Why Change Management in Digital Transformation Matters

Change management in digital transformation is the structured work of preparing, equipping and supporting your people to adopt a new system. It is essential for organisations undergoing a digital transformation because, as Microsoft's Dynamics 365 implementation guidance warns, without a change management strategy your business solution “might become just a data entry tool instead of a valuable asset for your users”.

Digital transformations can be done by integrating a new technology that will improve business operations or customer experiences. The process can be time-consuming and expensive, so making sure you really get the value out of it comes down to effective change management frameworks. For the bigger picture, see what a digital transformation strategy is, and why to have one. Zoosh Digital, a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central implementation partner, includes training and user adoption support in its implementation scope.

Is change management required for digital transformation projects?

Yes, because a new system only pays back when your people use it well. Microsoft's guidance on defining a strategy for adoption and change management says a change management strategy helps you avoid pitfalls “such as low adoption, poor usage, and misaligned expectations”.

A 2024 review by Leyh, Lorenz, Faruga and Koller, published in the FedCSIS conference proceedings, drew on 272 papers on ERP projects and found 33 critical success factors. Counted by how often they occur in that literature, the top three were top management support and involvement, organisational fit of the ERP system, and user training. Two of the three are about people.

Change management should be applied within digital transformation projects to inform end users about the digital products or solutions they will end up using. Doing this ensures that they understand all of the details that help promote user buy-in and that the required training is provided for the new digital technologies. Zoosh Digital's published guidance is direct: “A Business Central implementation is not a technology project. It is a business change project that uses technology as the mechanism.” Its explainer shows why ERP implementations fail when change management is an afterthought.

Why the people side is the digital transformation challenge that surfaces last

The people side surfaces last, once your people work in the live system: Zoosh Digital's timeline guide describes the 30 to 90 days after go-live as when “the team transitions from trained users to confident operational users, issues surface and are resolved”. Panorama Consulting Group's 2026 ERP Report, a survey of 170 organisations, found that less than a quarter reported an intense focus on organisational change management. It warns that where employees are already absorbing frequent changes, such as SaaS feature and interface updates, any new initiative needs that focus “to prevent training gaps, inconsistent adoption, and workarounds”. It is one consultancy's survey, not a market rate.

Change can be difficult and even if it is for the better, it is likely to experience some pushback, particularly if the current way things are done feels sufficient. Dent and Goldberg's 1999 peer-reviewed article on resistance to change notes that Kurt Lewin “introduced the term as a systems concept, as a force affecting managers and employees equally”, and argues that “Acceptance of this model confuses an understanding of change dynamics.” Treat pushback as information about the system, the process or the training: if the people who raise your invoices say the new screen is slower, find out whether they are right before you plan how to persuade them.

Communication is key, but it is not the whole framework

Communication is a key component of change management. While communicating what changes are coming in is important, it is not the only goal of the process. Microsoft's guidance says your change management strategy needs to cover four aspects: ongoing executive sponsorship, integration with the project management teams, employee engagement, and frequent and open communication.

A proper framework should ensure that communication is clear and frequent. Ensuring that employees understand the benefits that can come from changes, hearing their grievances with a changing process or system and providing them ample training and clarity is employee engagement in practice. The process should also start from a definitive set of goals, and the people work belongs inside your project plan, not after it.

On sponsorship, Zoosh Digital's published advice is: “The sponsor does not need to be technical. They need to be visible, available to unblock decisions, and publicly committed to the project outcomes.” If you are commissioning a build, see what to ask a development partner about change management.

Change management isn't a guaranteed success, however, and requires cooperation to ensure the framework and digitalisation roadmap are being followed. Treating the process as a low priority just because the digitalisation is completed is a mistake that should be avoided to remove the risk from the project.

ADKAR and Kotter: two change management frameworks, applied to a system rollout

Prosci's ADKAR model describes how one person moves through a change, and Kotter's 8 steps describe how leaders drive an organisation through it, so your technology project needs both. The Prosci ADKAR Model “breaks change into five observable elements”; the right-hand column below is this post's own illustration, not Prosci's.

Kotter Inc's eight steps for leading change are Create A Sense of Urgency, Build A Guiding Coalition, Form A Strategic Vision, Enlist A Volunteer Army, Enable Action By Removing Barriers, Generate Short-Term Wins, Sustain Acceleration and Institute Change. Applied to a system rollout, the guiding coalition might be your sponsor, the project team and respected users from each department, and an early win can be the first phase to go live, such as core finance.

When there are plenty of changes to be made, it could also be a good idea to take your time implementing them. Communicating will help employees understand their new tasks, but patience and a staggered schedule of implementation give them the best chance to adjust. Kotter's 1995 Harvard Business Review article puts it plainly: “Skipping steps creates only an illusion of speed and never produces a satisfying result.” Zoosh Digital's packages guide notes that a phased Business Central implementation “further lowers risk by enabling gradual adoption rather than a single, high-impact change”.

Training is a programme, not a go-live event

Training starts with the project and continues after go-live. Microsoft's training process and best practices guidance says “It's important to start early with a training plan”, that the plan should be completed at the start of a project, and that training “ends long after users complete their first tasks in your production application”. For Business Central, Microsoft's update rollout documentation adds a scheduled reason: two major update cycles a year, with releases every April and October.

Zoosh Digital's timeline guide agrees: “User adoption is not a training event at the end of the project. It is a programme that starts in the discovery phase when users understand why the new system is being introduced, continues through role-based training before go-live, and requires a post-go-live stabilisation period with active support.”

