Change Management Process

As workers look for better work-life balance and employers need to find talent to fill vital roles, telecommuting can accomplish both goals. More people are looking for the option of remote work when looking for a new job. Companies need developers, security experts, and devops professionals to lead digital transformation work and secure the enterprise. IT Change Management is the process of requesting, analyzing, approving, developing, implementing, and reviewing a planned or unplanned change within the IT infrastructure. The Change Management Process begins with the creation of a Change Request within the company’s selected technology platform. It ends with the satisfactory implementation of the change and the communication of the result of that change to all interested parties. Several studies show that the trend toward telecommuting is not going away. Even if telework is not the norm for your company, it can be an important tool to use during a regional or national crisis. Most companies can best navigate telecommuting jobs by setting clear expectations, roles, and responsibilities and using collaborative platforms. Telecommuting is becoming more of a business strategy than a perk for small companies looking to find the right people. To achieve this, the change management process includes the following primary steps (note that all information collected in the steps below is documented in a Change Record created in the company’s selected technology platform):

• Formally Request a Change. All requests for change will be documented within the company’s selected technology platform by creating a new change record. The completion of a new request for change will be completed by the Change Coordinator with input from the Change Requester. • Categorize and Prioritize the Change. The Change Coordinator will assess the urgency and the impact of the change on the infrastructure, end user productivity, and budget.

• Analyze and Justify the Change. The Change Coordinator works with the change requester and the change initiator to develop specific justification for the change and to identify how the change may impact the infrastructure, business operations, and budget. The Change Coordinators use this information to further research and develop an extensive risk and impact analysis. When completing the analysis of the change, the Change Coordinator must ensure they consider the business as well as the technical impacts and risks.

• Approve and Schedule the Change. The Change Coordinator uses the company’s selected technology platform to record an efficient process for routing the Request for Change (RFC) to the Change Coordinator, technical approvers, business approvers and, in the event of a major or significant change, to the Change Advisory Board (CAB) for approval or rejection of the change. • Plan and Complete the Implementation of the Change. This process includes developing the technical requirements, reviewing the specific implementation steps and then completing the change in a manner that will minimize impact on the infrastructure and end users.

• Post-Implementation Review. A post-implementation review is conducted to ensure whether the change has achieved the desired goals. Post-implementation actions include deciding to accept, modify or back-out the change; contacting the end user to validate success; and finalizing the change documentation within the company’s selected technology platform.

Our observation of clients and case studies found that telecommuting two or three days a week seems to create the right balance between working at home and working at the office. These industries have the highest percentages of people who telecommute: Healthcare at 15%, Technology at 10%, and Financial Services at 9%, relative to their share of the total workforce.