Did you know that Microsoft estimates that companies will spend more than $9B in change management in 2019? $9 billion! Why in the world would you spend that much money on something that you can’t touch, or moreover, can’t sell/resell to the market? Because it’s change management that allows us to operationally function to get those products to market or manage them on the back end. While we may still sell those products without having any effective change management around them, what if we lose our shirts because we’re terribly inefficient on the front or the back ends?
Prosci (Change Management thought leadership body) data tells us that 70-80% of the ROI from our investments is driven by people behaving in desired ways. For years, we didn’t prioritize the people aspects and our programs suffered or even failed. We bled cash. Companies, some more than others, are starting to realize this and investing.
Investing is “to put (money) to use, by purchase or expenditure, in something offering potential profitable returns, as interest, income, or appreciation in value.” (Dictionary.com) When we spend money on change management, we’re investing in our return. We’re making sure we get it.
Companies invest in change management in a couple of ways. Most commonly, they’ll hire consultants. This is a typical reaction when something, in this case a capability, is new or foreign to them. They’ll bring the expertise to get the desired return. However, we’re seeing more companies recognize that the need for change management is not a passing fancy. It’s required on everything we do. Not just yesterday and today, but tomorrow, too. They know they could always outsource this work to consultants, but it’s likely more practical to start building this capability in house. They’re going to need it.
Either way, this is great news for change management practitioners, or those who desire to be change management practitioners. The fields are ripe, and will only get riper as we engage in bigger, more complex, and more people-impacting projects. What’s a $9.2B field today will continue to grow in the coming years. Frankly speaking, we have to get the change management aspects right. Our companies, and even our economy, depend on it.