Lately I have been working on projects for clients that will greatly benefit them in the long run, but ultimately have come to fruition from great minds inside my company. While working to give our clients greater security and ease of mind (as well as our own ease of mind) I have come to realize how hard it can be for a company to accept change within their IT infrastructure. I don’t know if it is a general fear of change, or if the worry stems from the fact that the client didn’t have the idea in the first place and hasn’t had time to think through the possible pitfalls or benefits. After going through this process, I have realized that you really have to become the Change Agent for the organization if they don’t have one internally.

The biggest issue is convincing someone to make a change when things are already working and relatively efficient. Do you have the perseverance to create change and deal with the political consequences within their organization? How about the ability to fight the resistance that will most definitely come with any changes that you make? You have to convince the client that the change will bring long term benefits even if things can be rough in the short term.

As technology changes, updates can help security, process, and ease of use. Most people are creatures of habit and like things to be “the way they were.” This may work for some organizations, but as technology advances around you, you don’t want to be left behind.

As a Change Agent, you usually aren’t making a change because it is necessary, you push for change to prevent problems, keep the technology up to date, and to keep your team fresh. These reasons are probably not the reasons your clients are going to want to hear when you are pushing for change inside their workflow.

If you are lucky, the client already has an internal Change Agent. If that person is on board, you can let them run with it. If not, you are going to have to be determined and well prepared for when your client pushes back.