Ensuring digital transformation success

A digital transformation is already an expensive and time-consuming prospect for businesses, so for it to fail at the point where it's ready for launch or go-live is a worst-case scenario. Whether the digital project is to improve existing processes or to create a new digital solution, if it can't be used by your staff, the value you paid for never arrives. Making sure users are properly trained, communicated with and are given an opportunity to adapt to the new way of operating is a job for your sponsor and project team, not the project manager alone.

Zoosh Digital's guidance explains why go-live is the beginning of adoption, not the end of the project, and says the stabilisation period after it “is where the return on the implementation investment is either secured or lost”. Microsoft says excellent training leads to “high user adoption together with accomplishment of critical key performance indicators (KPIs)”, and Zoosh Digital covers how to define and measure KPIs for a digital transformation project separately.

Questions to settle before go-live

• Who is your named executive sponsor, and do people see that person backing the project?
• When did your training plan start? Microsoft says it should be completed at the start of the project.
• Which roles get which training, and who trains your new joiners after go-live?
• Is support for the weeks after go-live agreed and in your budget? Zoosh Digital's advice is to “Budget for this phase explicitly and agree the support scope before the project starts.”
• How will you know adoption is working, and what did you measure beforehand to compare it with?

Where Zoosh Digital fits, and where it does not

Zoosh Digital is a Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central implementation and technology partner based in Ireland, helping mid-market organisations across the UK, Ireland and Europe design, build and run ERP and bespoke software systems that fit how their people actually work.

On the people side, it publishes role-based Business Central training, including new joiner onboarding, and technical support after go-live. Its About page says it helps teams improve how they work through co-creation, and adds: “We don't disappear after go-live.”

Where it does not fit: Zoosh Digital does not publish a standalone change management or digital transformation consulting service, so a business-wide change with no system at its centre belongs with a change management specialist. Microsoft says its Dynamics 365 implementation guide is relevant for medium-sized and larger organisations, and a small business can skip the full apparatus, though it still needs a sponsor, a training plan and support after go-live.

FAQ

What is change management in digital transformation?

Change management in digital transformation is preparing, equipping and supporting the people who will use a new system, so your business gets the value it paid for. Without it, Microsoft's Dynamics 365 implementation guidance warns, your business solution might become just a data entry tool.

Why is change management important?

Change management is important because a system people do not adopt delivers little of its value. A 2024 review in the FedCSIS conference proceedings drew on 272 ERP papers, and top management support and involvement, organisational fit of the ERP system, and user training were the success factors mentioned most often among the 33 it found.

What are the challenges of digital transformation?

In Zoosh Digital's implementation guidance, the people side surfaces last, in the weeks after go-live once your people work in the live system. In Panorama Consulting Group's 2026 ERP Report, a survey of 170 organisations, less than a quarter reported an intense focus on organisational change management. It is one consultancy's survey, not a market rate.

How do you manage resistance to change?

Treat it as information about the system, the process or the training, not as a staff problem: Dent and Goldberg's 1999 peer-reviewed article argues that the widely accepted resistance model confuses an understanding of change dynamics. Then engage employees and communicate frequently and openly, as Microsoft's Dynamics 365 implementation guidance advises.

Why does digital transformation fail?

A common reason is that people do not adopt the system the business paid for. Microsoft's Dynamics 365 implementation guidance names low adoption, poor usage and misaligned expectations as the pitfalls a change management strategy helps you avoid. Zoosh Digital's implementation timeline guide names two of its root causes of Business Central implementation failure: no visible executive sponsor to unblock decisions, and training treated as an event at the end of the project rather than a programme that starts in discovery.

Closing thought

The easiest moment to manage change is before the system is configured, while the people who will use it can still shape it, which is why Zoosh Digital's guidance starts adoption in the discovery phase. If it would help to talk through your rollout with Zoosh Digital, start with your sponsor and what your people need to learn.

Referenced sources

• Microsoft Learn. Define a strategy for adoption and change management. learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/guidance/implementation-guide/implementation-strategy-define-strategy-adoption-change-management.
• Microsoft Learn. Training process and best practices. learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/guidance/implementation-guide/training-strategy-process-and-best-practices.
• Microsoft Learn. Introduction to the Dynamics 365 implementation guide. learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/guidance/implementation-guide/introduction.
• Microsoft Learn. Update cycles. learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/business-central/dev-itpro/administration/update-rollout-timeline.
• Leyh, Lorenz, Faruga and Koller (2024). Critical Success Factors for ERP Projects Revisited. FedCSIS 2024. annals-csis.org/Volume_39/drp/pdf/6271.pdf.
• Panorama Consulting Group. 2026 ERP Report. 4439340.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/4439340/Reports/ERP%20Report/2026-erp-report-panorama-consulting-group.pdf.
• Prosci. The Prosci ADKAR Model. www.prosci.com/methodology/adkar.
• Kotter Inc. The 8 Steps for Leading Change. www.kotterinc.com/methodology/8-steps.
• Harvard Business Review. Kotter (1995), Leading Change: Why Transformation Efforts Fail. hbr.org/1995/05/leading-change-why-transformation-efforts-fail-2.
• The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science. Dent and Goldberg (1999), Challenging ‘Resistance to Change’. scholarscommons.fgcu.edu/esploro/outputs/journalArticle/Challenging--Resistance-to-Change/99383431964506570.