The Importance of a Strategic Change Management Plan

Change is a fundamental part of human experience, yet it remains one of our greatest collective challenges. The human brain is wired to seek patterns and stability – we find comfort in routine and predictability. This biological predisposition explains why organizational change often triggers such profound resistance: it disrupts the neural pathways we have carefully constructed through repetition and experience.

However, this instinctive resistance to change presents a particular challenge in today’s business environment, where adaptation is not just beneficial – it is essential for survival. Whether it is a digital transformation that revolutionizes workflows, a merger that reshapes corporate identity, or a shift in leadership that introduces new strategic directions, change is a constant rather than an exception.

What is a change management strategy?

The term “change management” essentially refers to shifting a person, a team, or an entire company from the as is, or current state, to the to-be, or future state. A change management strategy leverages empathetic design, effective governance, and change leadership to drive organizational transformations​. An effective change management strategy ties change to the overall organizational strategy, emphasizing company-wide connectivity to ensure sustainable impact across the organization.​

A comprehensive change management strategy encompasses stakeholder assessments, communication plans, training support, and capability building initiatives. This framework must be carefully constructed to align with both macro and micro organizational elements. At the macro level, it should reflect and respect the company’s culture, values, and political dynamics. At the micro level, it must account for individual roles, responsibilities, and working environments. This dual perspective ensures the strategy can effectively bridge high-level organizational objectives with the practical realities of implementation.

Implementing SAP Concur: Developing a change management plan

When implementing SAP Concur, a robust change management strategy helps employees manage expectations, clarifies internal roles in the transition, and demonstrates organizational commitment and thorough preparation. Consider these key questions and best practices when developing your strategy:

Who should be involved in developing a change management strategy?

It is important to have a change management lead to own and drive the overall process. Typically positioned within the internal corporate communications team, this role serves as the central coordinator of change initiatives. When the lead operates outside corporate communications, close collaboration with that team becomes essential to maintain alignment with established protocols and procedures. Executive involvement and buy-in is essential during change – teams look to leadership for guidance, support, direction, and continued commitment to the change.

Sponsors and individual team members must actively drive change. While the project team centralizes change management tools and tactics, team members champion these initiatives and stay alert to potential resistance or adoption barriers. This balance between centralized strategy and distributed advocacy ensures both consistent execution and support.

Who is the audience for change management activities?

The target audience for change management activities includes the internal project team (e.g., project sponsors, project managers, regional leads, technical leads) and end users (e.g., those impacted by the change).

Change management within the internal project team operates through structured touchpoints: recurring status meetings, sponsor reports, PMO communication alignment, and real-time updates as needed. Beyond the core team, the project must map all impacted end users by analyzing affected processes and systematically identifying stakeholder groups – from office staff to sales teams to administrative personnel. For global initiatives, the approach must account for market-specific nuances when defining target audiences and tailoring communication strategies.

What type of change management materials/channels are available?

Strategic communication, training, and engagement drive awareness and accelerate adoption of transformational changes. Project teams can leverage multiple communication channels – from in-person meetings and email updates to intranet posts and corporate messaging platforms – to build awareness and maintain momentum.

Similarly, training delivery spans both digital and in-person formats, with web-based modules complementing classroom instruction. When selecting these channels, teams must evaluate key factors: audience accessibility, cultural preferences, resource constraints, message urgency, and the need for interactive dialogue. This thoughtful channel selection ensures messages reach and resonate with their intended audiences.

When developing a change management plan and supporting materials, team members should:

• Create a comprehensive change strategy in alignment with the overall transformation strategy to enable a seamless change process

• Develop engagement plans to identify key stakeholders, understand their needs, and manage their expectations throughout the transformation journey

• Identify change impacts across all stakeholders and ways to address those changes

As part of its standard deployment toolkit, SAP Concur provides access to a vast amount of change management material, including a change management activities guide, training videos, and sample deployment emails.

When does it make sense to customize a change management strategy?

When adapting a change management plan, evaluate these key factors to determine necessary customizations:

• Number of countries involved

• Complexity of requirements (for systems implementations)

• Major differences between business units

• Corporate culture (i.e., what’s the norm)

• Budget

• Company size

As projects expand across countries and business units, they naturally become more complex. Each region needs its own tailored messages, translations, and specific details. When it comes to handling these local adaptations, it often depends on budget and team size. In some cases, it may be best to enable local teams to take charge of customizing materials rather than the central team. With any approach, customizing a change strategy for regional differences must account for all required approvals and any statutory content (e.g., data privacy, European Works Councils) that must be included in change collateral.

What makes a change management toolkit essential for global implementations?

Creating a change management toolkit delivers multiple advantages: it ensures message consistency, leverages pre-approved materials, and streamlines the customization process. When local teams need to adapt materials without central support, the toolkit serves as both a guideline and resource bank, empowering markets to make appropriate modifications while maintaining core content integrity.

A change management toolkit should include project materials such as:

• Project overview: project drivers, timeline, deployment schedule

• Overview of project communication and training material: release schedule, customization guidelines

• Quick Reference Guides

• FAQs

What change management success metrics should be considered?

Measuring change management success during a SAP Concur implementation requires clear metrics. Consider tracking these key indicators (with target percentages set according to your organization’s goals):

• Post launch survey satisfaction at X%

• X% increase in calls to help desk

• Percent of employee adoption

• On time launches

• Ease of use with new system

• Time it takes to complete the travel and expense process

• Time it takes to process expense reports by back-office staff

• Number of expense reports processed over a standard time (day, week)

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What now?

While change management encompasses many complex factors, success hinges on two critical elements: developing your strategy early and calibrating its complexity to your organization’s specific needs and capabilities.

Acquis combines deep SAP Concur expertise with proven change management capabilities to transform technology implementations into lasting business value. Drawing on our experience guiding hundreds of global organizations through complex transitions, we help clients turn potential disruption into measurable returns on their investments.

Learn more about Acquis’ partnership with SAP Concur →

This content was first published in August 2020 and updated in March 2025.