4 min read
Co-authored by Kendra Elliott, Associate Principal Customer Success Manager, and Steven Bodger, Customer Success Manager, at Conga.
What Is Change Management
A structured approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations from a current state to a desired future state.
Why Change Management Stalls, And How to Avoid It
When organizations invest in solutions like Conga CPQ, CLM, Pricing, or Document Automation, they're not just implementing new technology and changing how work gets done.
They're changing how the Sales team builds quotes, how pricing decisions are made, how contracts move through review, and how documents are generated and delivered. And that's why successful change management is ultimately less about software and more about people.
One of the biggest misconceptions we see is that change management only matters during implementation; it's just as important years after go-live as it is on day one.
While employees may leave an organization, business processes also adjust, causing priorities to shift. Conga solutions continue to evolve as new features are introduced to improve workflows. As a result, these changes require employees to adapt and adopt new ways of working.
Here’s why it matters:
- 70% of change initiatives fail due to a lack of employee adoption and engagement
- Organizations that apply change management effectively are 6x more likely to succeed
- A failed deployment can cost more than $1 million in lost productivity, rework, and missed opportunities
- Organizations with structured adoption programs achieve 38% faster ROI realization
Technology Doesn't Create Value, Adoption Does
The reality is that people naturally gravitate toward what they know, so it’s easy to leverage old spreadsheets, emails, outdated documents, and legacy processes.
That's why organizations need a deliberate strategy to help employees understand, embrace, and sustain new ways of working. Change management bridges the gap between deploying a solution and realizing business outcomes.
Change Management: Tracking Adoption
There are four key drivers that consistently accelerate adoption.
1. Build Understanding And Buy-In
Before asking people to change, help them understand why the change matters. Too many transformation initiatives focus on what's changing instead of why it matters to the people impacted by it. The most successful organizations clearly communicate their vision and connect business goals to day-to-day benefits. For example:
- Sales leaders may care about forecast accuracy and pipeline visibility
- Sales reps may care about spending less time on administrative tasks and getting quotes out faster
- Pricing teams may care about stronger governance and better reporting
- Legal teams may care about reducing risk and shortening contract cycle times
When employees see how change helps them succeed, adoption becomes much easier. Reinforcing that message through consistent communication and success stories helps keep momentum going.
Change Management: Communication Success
2. Reinforce Desired Behaviors
Even when people understand the value of change, lasting adoption requires reinforcement. Organizations that see sustained success align processes, metrics, and recognition with the behaviors they want to encourage. This includes:
- Reviewing adoption metrics regularly
- Incorporating utilization goals into performance discussions
- Recognizing teams that embrace new processes
- Celebrating business outcomes achieved
- Embedding solution usage into standard operating procedures
When leadership consistently measures, discusses, and rewards adoption, employees recognize that the change isn't temporary.
3. Invest in Ongoing Enablement
People are more likely to embrace change when they feel confident using the tools available to them. Training shouldn't end at go-live, but continue as the business evolves. Consider providing:
- Role-based training
- Refresher sessions
- Quick-reference guides and videos
- Office hours
- Learning paths for new hires
As teams change and solutions modernize, knowledge gaps naturally emerge. Ongoing enablement helps users stay proficient while discovering new ways to create value.
4. Empower Champions
People often look to their peers before they look to leadership. That's why successful organizations identify power users and team leaders who can champion the transformation through:
- Sharing success stories
- Answering questions
- Demonstrating best practices
- Gathering feedback
- Building confidence during change
Change Management: Stakeholder Governance
Executive sponsorship is important, but peer-to-peer advocacy is often what drives adoption at scale. When employees see their peers succeeding, change feels both credible and achievable.
Change Management Doesn't End At Go-Live
One of the most important lessons we've learned in Customer Success is that adoption must be continually nurtured. Organizations that sustain momentum long after go-live often maintain champion networks, offer refresher training, collect ongoing feedback, share best practices, track adoption metrics, and celebrate successes along the way.
Technology Enables Transformation, But People Make It Successful
The organizations that realize the greatest return on their Conga investment aren't necessarily the ones with the most complex configurations or largest deployments. They're the ones that invest in helping their people adopt new ways of leveraging Conga products.
Change management isn't just about software adoption; it's about providing users with the right tools to achieve success.
What are some of your change management best practices? Or what has worked well for you? Share with the Conga Customer Community!
Co-authored by Kendra Elliott, Associate Principal Customer Success Manager, and Steven Bodger, Customer Success Manager, at Conga.
