The Cisco Centers of Expertise focuses on establishing best practices for change management, project management, and business leadership. The Change Management COE helps organizations successfully manage complex IT environments and ensure people are ready and willing to operate in new business environments. It uses the Next Generation Change Leadership framework which is an eight-step approach to change management. When change management programs are executed well, projects achieve a 143% return on investment, whereas poor change management leads to only a 35% ROI. The COE provides expertise to deliver optimal economic benefits through expert management of change processes.

1. CHANGE MANAGEMENT
CENTER OF EXPERTISE
Cisco Global Strategy & Operations
Managing Highly Complex IT Environments
Organizations install IT infrastructure in order to operate, compete, and grow in today’s dynamic and
challenging business environment and to achieve the objectives of financial, operational, and market success.
Such IT investment accelerates the pace, reach, and agility of business, but also introduces complexity. The
Centers of Expertise (COE) is a Cisco community that is focused on establishing best practices and standards
for change management, project management, program management, and business leadership. The Cisco®
Global Strategy & Operations (GS&O) COEs have been created to help client organizations successfully
manage complexity, maintain higher levels of control, and leverage their IT infrastructure to align with
business goals.
Change Management Center of Expertise: Cisco uses the Next Generation Change Leadership
Leading the Way (NGCL) Framework as the foundation for its change
Change management helps ensure that people and management approach. The GS&O Change
organizations are ready and willing to operate in a new Management methodology follows this framework and
business environment, and is a critical component of uses its core components to execute the business
all projects. The mission of the Change Management strategy as part of a repeatable process (Figure 1).
COE is to help sustain productivity, decrease Figure 1. Cisco GS&O Eight-Step Next Generation Change
learning difficulty, and increase overall customer Leadership Approach
satisfaction during transition periods. Cisco believes Create a Sense Build the
of Urgency Leadership Team
that successful change leadership is driven by key
1 2
behaviors. Specifically, change leadership:
• Is a structured approach to understanding and Make Get the
Change Stick Vision Right (VSE)
implementing sustainable change.
8
3
• Is embedded in how we lead and is modeled by Next Gen
leaders. Change
• Has a primary goal of getting the affected audiences Embed it into Communicate
7
4
the Culture for Buy-In
from the current business state to the desired
future state as quickly and efficiently as possible 6 5
by addressing the following questions: What is
Create Short- Mobilize the
changing? Who has to change? What will it take to term Wins Organization
get them to change?
(Adapted from John P. Kotter, Leading Change)
PAGE 1

2. Change Management, Business Impact, A critical factor in successful change management
and Project Success is tight integration of project goals with the project
Expertise and excellence in change management management plan. Change management activities
have a measurable positive effect on a project’s should be embedded within the plan so that when the
success and economic impact. A study by McKinsey project timeline or scope changes during execution,
& Company examined multiple projects across 40 the change management approach and activities
different companies and industries to determine the naturally shift and align with the affected project
business impact of change management. The study activities.
examined many project variables and, in particular,
Proven Cisco GS&O Change
the effect of an organizational change management
(OCM) program on a project’s return on investment Management Approach
(ROI). When an excellent OCM program was part Cisco’s Change Management COE has established
of the initiative, the project ROI was 143 percent. an approach based on proven models developed by
When there was a poor OCM program, or no change industry thought leaders. This helps ensure that the
management program, the project achieved an ROI of change process is expertly managed to deliver an
only 35 percent. The most successful companies in optimum economic benefit to the organization.
the McKinsey study had excellent OCM programs.
More Information
To find out more about GS&O Change Management COE practices, and how the Cisco GS&O Centers of
Expertise can deliver best-in-class services for your organization, please contact:
Warren Leak
Manager, Advanced Services
Email: wleak@cisco.com
Phone: +44 20 8824 8696
The Cisco Centers of Expertise (COE) is a community that is focused on establishing best practices and standards
for change management, project management, program management, and business leadership. We strive to develop
and increase knowledge in these areas for the execution of programs, initiatives, and new service offerings within the
Cisco Global Strategy and Operations team.
The COE is composed of the following areas of focus:
• Change Management: Includes the processes that are used to ensure that people and organizations are ready and
willing to operate in a new business environment.
• Program and Project Management: Includes the planning, organizing, and managing of resources to bring about the
successful completion of specific project goals and objectives.
• Business Leadership: Includes the organizational skills and processes needed to enhance business value and
achieve business goals in alignment with stakeholder vision and expectations.
• Business Architecture: Includes processes to support alignment with customer needs and IT technology roadmaps.
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