Nobody would deny the fact that information technologies are one of the most prominent aspects in the majority of human’s activities. Information technologies have its constantly developing industry so that information systems have to change on a regular basis. Doubtless, process of changing is rather complicated and does not have to be conducted without any preliminary preparations. Therefore, a separate branch of industry has emerged. It is a so-called change management, which is immersed in the environment of information technologies. This process includes a wide range of peculiarities that is why the need for their description is quite obvious. Taking these points into account, it is to be admitted that the following paper lingers upon the description of the essence of change management in the environment of information technologies.
To be more specific, the paper gives the overall description initially. The term of change management is defined in terms of this section. Then, the study describes change management in IT environment from the perspective of its factual processes. Besides that, it is becoming increasingly apparent that change management can be applied to business projecting and development of software. The paper gives an account to this evidence, as well. It is worth saying that the following paper is primarily focused on the theoretical side of change management in IT environment that is why it does not suggest any empirical solutions and recommendations. As the thesis and the layout of the paper have been outlined it is necessary to proceed to the next section.
Overall Description
To begin with, it is necessary to clarify exactly what is meant by the word combination change management. In fact, the software and IT sphere refer this term to the processes and systems of management of software and hardware revisions. This procedure, however, also involves business and developing projects, as well (Creasey & Hiatt, 2003, p.11). The change management in the environment of information technologies serves the function of safe and organized switch on a new layout of the system, which is underpinned by the relevant methodology. Namely, change management secures the information system from the external malicious influence, provides proper rearrangement of the system regarding newly negotiated policies, and updates the system to a higher level of organization and performance. As the definition of change management suggests, it can be applied not only to information systems, but to the entire business, as well. Likewise, change management is also a helpful tool in terms of software development. These cases will be given details later.
Speaking about the advantages of change management in IT environment, it is worth saying that it enables the system to face numerous changes concerning knowledge management initiatives such as implementation of new technical solutions and reorganization of knowledge sharing culture within a company. Needless to say, changes are always a challenge for any organization and its employees. That is why change management guarantees a step-by-step switch on a new layout without much stress to the organization (Khosrow-Pour, 2014, p.3). At the same time, change itself is a challenge for the information system and the organization though. Hence, change management requires additional costs, planning, and estimation of risks and benefits. This procedure is compulsory in the majority of cases because internal change without any plan is obviously a preposterous decision.
Therefore, the managing team has to pay attention to the modelling of change management in IT environment. It is the main points concerning the overall description of change management in IT environment. Hence, the study moves on the next section.
Observation of Process
Speaking about the processes of change management in IT environment, it is necessary to admit that it includes procedures regarding hardware, communication, software, and related documentation. In such a way, operations with the hardware usually presuppose a rearrangement of a so-called critical chain, which means a sequence of hardware’s involvement in the operations.
Setting the limits to the chain is the most frequent procedure concerning change management of hardware. Doubtless, it has certain implications. As long as the system is supposed to be changed, the estimation of load has to adjust to these changes. A reasonable division of operations per particular period or unit is crucial in this case because the system may become overloaded (Betz, 2011, p.157). Potential loads can be underestimated, as well. Such cases usually imply the other unit being overloaded or a loss of data. This is the main implication concerning change management of hardware.
In a like manner, change management of communication faces the same implications. Communication is tending to lower or increase extremely in one single element of the system so that a lack of balance is evident. There is a wide range of approaches concerning change management of communication in IT environment, but it is important to note that disabling of communication during the period of change is the worst decision. That is why it is important to design a temporal model of communication even though it minimizes the speed of operations. Saving all important data in the back-up storage is also required because the changing process still has risks to outcome in a disaster. What is more, a personal communication is also essential. Hence, the heads of all teams and departments have to be aware of changes. It is crucial to design a plan of change announcement for the average employees as well because workers usually react negatively to impersonalized announcement of the change (Cameron & Green, 2004, p.184).
