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With so many different change management solutions available, figuring out which is right for you is tough. You know you want to effectively plan, implement, and track changes within your business processes and systems but need to figure out which tool is best. I've got you! In this post I'll help make your choice easy, sharing my personal experiences using dozens of different change management software in a variety of businesses, with my picks of the best change management tools.

What Are Change Management Tools?

Change management tools are software that help organizations smoothly implement and manage changes in business processes and systems. These tools enable structured planning, risk assessment, and tracking of changes, focusing on the human aspect of transitions. They facilitate communication and transparency, keeping stakeholders informed and involved, which is key to reducing resistance and misunderstandings.

A significant benefit of these tools is their role in enhancing employee satisfaction with changes. By ensuring clear communication and providing a clear roadmap of the change process, these tools help employees understand, adapt to, and accept changes more readily. This approach minimizes anxiety and fosters a more positive reception of organizational changes, contributing to a healthier and more productive work environment.

The 10 Best Change Management Tools Overviews

Adopting new software? New business model? New training program? Change can be daunting, but you don’t have to attack it unprepared. Onboarding, customer success, employee engagement—these are just a few of the areas of change I’ve isolated for coverage here.

Here are my top change management tool suggestions to get your change management journey jumpstarted.

Best for omnichannel ticket submission

  • 14-day free trial
  • From $26/agent/month
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Rating: 4.1/5

Issuetrak is a ticket management software designed to assist organizations in handling customer support and internal issue tracking across multiple channels. It stands out for its ability to adapt to various business sizes and sectors, offering a robust platform for omnichannel ticket submission.

I chose Issuetrak as a change management tool because it provides a comprehensive set of features that cater to various business needs, including help desk ticket management, complaint handling, and customer support requests. What makes Issuetrak different is its ability to accept ticket submissions through multiple channels, such as email, web forms, and directly within the application, which is particularly useful for businesses that interact with customers across various platforms.

Features include quick notes, which enables users to add pre-written notes to issues quickly, functionalities for managing customer complaints. Issuetrak also offers comprehensive customer support, including a dedicated support department that provides 24/7 technical assistance and in-house services such as site configuration and training for support agents.

Integrations include Okta, Onelogin, Gmail, Microsoft 365, Salesforce, Google Analytics, and PowerBI.

Pricing starts at $26/agent/month and they offer a 14-day free trial.

Best for AI-powered enterprise search

  • 30-day free trial + free plan available
  • From $10/user/month
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Rating: 4.6/5

Guru is a knowledge management tool that provides a platform for employees to access and share trusted information within a company. It offers AI-powered solutions for enterprise search, intranet, and wiki, aiming to elevate efficiency and boost productivity. Guru is designed to be a secure and comprehensive source of truth for businesses, with a focus on improving employee experience and streamlining information access.

Guru centralizes company information, making it accessible to team members through a platform that supports the creation, sharing, and maintenance of knowledge. The tool allows users to sign up and log in, offering a snapshot of web pages and the ability to view source code, as well as a find bar for searching specific terms. It also utilizes AI to provide instant answers and supports various aspects of work such as internal communications, onboarding, and remote work

Guru additionally emphasizes the importance of communication, training, and support for employees during periods of change.The platform's features, such as the ability to create and share knowledge cards, help ensure that all team members have access to the latest information and best practices, thereby supporting the change management process by keeping everyone informed and aligned.

Available integrations include Google Chrome, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Gmail, and Outlook.

Pricing for Guru starts from $10/user/month. A 30-day free trial and a freemium plan are also available.

Best for visualizing change management with the visual workflow builder

  • Free demo
  • Customized price upon request
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Rating: 4.2/5

ServiceDesk Plus is a complete IT Service Management (ITSM) suite with built-in IT Asset Management (ITAM) and Configuration Management Database (CMDB) capabilities to help assess risks and plan change implementation. The tool's PinkVerify-certified IT change management module allows IT teams to implement changes with minimal risk by designing change processes on a visual workflow designer.

With custom change roles, types, statuses, and templates, as well as the ability to designate a Change Advisory Board (CAB), IT teams can design change implementation processes that cater to their business needs. Other key features include the ability to log and track changes resulting from incidents and problems and to get input and approvals on change plans from CAB members.

