Zero Email initiative: a critical review of Change Management during the introduction of Enterprise Social Networks

How can a company successfully improve collaboration and teamwork with the introduction of new IT tools? This case offers new solutions to this question by reviewing two Change Management processes which took place over a period of 6 years within Atos’ Zero Email initiative. The change processes of (1) replacing internal emails with an Enterprise Social Network (ESN) solution in 2012 and (2) replacing the introduced ESN solution by a second, enhanced ESN solution in 2016 are analyzed. By comparing them to established Change Management theories, important key factors of a change process can be highlighted and the evolution of Change Management within an innovative, multinational IT service provider is shown. The Teaching Case is accompanied by in-depth Teaching Notes where we craft a synthesized checklist for thorough Change Management that addresses IT adoption issues and mitigates the critic that theoretical models are too rigid for vivid organizations. In addition to this comprehensive “360°-analysis” consisting of personal interviews, inquiries on organizational communication and research on Change Management theory, the Innovation Diffusion Theory (including a reflection of recognized technology acceptance models) is used to find explanations for possible deviations from the expected outcomes.