Here are a few recurring questions to help you get going with the ChangeVU digital platform.
Why ChangeVU? What’s different from other change management methods, approaches or platforms?
The ChangeVU implementation platform differentiates itself in the change implementation space along three dimensions. The first is approaching change management as implementation activities that can be assessed via a risk framework over an implementation time period. Second, those activities can be tracked and evaluated in real time. Third, ChangeVU enables these factors and dimensions to be rated by individuals, groups and other organizational entities, and these subjective perceptions, viewpoints and inputs captured and compared in a completely confidential environment.
The result is that real-time changes internal to the organization can be continually validated in the light of different baseline success factors. With repeated use, tracking changes with these parameters can be digitalized to enable custom dashboards and other automated processes to indicate implementation success paths in real time for teams.
What does that mean for you? No 3-day workshops to learn about change management. To the contrary, you can immediately access and begin working on your change and use ChangeVU's applications to fill the gaps of where you need to go and what you need to do as you go. ChangeVU brings together change methods, activities, data – and a place to track it – all in one place.
ChangeVU’s approach combines depth and expertise in large scale change implementation together with digital and automated change processes. The various applications harness today’s technology (digitalization, automation and change analytics) to bring to life real-time data of most relevance to change implementation team actions and processes.
ChangeVU enables organizations to baseline, track and improve according to the 3 key dimensions of change: Return on Change Investment, Return on Change Engagement and Return on Change Knowledge Management & Infrastructure.
You’re a start-up. How do you ensure long-term support and availability?
ChangeVU is actually not a start-up company. It’s a digital platform. Straticom Technologies is the company that developed ChangeVU and has been incorporated in Geneva since 2011. The R&D company that continues to develop ChangeVU™ is incorporated since 2016 and is based in Toronto. The ChangeVU™ change implementation software productivity platform was first released in 2017. Straticom was originally set up in 1996 in Geneva as a consulting, advisory and services delivery organization specializing in formulating and delivering solutions for business transformation and change management.
What is your data and security protocol?
ChangeVU is committed to protecting your privacy. Security measures such as restricted access to offices and information, the use of passwords and encryption and implementing and complying with the ISO 27001 Information Security standard have been adopted to protect your Personal/Company Information against loss or theft, as well as unauthorized access, disclosure, copying, use or modification. ChangeVU employees have been trained to respect your privacy and those employees with access to your Personal Information shall use your Personal Information strictly in accordance with the ChangeVU Privacy Policy and the laws applicable to ChangeVU business. The ChangeVU platform is a SAAS solution and all communication between your computer/tablet/mobile device and the ChangeVU platform is encrypted and secured via SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) and TLS (Transport Layer Security).
How long have you been around?
As a software platform ChangeVU™ was first trade registered in 2016. As a professional service organization providing doing advisory, consulting, research and program evaluation in successful change implementation, Straticom Technologies sarl was incorporated 7 years prior to that in Geneva (the R&D entity was incorporated in Toronto in 2016). Straticom has been run as a sole proprietorship consultancy in change and transformation since 1996.
Who is using you?
The ChangeVU platform is being used in a wide variety of installation situations and by a widely differing spectrum of companies. From a user perspective, ChangeVU is used by individuals and teams mostly. There are numerous applications, all focussed on engaging the organization in tasks aimed at reducing ambiguity, improving alignment & creating the opportunity to re-align once further changes occur. Second, is the perspective of organizations using ChangeVU. Aside from the classic large organization situation which uses ChangeVU to digitalize, standardize and automate elements of their change implementation workflow, there is a wide range including research and educational organizations using ChangeVU to explore various learning dimensions in change implementation, not-for-profit organizations assessing change implementation risks, large organizations putting private-label e-learning modules to automate & standardize learning on change implementation, and many other public and private organizations at various stages of maturity in digitizing their change implementation processes.
What type of analytics do you do?
Data analytics and the possibilities opening to organizations (via IoT (Internet of Things), ML (Machine Learning), AI (Artificial Intelligence), robotics & automation) have grown rapidly in the last few years. Organizations stand to benefit enormously. In the change management and implementation space, the story is no different.
Digitization and digitalization of the change space is occurring rapidly, enabling live implementation dashboards, instantaneous feedback loops, real-time updates of digital dashboards, and virtual engagement that will approach and soon overtake face-to-face engagement in its effectiveness and ability to engage and reduce resistance to change.
Many organizations are at different stages in this journey, and accordingly will benefit by matching correctly their needs for real-time and other data with the type of analytics best suited to their needs. ChangeVU addresses all three dimensions of data analytics for change: descriptive analytics, predictive analytics and prescriptive analytics.
ChangeVU focuses on the first two analytics categories - descriptive and predictive analytics. For the most part, the time-sensitivity and the challenge of gathering, collating and bringing together previously unrelated or un-connected data from different parts of the organization means that change implementation can be significantly enhanced through descriptive analytics. When you had no idea that implementation risk enabled you to compare and contrast risk appetites, and that that is a leading indicator of resistance, just knowing that can be revealing. It can also be threatening - and so such information needs to be carefully evaluated so that it can be used in the most helpful way.