Users can also configure automated workflows and notifications to improve visibility and communication for IT and business stakeholders using the visual workflow builder, as well as publish announcements about changes to communicate any planned downtime to end-users.

Pricing for ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus starts at $12/per user/month for the standard plan. See further pricing plans on their pricing page.

Best for integrated ITSM automation

  • 21-day free trial
  • From $49/user/month
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Rating: 4.6/5

Freshservice is an innovative cloud-based IT service management solution designed to streamline the operations of IT teams across various organizations. Developed by Freshworks Inc., it offers a comprehensive suite of tools aimed at automating IT service management processes and facilitating efficient service delivery. Freshservice stands out for its user-friendly interface, making it accessible for IT professionals and end-users alike.

As a change management software, Freshservice shines by offering a structured platform that supports IT teams in planning, executing, and monitoring change processes within their organization. It provides a centralized system for managing all change requests, ensuring that any alterations to IT infrastructure or services are documented, evaluated, and implemented in a controlled manner.

One of the key features of Freshservice as a change management tool is its ability to facilitate collaboration among IT team members, stakeholders, and decision-makers. The platform enables users to easily submit change requests, track their status in real-time, and communicate effectively throughout the change process. It also offers customizable workflows, allowing organizations to tailor the change management process to their specific needs.

Freshservice incorporates powerful analytics and reporting capabilities, providing IT managers with insights into the efficiency and effectiveness of their change management processes. These features enable organizations to identify trends, anticipate potential issues, and make data-driven decisions to improve their change management strategies over time.

Integrations include Salesforce, HubSpot, Microsoft Dynamics 365, Pipedrive, Oracle Netsuite, Insightly, Copper, Zoho CRM, Close, Zendesk, TeamSupport, Help Scout, Jira Service Desk, Zoho Desk, Chargebee, Recurly, Sage Intacct, QuickBooks Online, Xero, Intercom, Google Calendar, Azure, and a growing list of other useful apps. They, of course, integrate with their own first-party software like Freshsales, Freshworks CRM, and Freshservice, as well.

Freshservice costs from $49/user/month and comes with a 21-day free trial.

Best change management based on ITIL

  • 30-day free trial
  • $1,211 for 500 assets
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Rating: 4.4/5

SysAid is an ITSM platform that has features to control and manage change requests based on IT infrastructure library (ITIL) best practices. The change management software comes with pre-configured workflow templates that cover various change scenarios to facilitate the planning, consideration, approval, and execution of changes. Users can also choose to create their change process templates themselves. Multi-level authorization and risk assessment can be configured.

Users can evaluate the potential risk associated with each change, and then leverage the change management approval process to make sure that all approved changes adhere to the company’s strategies and policies before execution. Stakeholders outside of the IT department can be implicated at various stages of workflows. Reporting tools help users track the impact of their work.

The pricing information and free trial for SysAid’s premium plans are available only upon request.

Best change management tool for adopting new software in an organization

  • Free Trial
  • Pricing Upon Request
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Rating: 4.6/5

Whatfix lets you design real-time interactive guides with zero codings required. Engage users through contextual widgets (self-help widget, tasklist widget, and smart tips static overlays), as well as guided pop-ups. Context-aware information provides users with the most useful updates immediately and provides in-app training in user preferred formats (from video to PDF and more).

Whatfix can accommodate those with disabilities by providing them with accessible technology that complies with section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act. This means they are an essential tool for accessibility-inclusive workplaces across the board.

CRM integration was a bit spotty and could use some revamping, particularly in compiling and reporting issues. The app can seem somewhat “single-minded” in how users are expected to complete a task, whereas larger web app projects might need a bit more flexibility (ie. broader branching workflow paths, et cetera).

Overall this is a really great tool if you're onboarding your employees to a new software, although it can be adapted for other use cases as well.

Whatfix has a custom pricing model and offers a free trial.

Best change management platform for managing both customer and employee change

  • Free demo
  • From $2-3000/annually
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Rating: 4.5/5

WalkMe’s guidance tools help to prevent errors, encourage desired behaviors and foster goal completion through custom desktop notifications, easy Help Desk access, visibility and insights into digital behavior, a self-paced onboarding list, and more. By simplifying back-office functions, WalkMe aids enterprise resource planning during any software onboarding.

