Conx19 Day 1 – How to make, control and sustain a change?

Yesterday was my first day at Conx19. Great organization and inspiring speakers. I was reflecting on presentation and discussions. Here is my take on everything that was discussed and presented. It is about change management. Change is hard and it is the most unwelcoming thing for companies. It is hard to manage, it is hard to start and it is hard to sustain. In other words, the status quo wins. So, what can you do to 1/ explain the reason for the change; 2/ justify the change; 3/ make it happen?

Joseph Anderson from IpX asked a set of very painful questions about ROI for change management. It was a cry for change. What is a business justification not to kill people? Seriously?  IpX consulting seems to be the answer to some of these questions.

Upchain’s vision of PLM as a brain for change looks like a magic. But it introduce a complex process of data acquisition to understand a change and collaboration.

Cassandra Worthy brought a perspective of emotional element in the change.

Structured and process-oriented organization of change

And the interaction between domains and tools in an organization.

Peter Schroer’s of Aras brought the point of flexible PLM platforms to support the change

What is my conclusion? The change is hard and there are many aspects of change management. You need to combine technologies, process, and people to manage changes. Each individual element won’t make it happen. How to make it happen? Once you have an authority in a company to make it happen, things can work. But with the high dependence on the human factor, change management is still very fragile discipline. Just my thoughts…

Best, Oleg

Disclaimer: I’m co-founder and CEO of OpenBOM developing cloud-based bill of materials and inventory management tool for manufacturing companies, hardware startups, and supply chain. My opinion can be unintentionally biased.