Managing Change NOT Change Management

There still seems to be confusion around the term ‘Change Management’ and for some time now we have preferred to use ‘Managing Change’ to describe what we do; this is not semantics as Change Management has different connotations to different people.

By using the term Managing Change we specifically refer to the delivery of organisational / business change using a holistic, structured approach.

The term Change Management can refer to the following;

• IT change management in relation to the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL). A set of practices for IT service management currently ITIL 4
• Change control of scope or milestones in project management
• Change control with Quality Management Systems (QMS) and Information Technology (IT) systems, which is a formal process used to ensure that changes to a product or system are introduced in a controlled and co-ordinated manner

A definition of Change is: the process of replacing something with something new or different; a thing that is used to replace something.

Another term that has been used a lot more recently is Transformation, which means a complete change in someone or something. This term does get used a lot out of context and specifically refers to a fundamental change in the way the organisation / business operates.