Les bénéfices du changement pour l'entreprise

The benefits of change for the company

Reading time: 18 min

July 25, 2024

AUTOR
Pascal NAPARTY
CEO & Founder

In a nutshell

To adapt to new market needs, to integrate new technologies that will allow it to innovate, to improve ways of doing things and increase margins, to comply with new government or environmental regulations, to improve the customer experience, to offer a better climate to its employees... the company has no choice: it must change.

By definition, change is an action which generates a modification of state, and which generates stress and discomfort in human beings. Any change potentially affects processes, organizations, tools or technologies and generates risks. Change has a cost. It is therefore normal to hesitate, to weigh the pros and cons.

Resistance to change comes from the men and women who operate the company on a daily basis. If they are not included in the change process, they will react out of fear of not being able to keep up with the change and losing the stability of life that their job provided.

Change is not enough. It has to be accepted. The company must therefore work skillfully to get its employees to embrace change.

The consequences of a change refused by employees: (1) costs (2) a distraction which defocuses productivity (3) a loss of confidence (4) managerial difficulties (5) a deterioration of communication (6) a poor reputation of the company on the market (7) concern from customers and partners

The benefits of successful change: (1) improved climate and motivation (2) improved performance (3) innovation (4) attraction of new talent (5) positive customer reception and partners (6) an increase in staff skills (7) a gain in agility and motivation.

Introduction

Businesses have no choice: to survive and grow, they must adapt and change.
However, change must happen quickly and at low cost, in order to keep the focus on growth and productivity, while protecting the financial balance. It must include management to develop an entrepreneurial spirit, foster creativity and encourage innovation.

To achieve this, the company must develop strong values which will be the principles understood by everyone, and which will guide decision-making and behavior in the company. The company may therefore need to modify its value system to maintain its growth, get back on a winning trajectory or emerge from a crisis.

This study presents important examples of change for the company. It will give you ideas to better understand the inevitable but above all to be able to articulate the benefits of change with your collaborators.

We will develop the following topics:

The values that the company must develop to better cope with change
Hybrid work
Digital transformation
Adoption of new technologies
The evolution of the organization

The values that the company must develop

Human values
We all know that resistance to change begins with the resistance of men and women in the company. The company must therefore demonstrate its benevolence, empathy and honesty on a daily basis towards its employees, but also towards the external: customers and partners. By developing these values, the company demonstrates its desire to establish authentic relationships. This will help it obtain the same or similar consideration from stakeholders in return.

Commitment values
The company that demonstrates a commitment to results and efficiency, that assumes its responsibilities, that directs its decisions towards objectives, that wants to maximize productivity and profitability by measuring the convergence of initiatives, is recognized for its value creation . This core value will reassure stakeholders that each change has an overall positive objective for everyone.

The values of reinvention
Creativity, innovation, partnerships are all examples that demonstrate the company's determination to reinvent itself. She sends the message that she knows how to explore, experiment, that she is curious in the interest of the company and its employees. She also shows her open-mindedness and flexibility. In a way, her colleagues perceive her as original and full of energy. This core value will help to gain acceptance of the subject of change.

The values of excellence
The daily development of quality, continuous improvement, the incentive to exceed reliability standards, to follow an internal or external file with rigor are all qualities which testify to the excellence sought by the company. Naturally, employees will associate the decision to change announced by the company as a normal and natural step in its evolution.

Hybrid work

Among the changes facing companies is the subject of teleworking. An article in the Harvard Business Review (Oct. 2023) reports that companies are struggling to convince employees to return to the office full time.

The post-COVID reality is generating ongoing debates about the acceptable number of days employees should work face-to-face. If we see a behavioral change among workers, on the other hand this situation is to the delight of certain companies which rented offices at exorbitant prices, and which took advantage of this situation to drastically reduce their costs while reworking a culture of virtual business. However, these companies are now under pressure from governments and cities to restore the dynamics of business districts.

To implement a good return to office strategy, it is important to understand (1) the needs of the work (2) the needs of the people (3) the way in which the work is carried out (4) a new adapted managerial model.

When this hybrid work policy is stabilized, it will allow the company to reduce its office costs, allow employees to have a more balanced quality of life and will also contribute to reducing the carbon footprint by reducing home-office-home transports.

Digital transformation

Digital transformation is one of the major challenges that companies must address.

But what is it about exactly ?
In 2000 the world population was 6.1 billion and there were 360 million people connected to the internet.
In 2022 the world population was 7.9 billion, of which 5 billion are connected to the internet.
Digital transformation, is the initiative which consists of positioning the company's business model on the path of 5 billion connected people, in order to increase opportunities for the company.

So what are the steps to get there?
In fact there are many and they all depend on the current situation of the company, its ability to embrace changes but also the desire of its management to enter into this continuous process.
Digital transformation therefore consists of a plan adapted to each company which will gradually lead it to make its operations digital so that it is connected end-to-end between its market, its customers, its partners, its suppliers, its employees. ...to enable the reduction of sales cycles, increase innovation and improve production.
It naturally induces a change in the business model, leading traditional sales to become a subscription broken down by level of service offered.