Setting up walkthroughs was a bit of a time commitment, which would not have been as much of a problem if WalkMe software updates didn’t often require manually re-test said walkthrough processes post-update.

They offer guidance tools and onboarding for popular software like Salesforce, Workday, Jira Service Management, NetSuite, Talentsoft and more, so any company who already uses any of their pre-listed programs would benefit in particular from these apps offerings.

WalkMe starts at $7500/year. They also offer custom pricing within a large range based on many factors and have a free demo available.

Best free change management tool for small companies

  • 14-day free trial + free version available
  • From $39/month (10 users)
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Rating: 4.9/5

This collaboration-first change management platform lets you gather ideas from your employees, customers, and other stakeholders; refine and develop ideas together with your team; analyze your innovation process to find and eliminate bottlenecks; and more.

Viima is great for small businesses due to the low point of cost and minimal barriers to entry. They provide many services for free for a limited number of users and also have Apple and Android apps to help scattered teams stay connected.

Reporting visualization and exportation of data could be improved to be more functional, dynamic, and flexible. Because the software is light on features, adding integrations for project management tools could go a long way to making it a more well-rounded application.

Viima starts free for up to 10 users and then is $39/month.

Best change management software for nonprofits (special pricing)

  • From $800/month

ESM has three elements to its software offerings: Balanced Scorecard Software (for top-down strategy), Employee Review Software and Strategy Consulting Services. ESM takes a big picture approach to navigate change by breaking information down into goals, interconnections, initiatives, KPIs and more.

ESM’s “big picture” mind mapping of company change and strategy seems a perfect fit for large scale corporations who don’t have many reliable touchpoints with staff across departments. However, in today’s digital age, ESM’s interconnectivity emphasis would also work well for smaller teams who work online or remotely, where a unified vision will ensure that even a separated team is advancing on the same goals.

More financial planning options, like profit and loss statements, would be hugely beneficial to their “big picture” approach to strategy. Furthermore, the ability to view multiple strategy maps, rather than switching between them in a drop-down menu, would be a time saver. Their paid plan is also quite pricey compared to other options available.

ESM starts at $800/month for unlimited users but has a free version of the software as well.

Best digital change management tool for complex organizational change

  • Free demo available
  • Pricing available upon request

Since its launch in 2001, AppLearn (and later their digital adoption system ADOPT), have been implementing HR systems for organizations in need of complex, large-scale change such as HCM, CRM, and ERP transformation project.

They have software tutorials pre-integrated into their system rather than having users build their own. Anyone who uses Salesforce, Oracle HCM Cloud, Workday, Cornerstone, Lumesse, CoreHR and anything else listed specifically on their site will benefit from their platform.

The software could benefit from compliance management tools to ensure that users are following through with the training and getting the most out of the resources presented. Or, surveys and feedback could be implemented—anything to make it a little less “hands-off” for management staff that might be wary about completion rates.

AppLearn offers custom pricing plans and has a free demo.

The Best Change Management Tools Summary

Tools Price
Issuetrak From $26/agent/month
Guru From $10/user/month
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus Customized price upon request
Freshservice From $49/user/month
SysAid $1,211 for 500 assets
Whatfix Pricing Upon Request
WalkMe From $2-3000/annually
Viima From $39/month (10 users)
eSM Software From $800/month
AppLearn Pricing available upon request
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Make A Complete Toolkit For Managing Organizational Change

There simply is no one-size-fits-all for change control management software. That’s because change happens in different areas and under different contexts. We’ve broken out some common areas of company change and recommended change management software appropriate for each category.

  1. Giva

    Best intuitiveness and user-friendly UX

  2. Engage Your Team

    Best change management tool for HR management

  3. The Change Shop

    Best change management toolkit for survey-based insights

  4. The Change Compass

    Best change management tool for large companies and enterprises

  5. Howspace

    Best change management tool with AI capabilities

  6. ClickUp

    Best to record change management phases & track progress

  7. Wrike

    Best for team collaboration solutions

  8. Jira Service Management

    Best for its risk assessment engine

How I Selected The Best Change Management Tools

If you're wondering how I selected the best change management tools, here's where I'll break it all down for you. First of all, I started with change management software that has high user review and satisfaction ratings. Then, using my experience in project management, I discerned what key criteria were most important for software for change management and compared how each of them stacked up against the rest.

