Tailored Organizational Change Program Drives PLM Implementation Success

The client is a $3.5+ billion high-end, multi-brand specialty retailer of housewares and home furnishings, operating globally. After leading the client through the system selection process for a product lifecycle management (PLM) solution, Parker Avery was engaged to determine the organization’s readiness for change and to develop a tailored organizational change program and plan for the overall PLM system implementation.

Business user concerns discovered during the stakeholder analysis included: ​

• Initiative viewed as benefiting select functional areas and not as an integrated solution ​
• Key functional teams were not being engaged and lacked understanding of project goals ​
• Skepticism of the new system due to prior experience and lack of end-user adoption​
• Decision-making abilities would be eliminated​
• The process would become too rigid ​
• Leaders in some functional areas were not positioning the initiative as a priority ​
• Client resources would be either reduced or not sufficient to support the future structure​

Parker Avery worked closely with the client’s sourcing, merchandising, inventory, and product development teams to ensure the success of the retailer’s system implementation with an organizational change program tailored to the retailer’s unique culture and operating model. ​

Parker Avery provided PLM consulting and organizational change services to lead the following activities:​

• Designed a communication plan to coordinate project communication efforts on awareness, training, support, and feedback​
• Prepared instructional design documents and defined training strategy, approach, and content​
• Outlined training logistics, schedule, and resources​
• Assisted in the development of process ownership and data governance​
• Created the retailer’s end-user training materials and facilitator guides​
• Conducted a train-the-trainer program​
• Assisted in user acceptance testing and classroom role-based training​
• Supported long-term training sustainability efforts​