered to keep tabs on the timeline and budget of the pending change.
Practice #5: Redefine the CAB’s scope
The ITIL Change Advisory Board (CAB) is a helpful approach. However, it can make changes more complicated and slow them down. Experienced teams, in particular, should be able to work agilely, quickly and flexibly.
This can be achieved by only requiring approvals for risky changes. In this way, the CAB supports teams strategically.
Bonus tip: Checklists, automation and peer reviews are quick alternatives to engaging the CAB on smaller changes.
Practice #6: Weigh individual risk tolerance
Making a decision based on risks depends on how much a team or company can handle those risks. The higher the risk tolerance, the more proactively and freely extensive changes can be made. Discuss this with management and leadership teams.
Practice #7: Track data to improve long-term decision
Ongoing adjustments and iterations will be needed until the desired result is achieved. Collecting data, like the effects of a new implementation or customer feedback, helps teams improve change management over time.
Practice #8: Automate change processes
There are definitely some change processes for which automation makes sense. Standard and routine changes are particularly suitable for this. With the right software, teams can work together better. This helps them save time and effort.
It is a good idea to automate processes that are already efficient and well-developed. These processes are easier to repeat and have fewer errors.
Practice #9: Celebrate successes
Successes do not happen by chance. Celebrating them can increase productivity and motivation immensely.
This does not mean that managers have to call one celebration after another. However, the employees involved in change management should experience appreciation and recognition. This will make them feel better and be more motivated to perform, making overall projects much more likely to succeed.
“Celebrating successes creates a good basis for further - sometimes even greater - successes.”
Practice #10: Evaluate long-term impacts
Many change projects fail because they are too short-term. The long-term consequences and the wider context often remain unclear. After all, it is a considerable challenge to recognize these, assess them, and keep an eye on them in the long term.
However, if these are known at an early stage, teams can act with foresight and anticipate the subsequent effects. The best situation is when we know as many factors as possible. Changes should focus on long-term effects. This includes both the change project itself and its context.
Conclusion: Best Practices Pave the Way for Good Changes
Change for the better: This is the epitome of the Japanese Kaizen method for process optimization and the aim behind so many management initiatives. Clearly planned changes in ITSM and other areas help businesses achieve this goal.
The right practices and methods are of immense value to teams. They can bring quality to change management and optimize it sustainably.
In any case, best practices offer more guidance than fixed rules. They provide valuable assistance in identifying the most promising procedures. How companies, teams or individual employees proceed is, however, almost always an individual matter.
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