How SaaS Affected Change Management: Key Insights From “Technology Takers”

Every time I read a book on organizational transformation and change management, I ask myself the same question: “Is this information still relevant?” While the core principles of management explored thoroughly by acknowledged authors such as Peter Drucker stay the same, a lot of concepts and best practices are no longer up-to-date.

About 40 years ago, everyone was citing “In Search of Excellence” by Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman, Jr. The successful companies listed in the book were presented as unsinkable ships that survived one crisis after another and emerged even stronger. Today, many companies on the list are no longer the leaders of their markets, and some of them don’t even exist anymore.

10 years later, another fundamental work was released — “Reengineering the Corporation: A Manifesto for Business Revolution” by Michael Martin Hammer and James A. Champy. In this book, the authors focused not on best practices and factors of success, but the necessity to completely rethink all the outdated business processes, so companies could be reborn like a phoenix from the fire. And once again, the examples presented no longer make any sense. Take Kodak for example, which used to showcase an efficient business transformation but is now a minor player in a new world where the main trends come from the iPhone camera and Instagram.

Today we need a guide that’ll be relevant at least for the next decade (with the current speed of change, it’d probably be five years or even less). After doing some research, I found the right one for myself: “The Technology Takers: Leading Change in the Digital Era” by Genevieve M. Grabman, Jens P. Flanding, and Sheila Q. Cox. I believe that the information presented here is extremely important for the success of modern companies, so I created a list of key insights from the book.

1. Companies must adapt to processes defined by SaaS companies

For a very long time, companies had the opportunity to define what the software would do. It was often the case that large enterprises customized a solution for themselves which required continuous support. An enterprise could always make another request to the development team for a new feature. Even though this approach allowed companies to get exactly what they needed, the development process was costly, and the software could quickly become outdated for the organization’s needs.

Times have changed in the last decade. Now companies don’t own the software they’re paying for. The direct benefit of cloud-based solutions is the ability to roll them out in a relatively short amount of time and quickly start getting value. Also, the monthly (and even yearly) costs of the solution are much lower than the costs of developing a solution from scratch and supporting it. The downside of this approach (at least for some organizations) is that the companies have to accept the software “as is.” Even though some customization is available in certain cases, in general, all the employees now must adapt to the way the solution works — no longer do they have the opportunity to request tailoring the solution to their needs.

This logic is applicable to the consumer market as well. A great example here is buying a new mobile phone. The only choice you have is whether you’re going with Android or iOS. After you make that choice, you must accept the phone’s ecosystem as is.

2. Many people lack the skills needed for the digital era

One of the direct consequences of successful digital transformation is that the organization begins to aggregate data on all transactions and other interactions with its customers, analyze that data, and make decisions based on it. What a lot of leaders don’t take into consideration is that processing the data is a skill that doesn’t automatically come along with the transformation process. In fact, a majority of people lack this skill and require training to perform this job efficiently.

So, it’d be a good idea to educate your team on data processing (at least the basics) at the early stage of transformation to prevent them from feeling overwhelmed later on.

3. Value can be found through cost avoidance or reduction

When starting their digital transformation, leaders often ask themselves: “What are the specific measurable financial results that would justify this costly process?” And when trying to find an answer to this question, they’re usually looking for certain gains.

What’s actually more common is that digital transformation leads to certain tasks being eliminated or automated, which, in turn, reduces costs. In certain scenarios, the reduction percentage could be so high that business directions that used to demonstrate moderate profitability could suddenly turn into cash cows.

4. Good management is about making choices

Managers are evaluated by the decisions they make. Because of that, many are under pressure to make the decision here and now. Otherwise, everyone would think that they’re underperforming. In the digital era, the ability to choose not to make a decision (and, of course, provide a reasonable justification) is equally important and can sometimes really be the best option.

When a manager’s efficiency is evaluated, all the times they decided on inaction should be taken into account.

5. Organizations with a zero-training approach make adopting technology harder than it needs to be

Implementing new technology should always be accompanied by a means to educate the team on that technology. You shouldn’t assume that a product is intuitive enough to skip training. To use any technology efficiently, employees need to have a clear understanding of how to use it, why it’s important, and why they should use it.

This becomes even more important when the new technology is expected to become a driver of change in the organization and some crucial processes (and measurable business results associated with these new processes) depend on its successful implementation. So, it’s very important to provide the necessary training and ensure that your team has all the learning materials to reference afterward.

6. Accept failure!

Another aspect that the authors of “The Technology Takers” highlights several times is that technology takers like to experiment — if something could be done, someone would definitely try to do it. As long as such experiments are consistent with the organization’s mission and values, they should be encouraged.

One thing that’s inevitable here is that some of these experiments might end up failing. It’s important to understand that failure is imperative to organizational learning and may have significant long-term benefits.

This part actually resonated with me personally, because here at Wrike one of the guiding principles in our CSO organization is: “Fail gloriously!” Team members are encouraged to try, fail, get up, try something new, and so on. Making a mistake when trying something new is a never-ending source of fresh ideas, some of which have a significant positive impact on business.

7. Create strategic objectives for adapting to the digital era

None of the new technologies, approaches, and business processes could be successfully implemented if everyone thinks of them as side projects. To successfully launch digital transformation, all the key aspects need to be tied to the organizational strategy, operational plans, and individual KPIs. Otherwise, you’ll end up in a situation where everyone is constantly talking about the importance and benefits of digital transformation, but nothing actually happens.

I’ve selected these insights to share with you because they resonated most with what I’m doing here at Wrike. However, I’m sure that everyone will find their personal list of important things to be successful in the new world, where only the companies that have completed the process of digital transformation can retain strong positions on the markets. I’ll be happy to hear your thoughts and opinion on this book in the comment section.