Bringing the Change in Finance

This is the 5th blog post in my series  about "Challenges for FP&A in the world of Big Data" Here are the links to previous posts:
1. ERP systems Adapting to Big Data
2. Process Change in Budgeting & Forecasting
3. Data Scientist as a job function within FP&A
4. Finance as the Gatekeeper in the era of Big Data

Now lets talk about Change Management.

Let me start by saying that I am not a change management expert . But I have lived through a number of changes and transformation within different companies.
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Heraclitus correctly said " The only thing that is constant is change"

Organizations are always going through change - some brought about due to changes in the market, some brought about due to change in the direction of the company, change in leadership - whatever it may be. We seem to be a period of constant change. I strongly believe that in order to survive in today's world  one has to be "very" comfortable with change. Look at the pace that new technologies are being adopted everywhere  - in all facets of our lives.  Yes some people have to be pushed towards it a little bit more than others - but people who are not ready for change have a tough time surviving in this economy.  

So when we talk about " change management" - I think it is more about really defining the scope of a particular change and managing the planning and execution of it.  One of the strong beliefs that runs in the companies today is that since " we have been doing things a certain way " we have to hire consultants in order  to bring about a  real change. So in comes an army of consultants  who runs the analysis and tells the company - this  is how you have to do the change.  I don't think this is necessarily wrong but  do we need to discount the talent that exists within the company.

We are all trying to do "more with less". With big data the challenge of change becomes even more difficult . As mentioned by the Harvard Business Article "Big Data : The Management Revolution"  the three key differences in this big data revolution vs increased analytics is  volume, velocity and variety  of the data we are getting.  So the change management within this becomes even more important - since the outside markets are changing at a very fast pace.

I believe that there a few fundamental principles that need to be followed within such a pace of change management:

Project Team 

1. Executive Sponsor: Every  major change project needs a champion or a leader. 
2. Find the experts within your function  and  dedicate them 100% to this project ( this should not be a " development" or "stretch" opportunity for someone) - This internal team of experts should do the initial analysis of processes that need a change, define scope of change , budgets and timelines. This team of experts should be given the access to extract data from various sources and  be given the highest priority during the time of planning.  This team should also be responsible for execution and delivery. 
3. Hire a consultant - But remember the consultant works for you. The consultants can bring in the knowledge of industry and provide advice but the deep dive analysis , opportunity mapping, scope definition  etc should be performed by internal experts / employees
4. Have a dedicated project manager (s) 
5. Communicate  regularly
6. Plan  how to measure the impact and then measure it - Understand the KPIs that should be measured as well as how these will be calculated should be agreed upon before the projects / changes begin.
7. Be Agile: As  teams start executing the projects / changes, more unknown items are discovered which might require course correction or change of goals - be agile and open to change within a project

So lets get ready for the change  with "Big Data" revolution.