Human beings find it incredibly difficult to deal with change. The comfort of knowing what comes next is a universal human trait. In today’s fast-paced corporate environment, this reality does not mesh well. As a result of COVID-19’s considerable business developments, the requirement to be responsive and flexible in your digital banking solutions in 2022 will be much stronger. These changes need huge investments for big-scale change programs to respond effectively, satisfy regulatory requirements, maintain pace with rivals, and ultimately survive in a competitive market.

It’s not uncommon for change programs to include a slew of technological systems, processes, and people. Any innovative program manager may wonder, ‘What have we forgotten?’ during the grueling last days before the project’s official launch. Often overlooked is how tough it may be for human beings to adapt to new situations and circumstances.

What may be done during the program to see whether the organization and its employees are prepared for the change?

The term “Business Readiness” refers to a company’s capacity to successfully execute the results of a project. This degree of preparation is used to guarantee that personnel can smoothly transition from one method or attitude to another.

If you think of “Business Readiness” as “the items that you must check off during the go-live ramp-up,” you’re on the wrong track. In doing so, it removes the human element, which is essential for a successful outcome. Effective Business Readiness approaches to guarantee that all people who will be impacted by the change will have the necessary skills and knowledge to succeed in the implementation phase and beyond.

What can we do for you?

The JMR Approach

Making sure your employees are ready for change is essential for a successful program, yet it is frequently forgotten until the very end. When it comes to change management, JMR Infotech has created a Business Readiness method to ensure that people are involved from start to finish. Prioritizing Business Readiness from the beginning of any project is likely to make or break its capacity to achieve its goals.

As part of the project lifecycle, JMR Infotech uses a simple but efficient three-step approach to evaluate Business Readiness and implement Oracle digital banking experience (OBDX):

• Understanding the program environment and developing a business readiness plan are the first steps.
• Monitoring and controlling the implementation process to make sure that our customers and their workers are ready for the desired outcome
• Ensuring that our customers are well-prepared to make the transition to the new system and do so effectively

1. Initial assessment

First, we’ll do a comprehensive initial evaluation of your digital banking platform and build a Business Readiness strategy using our Change Impact Assessments and Stakeholder Engagement Model. Additionally, we will develop thorough communication and training strategy. In addition to finding previously unconsidered or unacknowledged business sectors, our evaluation adds value by highlighting the entire effect of those areas on stakeholders.

2. Managing implementation 

Employees are often required to change their behavior as part of a change program, such as adopting a new procedure or system to replace their old one. Since the introduction of a new process or system and how individuals learn to use it may possibly be the only interaction they have with the program, communication skills training programs undoubtedly play a crucial part in delivering practical implementations.

Whether a project is well-implemented or fails miserably is directly related to the quality of the training the project’s participants get. It might be challenging to determine the program’s educational requirements, especially when they influence many departments and geographical regions at the same. In order to determine what, when, and how personnel should be taught, we use an established framework. This informs the strategic end-user training strategy. For both e-learning modules and face-to-face instructor-led training (often supported by our SMEs), we work together with our customers to determine the most effective learning approaches.

Some programs may need formal training, but effective communication should always be a part of a change initiative’s overall strategy. Employees are far less likely to be supportive of the program as a whole if they believe the change has sneaked up on them and are thus not fully educated about the rationale for it and its possible consequences.

As a rule of thumb, it’s best not to talk unless you have anything to say. Rumors and detractors might spread erroneous information, which could harm the program’s image and credibility if it takes this method. Regardless of how it’s received, communication should be clear and consistent. If you’re going to modify anything or communicate a change, do it in a way that’s honest, timely, and consistent.

3. Embedding change

Go-live success depends on having an implementation strategy in place to guarantee that all project tasks are completed on time and handed over to the BAU team. Assessment of preparedness during implementation ensures that our customers have all of the information and tools they need for informed decision-making before going live. In order to avoid any further delays, we will assign responsible owners and identify any risks and difficulties as early as possible.

Go-live doesn’t mean the end of business readiness. Change and improvement have been achieved; now, we must ensure that our clients maximize their adoption and embedding strategies. To achieve this, post-go-live assistance and SMART post-go-live objectives are essential. Following go-live, we do frequent evaluations of various key performance indicators to ensure that we are on track to meet our goals. Banks may use these strategic interventions to target specific areas, functions, or processes that have not yet reached the intended goal state.

What is the importance of the Business Readiness Approach?

Customers and workers will be less affected by the shift to BAU if our Business Readiness strategy is used correctly. Employees are more engaged and motivated in the change process, and the intended goals are more quickly realized when we adopt a more business-ready mentality from the beginning. JMR may supervise that change is handled effectively by providing adequate ‘air-traffic control,’ so that it drips into the firm in a regulated and orderly way.