The second type of analytics, predictive, is the ability to make sense of situations and choices from chaotic situations, where ambiguity and/or lack of data is high. Or, conversely, where choices and ambiguities stemming from an overload of data is high. In such situations, it’s not the answer per se that is important, but the “top 3” factors that are known to be present - and testing for them - that brings value. When situations are fluid and unknowns are high, predictive analytics in change implementation bring significant value by identifying previously unseen patterns, reducing ambiguity and unknowns, and enabling hypothesis testing to create success pathways faster and at significantly lower cost to the organization.
The third dimension, prescriptive analytics, enables organizations to make statements about situations with extremely high degrees of confidence. It’s very likely that you will rise in the morning and stand up, given that a significant data set exists that demonstrates that that is exactly what happens when sleep ends and the day begins. Such high-confidence statements are examples of prescriptive analytics, and also increasingly they are finding their way into the change implementation space.
Is there a minimum or maximum project size to use ChangeVU’s platform or applications?
The short answer is no - you could use ChangeVU’s SuccessProfilor and other applications to plan, mobilize, design, build, evaluate & monitor the success path for a small project with only one location and one change. You would not maximize the return of all of the platform’s features of course.
That occurs in our experience at a minimum of either 100 people (i.e. 1 team of 10 and a number of wider dispersed implementation teams) or where the practical limits of meeting physically are reached. In other words, the more your situation tends toward virtual working and/or multiple layers of strategic, operational and tactical decision-making units and/or geographic regions that span time-zones. And in particular, where benefits can be gained from the automation and digitalization of change activities.
In terms of project size, as your project tends towards higher levels of complexity ChangeVU’s platform becomes more relevant. Complexity dimensions include the number of initiatives in the portfolio exceeding 20-25, the time span for implementation going beyond 2 years (suggesting adoption as well as installation objectives), the impacted community tending towards multiple layers (i.e. global, regional and local implementation teams, or more complex multi-stakeholder organizations such as public-private-community partnerships), or where the implementation portfolio consists of running initiatives across functional or business lines and hierarchies.
With respect to reaching a maximum size, there are certainly well known special case conditions for what are known as “mega-projects”. In our experience ChangeVU’s platform can still be applied to these special projects. Typically, dimensions of these projects are consistent with ChangeVU’s model, with even more stringent focus brought bear on governance, sponsorship, decision-making & gating actions and owners.
How much does it cost?
One-off limited use licenses for single-use ChangeVU applications can either be trialed for free or accessed for as little as USD$299/user. Pro and Enterprise versions of these applications (i.e. unlimited use licenses for up to a year) can be available at around $99-$150/user. The Enterprise version of the platform can be custom configured, and a base installation of a minimum of 3 applications for one year per function or business unit is required.
Where do I begin?
(This response focuses on how one might consider using the ChangeVU™ implementation platform. For the answer to “Where do I begin” regarding setting yourself up for success in Change Management, see our change implementation FAQ).
With the ChangeVU, platform, the answer of ‘where do I begin’ has two distinct dimensions - one regarding where you are in your change; and second, where you are in automating and digitizing your change infrastructure & delivery resources.
Re the first, where you are in your change, some initial considerations we would check for include:
- knowing the complexity of the total portfolio
- and the change component of the portfolio - and how relatively large or small the change part is.
- gating and governance - how widespread norms are (vs need to be); phasing
- change agent network - how central vs local; how “fit-for-purpose”
- change infrastructure - how integrated or automated you are vs need to be.
In other words, how “set up for success” are you for the change you’re dealing with. With that, you could begin thinking of your needs for advisory and “infrastructure” support, and what configurations would work more optimally for you.
With respect to the second dimension, some initial considerations would include:
- Where is there the most to be gained by “digitizing”? At its most basic this would be standardizing and replicating change processes and “know how” - change knowledge sharing. Some examples include common “rapid start-up” processes to get change teams going; repetitive components that can be templated and shared; and digital delivery options such as change e-learning, or automating data gathering activities (pulse checks) to feed live digital change dashboards and action planners.
- Virtual working. To the extent that organizations are moving to much more virtual working, optimizing change delivery services between virtual and face-to-face to match user needs has proven itself cost and impact effective time and again. Looking at your needs for “just in time” change capability delivery is a good starting point to evaluate how much of your change can be - or should be - done virtually.
- Degree of urgency: ChangeVU as a digital platform can be piloted and fed into the organization in small doses over time. It can also be used to address urgent issues, and create needed one-off insights - and then be pulled out again. Knowing your needs from an urgency perspective can help decide between short term urgencies and longer term capability building considerations through digital and automated solutions.
Hopefully, wherever you are in your stage, there will be something worthwhile to gained from the Journey!
How do I contact ChangeVU?
E-mail: hello@changevu.com