I empathize with how much time it takes to source the right software for a job. I do this work so that you don't have to. I've been using and reviewing change management tools for years so you can trust me to do the heavy lifting and compile all the facts you need to make your final decision.

Selection Criteria

After careful consideration, I've determined that these are the most important criteria when selecting the best software for change management. Here's a brief list outlining the whats and whys of my selection.

User Interface (UI):

User interface is critical when choosing change management tools because it can significantly impact the tool's usability, adoption, and effectiveness. An intuitive and user-friendly UI can help organizations to streamline their change management processes and improve their overall change management capabilities.

Usability:

Let's not make change management any harder than it already is. Usability refers to how easy it is for users to learn and use the tool effectively. If a change management tool is not usable, it can lead to frustration and confusion among users, resulting in low user adoption rates and low overall tool effectiveness. A highly usable change management tool, on the other hand, can help organizations to streamline their change management processes, reduce errors, and increase productivity.

Integrations:

Software integrations are essential when selecting change management tools because they enable seamless communication between different systems and allow for the automation of various tasks. When implementing change management initiatives, multiple tools and systems may be involved, such as project management tools, customer relationship management (CRM) software, and collaboration platforms. Integrating these tools with change management software streamlines the entire change process.

Pricing:

Pricing is an essential factor to consider when selecting change management tools because it can significantly impact the budget allocated for change management initiatives. The cost of a tool should be evaluated in terms of its features, usability, scalability, and the expected ROI. Organizations should select a tool that provides the necessary functionality at a reasonable cost and aligns with their budgetary constraints.

ITIL Change Management Tools

These change management tools are specifically for IT service management teams. These are the tools you want if you’re looking for software engineering change management tools or solutions to manage change in DevOps or compliance-driven software processes.

  1. Sunview Software – best ITIL change management tool for DevOps
  2. BMC – best database change management software (but also has tons of features for software change management)
  3. Freshservice – best software change management tool for SMB
  4. Changegear - best ITSM for change management support & release management

Tools For Managing Ideas

Maybe you don’t have a “single” needed change and instead, want to set your team up for constant collaborative innovation. You want to create a space where people can bounce ideas around and get real-time feedback. These tools can help you do that. After all, effective change management stats with one good idea.

Screenshot of Applearn organization platform

AppLearn tracks how users engage with your smart page elements and where said users come from.

  1. Qmarkets – A social software solution to engage employees and encourage cross-department thinking to submit innovative ideas as a part of an organized campaign or stand-alone suggestion. Qmarkets offers quote-based pricing and a free demo.
  2. Ideascale – Create digital “Communities” in order to crowdsource ideas, vote on suggestions, connect similar ideas together through predictive text AI, and offer points- and badges as incentivization for participants. Ideascale starts at $4,999/year and offers a free license version.
  3. Brightidea – Crowdsource on a company-wide scale with idea submission pages attached to suggested tags, in order to group similar projects – then track funding and implementation within a Kanban dashboard. Brightidea offers customized quotes and has a free demo.

Onboarding Tools

Bringing on new customers and/or users can be stressful and time-consuming for both you and the end-user. If your webpage or app has frequent updates, complex navigation, or CTAs that require an explanation that won’t fit on a site button, onboarding tools might be able to help. Onboarding tools help alleviate the barriers to entry of jumping into new UX and can turn visitors into longtime customers by fringing the FAQ to them.

Appcues Theme Customize Page

Create, design, customize, target, and publish flows, tooltips, and modals with Appcues.

  1. Appcues – Announce changes and introduce users to new additions to your product with feature call-outs and point-and-click walkthroughs and then monitor the impact of your onboarding system through various available analytics. Appcues start at $649/month for 3 users and offer a free demo.
  2. Enboarder – Customized welcome messages for new employees, onboarding checklists and equipment requests, star-based ratings for training services, and more. Enboarder allows you to adapt employee journeys based on data and feedback. They have custom pricing models available upon request and offer a free demo. 
  3. Intercom – Employ chatbots to funnel interested parties towards your service, targeted messages to onboard and activate customers, and provide personalized help at scale with a collaborative inbox, automation, and self-service support. Intercom starts at $87/month and offers a free 14-day trial.
  4. Qstream – Software for ongoing staff training with features to identify skill gaps and track engagement based on end-user interaction. Various performance and ROI analytics can help you cut things that aren’t working. Qstream starts at $50/user/month and offers a free demo.

