My travels recently took me to Tokyo for the CA Expo. When in Japan I usually stay at the hotel close to the office which helps my day and evening to be very predictable. I arrive at Narita, take the bus to the hotel, go to the office and then back to the hotel where I order their famous burger. Now this is no ordinary burger; it has pineapple, bacon, egg, 2 patties, lettuce, cheese and on top of all that I add an extra egg (and schedule an extra hour in the gym as well).
On a past visit for an itSMF conference, I arrived and was faced with a challenge. The menu had changed and I couldn't find my beloved burger! What to do? I immediately logged a complaint, sorry incident with the Service Desk (hotel reception) and I believe that my issue was escalated to second level support as the Duty Manager called me back to give me a lengthy explanation about the business rationalization for the change in the menu. He then offered to make have a burger made as per my request. What great customer service! I was suitably impressed.
Last week when I returned to Japan and my usual routine, imagine my delight as I opened the menu to find my famous burger was back on the menu! Was my feedback that important that I changed the whole menu? I called Room Service and asked for my burger, only to be told it was no longer on the menu and that the menu in my room was the old menu. What devastation. I had not effected change, and in fact, poor change management by the hotel had led to significant drop in my satisfaction level.
I had a similiar experience when I was taking one of my flights within Asia. The airline I was travelling on recently introduced a new service charge into effect that I experienced while in Asia. The IT Systems were updated, the staff informed, the Web site updated of the changes to the baggage rules but those who had bought tickets in the period prior to the change and had not visited the Web site had no idea and turned up to be hit with an additional charge that due to the coding of the IT systems could not be waived (well at least that's what I was told). I dutifully paid the charge and then caught my flight and again the customer experience rates as below average.
These experiences reminded me of the complexity of change management and that it clearly extends beyond IT and that if we do not get the cultural and organizational aspects correct then even the best IT change process won't make the situation better. Change is no longer just change for IT; it is "IT enabled Business Change" and as such, change management must include the business and the cultural aspects must form part of your consideration.
Have you rolled the Business into your Change Advisory Board? If not, maybe its time!