With regard to change management of software, it is to be said that it refers to the following aspects: capability, performance, and maturity. Capability means the expected extents of software performance after the change. Namely, it is the estimation of software’s maximal performance. As for performance, it is the aspect, which can be referred to the actual results of the software’s operating after the change. It presupposes estimation, as well. Maturity is the extent to which a particular process can be measured, defined, managed, and controlled. It is an explicit aspect of change management of software. In fact, these aspects address three related actions: optimization, management, and defining. Defining is an activity, which is particularly focused on the standardization and integration of software at a new level. Then, management should be understood as the collection and evaluation of the related data, which is presented quantitatively. Eventually, optimization is a constant process of improvement and search for potentially beneficial solutions (Asklund, Crnkovic, & Dahlqvist; 2003, p.312).
Finally, change management of documentation and policies is the most formal but the primary procedure regarding any changes within the information system. To be more precise, it includes the following steps. First of all, a request for a change should be made. Second, the change should be analysed for its potential impact on the IT environment. Third, the change should be approved or rejected. Forth, in case the change is approved, the implementation plan is supposed to be developed. Fifth, the implementation takes place. Sixths, the changes are required to be documented (Wallace & Webber, 2014). All in all, it is the main processes regarding change management in the environment of information technologies. Thus, it is necessary to switch on the following section.
Change Management in Business and Software Development Projects
Change management in IT environment usually is not responsible for the changes in a particular business project or software development. The changes in project management are the primary duty of the project manager, and it is guided by the related project change methodology. To be more exact, the changes are limited to the extents of a particular project that is why they cannot be applied to the entire organization. Related methodology considers this point so that it is possible to say that operation reengineering and change management have quite different objectives. What is more, the failure of project redesign reaches more than 60% because of confusion of operation reengineering with change management (Harrington, 2006). In such a way, change management in IT environment is hardly applicable to project redesign in its standard terms.
The connection, however, exists between these procedures. As it has been mentioned before, change management can be applied to business projects and software development as a guiding tool. The project manager and change manager have to cooperate sufficiently. The primary advantage of utilizing change management in IT environment is implied in the overall similarity of patterns for elements of operating or testing environment, which are required for the project product evaluation. In other words, operating and testing principles in projecting are similar to the same principles at the corporate level. In case the project manager has decided to redesign certain operations or testing requirements, he or she can refer to change management in IT environment in order to follow suggested patterns of changing and rearrangement. This procedure is evidently obligatory as long as the statistics witnesses about poor results after an independent redesign of projects. It is the main points regarding the involvement of change management in business projecting and software development.
Conclusion
All in all, it is to be said that the paper has lingered upon the description of the essence of change management in the environment of information technologies. To be more exact, the paper has given the overall description of change management and defined its term. In fact, it is a set of processes, which are referred to the revision of software, hardware, and policies regarding the environment of the information system. Then, the paper has given an account to the exact processes in terms of change management. These processes include operations with hardware, software, communication, and policies. The implications for every single aspect have been explained, as well. Besides that, the paper has touched upon the involvement of change management in business projects and software development. Actually, change management cannot be involved directly because the changing procedures are underpinned with the project methodology. Still, the study has placed the emphasis on the possibility of integration of change management with business projects as a guiding tool.
To conclude, it is necessary to admit that change management in IT environment is an important and obligatory procedure as long as changing the layout of the information system without a particular pattern is obviously a preposterous decision. Moreover, change management enables the organization to create a related framework for the entire organization. Taking these points into consideration, it is worth admitting that change management can be potentially applied to the other operations in the organization.
The evidence of business projecting and development of software clearly illustrate this fact. Thus, it is necessary to suggest the direction for the further research. It can be particularly oriented at the research of potential explicit applications of change management. At the same time, this research will have to tackle the empirical perspective of change management as this paper has demonstrated strictly theoretical orientation.