Strategic & Tactical Change

OTA Wheel People commit when change makes sense to them and outcomes are clear.
Parallel, disconnected initiatives that compete for management attention and resources foster a "wait-and-see" attitude. OTA associates are specialists in linking strategic change and program management frameworks, to help organizations realize the expected benefits from their IT-enabled business initiatives.


To view a diagram of the OTA Strategic/Tactical Change Model, click here.

Technology enabled projects often support or enable other business initiatives. For example an ERP implementation project might provide a common technology/process infrastructure to help integrate a new acquisition or launch a new customer service offering. Or an organization might have a portfolio of IT projects that are counted upon to enable the attainment of the strategic objectives in a five year plan.

Aligning separate projects or initiatives, all competing for the same resources, is the purpose of effective program management. OTA associates can facilitate the setup of an effective program management office that goes beyond the traditional "technical" dimension of program management.

Successful IT-enabled initiatives or transformations typically have the following strategic change elements :

  • A strategy that clearly articulates change drivers, options and a vision of the future state, as well as the leadership to carry it through
  • An assessment of the best practices in the industry and of the knowledge base required to implement and sustain the change
  • An understanding and commitment to manage the impact on current organizational behaviors, organizational structures and business processes
  • An effective benefits management framework that links change management to specific benefits targets while communicating to all stakeholders how progress will be measured and managed. After all, it is rarely possible to achieve benefits without change, and change needs to be measured and managed to be effective.

As the strategic elements of an IT-enabled change initiative have their importance, when the focus turns to the project level, the following tactical change elements are addressed:

Sponsorship: to minimize and manage resistance, a well planned and executed sponsorship strategy is necessary. OTA associates will ensure that sponsors will be provided with the appropriate traini*2154679ng, tools and support to enact the organizational change management activities required to attain the expected benefits.

Competency development: on one level, change agents need to acquire skills and competencies in communication, mitigation of organizational risks, as well as identifying and managing resistance to change. On another level, users need to acquire transactional skills as well as understand the operational impacts and the need for new behaviors brought on by the cross-functional processes being implemented.

Impact analysis: the analysis of business impacts as they relate to the organization on a macro level (processes and organizational structure) and on a micro level (individual roles and tasks)

Local transition management: having identified risks and done the impact analysis, local transition plans will be realized to minimize negative impacts on daily operations and service levels, while ensuring that the realization of benefits are attained at a faster rate.

Communication: without adequate information, people will expect the worst. The development of a sound communication strategy that enables all relevant parties to obtain and exchange information is the most effective element to reduce resistance. Activities, such as impact analysis workshops, risk mitigation planning, business process modeling workshops as well as the links to the strategic elements of change management provide the required input to enable effective communications.