The Budget That's Always Missing
You've budgeted for licenses, implementation, customization, integration, and data migration. You've got a project plan with phases, milestones, and dependencies. Everything is accounted for except the most important variable: whether anyone will actually use the new system.
Change management is the orphan line item that gets cut when budgets tighten. It seems soft and intangible compared to software licenses and consulting hours. You can see a check being written for implementation; you can't see the gradual erosion of adoption when change management is neglected.
And yet change management is often the difference between successful implementations and expensive failures. The system works technically, but nobody uses it effectively. The investment never delivers its promised ROI because the human side was neglected.
What Happens Without Change Management
The Workaround Culture
Users find ways to avoid the new system. Spreadsheets proliferate. Shadow processes emerge. Someone's personal tracking system becomes mission-critical. The "official" system becomes a dumping ground for data that needs to exist somewhere.
You've paid for NetSuite, but you're still running on Excel. The ERP is technically deployed but practically bypassed.
The Vocal Minority
A few loud complainers dominate the narrative. They had their preferred way of working; the new system disrupted it. Their resistance spreads. What started as individual preference becomes organizational skepticism.
The quiet majority who are willing to adapt don't advocate as loudly as the resisters complain. Perception becomes that "everyone hates the system" when really a few people hate it and most are neutral.
The Expertise Gap
Users know enough to get by but not enough to be efficient. They do in 20 clicks what should take 5. They don't know about keyboard shortcuts, saved searches, favorites, or bulk actions. They don't know what they don't know.
The system is capable; users aren't using the capability. Every day, they're working harder than they need to because nobody invested in teaching them the better way.
The Rollback Pressure
Six months in, someone suggests going back to the old system. It was imperfect, but at least people knew how to use it. The sunk cost of implementation fights the lived experience of frustrated users.
Rollback is rarely the right answer, but the pressure is real. It emerges when the human side of implementation was neglected and people genuinely struggle with the new reality.
What Change Management Actually Means
Communication Before, During, and After
Not just announcements—genuine dialogue. Why are we changing? What's the benefit? What will be different? What should people expect? What help is available?
Communication should start before the project, continue throughout, and persist after go-live. It should address concerns honestly rather than glossing over difficulties. It should acknowledge that change is hard while explaining why it's worth it.
Training That Sticks
Not a one-time webinar, but role-specific, hands-on training with follow-up. Several principles:
Role-specific: AP clerks need different training than executives
Hands-on: People learn by doing, not watching
Spaced repetition: Multiple sessions over time beat one marathon
Just-in-time: Training on features when people need them
Ongoing: Office hours, refresher sessions, advanced training as expertise grows
Initial training establishes basics. Follow-up reinforces and extends. Refresher addresses problems that emerge. Advanced training unlocks capabilities users didn't know existed.
Champions in Every Department
Power users who advocate for the system and help their peers. They're not IT staff or consultants—they're colleagues who speak the department's language and understand its challenges.
Champions need extra training, early access, and recognition. They become force multipliers for adoption, answering questions, sharing tips, and demonstrating what's possible.
Feedback Loops That Work
When users raise issues, something happens. Nothing kills adoption faster than feedback that disappears into a void.
This doesn't mean implementing every request. It means acknowledging feedback, explaining what can and can't be done, and actually fixing legitimate problems. Custom solutions can address issues that native features don't cover—but only if you know what the issues are.
Visible Leadership Support
When the CFO uses dashboards in meetings, when the CEO asks for NetSuite reports, users notice. Leadership behavior signals priority.
If leadership continues using their old spreadsheets while telling others to use NetSuite, the message is clear: the new system isn't really important. Leadership has to model the behavior they want.
The Math That Matters
A $200K implementation that achieves 50% adoption delivers $100K in value. A $250K implementation with proper change management that achieves 90% adoption delivers $225K in value. The extra investment in change management isn't cost—it's leverage.
Calculate adoption realistically. If half your users are still using spreadsheets, you're not getting full value. If processes still require workarounds, the ROI case was optimistic. Change management investment should be evaluated based on adoption achieved, not just training delivered.
The Real Secret
Here's what many change management discussions miss: users adopt systems that work for them.
The best change management is building solutions that actually make people's jobs easier. When the system is genuinely better—faster, simpler, more helpful—adoption follows naturally. People use tools that help them.
This means involving users in design. Understanding their actual workflows, not just their formal processes. Building customizations that address their pain points. Creating experiences that make their work better, not just different.
Change management that fights against a bad system will eventually fail. Change management that supports a good system will eventually succeed. Build something worth adopting, then help people adopt it.