Concretely where to start?
To access the potential gains of this market of 5 billion humans, the company must start by establishing a digital data repository.
We are talking in the industry about the “PLM Cleansing” stage. PLM stands for Product Lifecycle Management in English. Cleansing means cleanliness. The idea is to establish the data model that the company needs and deploy it on a platform that will be accessible to each employee. We eliminate systems that do not talk to each other. All data and workflows are centralized and secure.
Thus knowledge will begin to be centralized and will be capitalized. Everyone will be able to access the required information at the right time and will be able to make the decisions or take the expected actions.

Once this step has been completed, it will then become possible to integrate specialized tools, to imagine, to reinvent ways of doing things by digitalizing sales, collaborations, production and inventories, customer follow-ups, personnel management, etc.

This step will also be important to be able to quickly implement:

Regulatory management
Compliance monitoring
Carbon footprint assessment processes
Company data security protocols
Personal data management protocols
But also to extend the data model according to needs

The change in digital transformation is significant. It requires leadership commitment and active contribution from the management team.

It's a journey! That is to say that each step announces a next one.

There will be significant investments and returns on investment
There will be new possibilities and therefore access to new markets
There will be new jobs and therefore new careers
There will be innovation and therefore added value.

New technology adoption

Digital transformation is a growth strategy. It induces the adoption of new technologies which are tactics. The new technology aims to offer new possibilities for employees, but also for the products and services marketed by the company.

Whether it is CAD, PLM, ERP, AI, IOT, cloud (the list goes on), adopting a new technology is a significant change for the company.

It requires first of all technological monitoring, monitoring of trends, and exchange with other explorers.

It requires understanding your attitude towards innovation and transformation.

There are three categories of behavior:

The “Explorators” of change are few in number (less than 10% of companies). They are the first to explore the use of new technology and to reinvent their business model. They often create or adapt technology with the support of partners. These companies seek continuous digital improvement.
The “Fast Followers” adopt technology when it has proven itself. They do not benefit from the advantage of surprise but they quickly transform all or part of their operations to maximize the value of the technology. These companies view digital transformation as finished programs, rather than an ongoing process.
The “Optimizors”, these companies deploy limited technologies and/or in limited areas. Technology is not an important catalyst for change for them. They constitute 10% of companies engaged in this type of initiative.

It is also important to carefully analyze the potential of the technology, and to evaluate the benefits accordingly to the standard version of the technology (the out of the box version), but also by planning improvements (cutomized version). It's always about building competitive advantages and certain differentiators could make the difference.

The estimation of the impacts on the processes, on the organization and on the tools will give two budgetary projections:

An optimistic view (lowest cost, rapid change, immediate adoption)
A pessimistic view (higher cost, difficult change and gradual adoption)

With these elements, the team responsible for exploring the new technology will present their findings and recommendations to management and the governance teams.
The company will then decide whether (or not) to give the green light to the program for the next financial year.

Being accompanied by an external firm can often help to accelerate the exploration and selection process by more quickly implementing the criteria of choice but also of success. It is usual to see these same firms take responsibility for supporting the deployment of the chosen solutions.

Develop the organization

Overall we understand that a change potentially affects the following three dimensions:

Processes
Tools and technologies
Organizations

Adapting the organization is a delicate change whose impacts must be carefully evaluated. First of all, we must not impact the production and invoicing process. Then we must accommodate the careers and aspirations of all the top talents, so as not to lose know-how. It’s also an opportunity to clean up and reposition underperformers in positions that better suit them.
Finally, it means redistributing certain responsibilities and redefining performance measurement procedures.

In many cases this will also result in an amendment to the employment contract to reflect the changes made.

In all cases, a clear, direct and precise communication will be required. With question and answer sessions to allow all employees to understand the changes and accept them.

There are several organizational models:

The organic structure, also called solar structure in the image of the business manager who "radiates" at the center of his organization (classic diagram of SMB),
The functional structure, which allows the organization of the collective by optimal distribution of work and responsibilities. It is the second stage in the life of a company (management, accounting, finance, marketing, sales, IT support, etc.),
The divisional structure, which introduces the notion of a distinct and autonomous homogeneous unit.
The matrix structure, which is a mix of vertical and horizontal organizations.

In order to accelerate the deployment of new changes, it may be wise to review the organization, to modify it, enlarge it, transform it.

Conclusion

Change in business is inevitable. A good definition of the fundamentals, and a good mastery of business processes, will make it possible to highlight the priorities and emergencies for the health of the company, and for its future.

The benefits of change are multiple and affect both internal and external. It can bring measurable gains on the optimization of processes, the improvement of tasks with new technologies, or jsut the simplification of complex tasks allowing a reduction in cycles, an increase in quality and therefore an improvement in margins.

Change management must be anticipated, prepared and managed as a project. The success of the change will lead to tangible and intangible benefits, and will directly affect the work climate. Poor change management will distract the organization and call into question the confidence of management and the management team.

It is essential for the business manager to master this aspect and put himself in a winning position where all employees will promote the company's values.

If you don't have enough time or lack skills, get help on this subject. Approaches such as "Zones to Win" will allow you to better frame each investment and to manage each initiative with a suitable context, the objective of which may be different: exploration, transformation, performance or support. The potential and challenges are considerable with change.