Technology can have a significant influence on change within an organization, and even in the best interest of the organization, change can often be met with resistance. The purpose of this slide deck is to highlight why organizations may be resistant to change, specifically when implementing cloud solutions.

1. Cloud Governance: Mitigating
Resistance to Change

2. Table of Contents
1
2
3
4
Vision and Strategy
Cultural Barriers
Personnel Issues
Education and Communication

3. Vision and Strategy
Without a clearly defined vision and
strategy, there is an increased challenge
of obtaining stakeholder buy-in, which
often results in failed cloud
implementations. For this reason, nearly
70 percent of significant change initiatives
in organizations fail, according to recent
research.
It is the leadership’s responsibility to
ensure there is a clearly defined cloud
vision and a unified strategy to implement
that vision. In addition, there must be a
measurable business value that will be
achieved as a result of implementing this
strategy.

4. Cultural Barriers
Other forms of resistance can come
from cultural barriers, specifically
employees’ unwillingness to adapt to a
change in technology. This is often
caused by fear of the unknown, or
complacency with existing procedures.
Uncertainty about the impact the
cloud could have on the
employee’s job function can lead
to fears around job security, for
example.
Years of habits, and the “we’ve
always done it this way” mentality
can be difficult to change,
especially if employees who are
familiar with specific systems are
afraid or unwilling to develop new
skills needed after implementation.
Employees may also be worried
about increased performance
expectations due to the efficiency
gained from the cloud.

5. Personnel Issues
Another challenge faced when
implementing a change such as the
cloud, is resistance by those who will
be directly affected, specifically IT
personnel. It is the responsibility of
management to help IT staff transition
from a tactical to a strategic support
role within the organization.
This consists of aiding in the training,
implementation and support of the
cloud solution, according to
management and IT researcher
Jodine Burchell.
Another common form of resistance
by personnel can come from
management who may be
responsible for implementing the
cloud solution. Their resistance may
stem from fear of failure of the overall
project, which could have negative
implications on their status.

6. Education and Communication
The success of any cloud
implementation relies on effective
communication with the overall
organization. As leadership consultant
Jennifer Wilson states:
“To successfully manage change,
organizational leaders must
strategically design, execute, and
communicate their change strategy
with the same focus and intent that
they spend conceiving of the change,”
Wilson wrote in a recent article
published in the Journal of
Accountancy. “If they don’t invest in
this effort and carefully coordinate
change implementation, they run the
risk that the planned change will fail.”
All stakeholders must understand
why the change is occurring, and how
it will benefit the organization. This is
achieved by tailoring the strategy to
address specific resistances by
extensive communication
beforehand, adequate training on the
new system, and accessible post-
migration support. Sufficient
communication with the organization
ensures staff is adequately and
accurately informed of what will and
will not change.

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