Platform Migration Navigation.
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At A Glance:
Why evolve were needed:
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Delayed Migration Program
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Unclear Client & Advisor Impact
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Navigating Last-Minute Changes
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Dependency Management
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Key Benefits:
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Minimised Advisor Impact
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Clear Communication & Collaboration
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Risk Mitigation
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Effective Change Management
The Situation.
Our client was an Adviser Network offering a high degree of support and centralised IT solutions to their adviser firms. Their primary platform partner was undergoing a migration which was anticipated to significantly impact our client in terms of IT, data, service, and operational aspects, given their business model.
The migration program was running 2 years behind its intended schedule, resulting in a lack of confidence in the current plan and posing a considerable risk. Particular points of concern included; the unclear impact on clients and advisers stemming from the platform changes, an incomplete comms and training plan, difficulties in delivering data for thorough testing, and low internal trust & engagement due to the frequent changes in dates.
Our involvement was sought to address and minimize the advisor impact and to effectively manage the change, by closely working with both the platform and internal collaborators.
Our Approach.
Our primary focus centered on minimizing disruption to advisor business and payments, enabling them to maintain the expected high level of service to clients throughout the migration period. Given the consistent shifts in program dates, we needed to create a flexible plan that could adapt as necessary yet provide a solid foundation for clients' teams to prepare for the change without significant rework. We did this using three key tactics:
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Utilising our flexible change management model (SP.ACE), we initially concentrated on known factors, building the Impact Assessment as the foundation for Process Design, Training, and Communication Planning.
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Creation of the Business Change Runbook, which followed a task completion order, prioritising tasks that could be finished and 'locked down' first to reduce rework risks. This was completed with a collaborative effort from the platform to ensure joint ownership and a clear understanding of dependencies.
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We re-engaged key collaborators and established a new framework for ongoing engagement, both internally and externally. This framework spanned all project phases, including a robust system for issue management and post-live communication.
* Building blocks used for this project within our SP.ACE framework, can be found highlighted.
The Outcome.
The migration concluded with no errors or issues affecting the update of our client's technology systems or processes. Post Migration issues on the platform were effectively managed and the impacts were communicated proactively from our client out to their adviser network and relevant internal teams, thanks to the established framework.
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