Tools For Customer Success Management

It’s hard to excel in any business if you don’t have a solid customer service strategy that can incorporate areas of change like complaints and mediation, growing or shifting consumer base, and marketing outreach projects. These tools can help you navigate many of the above concerns and more.

Sceenshot of Planhat Dashboard

Planhat brings your customer data together from different sources to display in a single dashboard.

  1. Planhat – A Saas that helps manage customer service initiatives by integrating multiple platforms (like Salesforce and Zendesk) with features for customer overviews, onboarding and revenue management. Planhat starts at $500/month (plus $1/additional user/month) and offers a free demo.
  2. Gainsight – Capture every customer interaction in a robust database, access reporting to aid calls-to-action, and leverage both one-on-one conversations and personalized, automated emails. Gainsight starts at $500/month and offers a 14-day free trial of any subscription tier. They also offer a free version of the app, limited to one product and up to 500 emails per month.
  3. Natero – Compiles customer emails, chats, meetings, support tickets, billing history, and product usage, identify at-risk customers, prep for upcoming renewals, and monitor customer health scores through custom KPIs, CSM scores, support tickets, NPS, and more. Natero offers customized quotes and offers a free demo.
  4. CustomerSuccesBox – Monitor account health, set up customer onboarding tools, and segment accounts by type or need to better customize your CSM approach for each. Provides milestones, customizable alerts and campaign feedback. CustomerSuccessBox starts at $499/month and offers a free demo.

Employee Onboarding Software

Team growth, turnover, contractors, promotions, interns or co-op students…there are so many reasons you might need to automate parts of your training regimen to take the stress off of both management and trainees. Use these tools to integrate new hires with minimal downtime so that they can hit the ground running and immediately feel like part of the team.

Screenshot of Talmundo Dashboard

Talmundo offers ways to help automate HR administration and employee onboarding.

  1. Talmundo – Get new hires integrated into company workflow with custom roadmaps, mobile and PC options for engagement, and a feedback system for new recruits.
  2. KiSSFLOW – Automated workflows, case management, fluid forms, visual workflow, task management, and reports and analytics are just some of the features you will have access to.
  3. Workday – One cloud ERP system for finance, HR, and planning with machine learning capabilities that helps identify risks.
  4. Docebo – Centralize organize courses, distribute and manage online and instructor-led training, track certifications and measure results with dashboards and custom analytics.

Employee Engagement Tools

Don’t let routine and complacency define your team. Help people come together, collaborate, create, discover, bond, develop and process new ideas through tools designed to boost employee engagement. Successful change needs activated and engaged employees.

Screenshot of OfficeAccord analysis

OfficeAccord lets employees connect about day-to-day concerns while analyzing interactions.

  1. OfficeAccord – Automated alerts sent to targeted employee groups, community management for everything from company events to ride share opportunities, and monitor important dates like birthdays and start date anniversaries. OfficeAccord starts at $500/month for up to 500 users and offers a free demo.
  2. Qualtrics – XM Platforms used to collect, understand, and take action on experience data; reports and analytics suggest which products and services to build-out. Qualtrics starts at $1500/year and offers a free trial as well as a free version with limited features.
  3. TINYpulse – Real-time employee feedback with employee surveys, tools for onboarding and engagement, and exit interview capabilities. TINYpulse starts at $5/month/user and offers a free trial.
  4. Honestly – Employee pulse surveys on nine metrics of engagement, engagement reports, and real-time dashboard to highlight KPIs. Honestly starts at $4/user/month and offers a free demo and/or free trial.
  5. Officevibe – Employees can share anonymous feedback and managers receive visual weekly reports that identify the issues specific to your workplace. Officevibe starts at $4/user/month and offers a free version.

People Also Ask

Here are a few questions I thought of while writing this list that I wanted a chance to address. I think they’ll provide some context for how to pick the best software for change management.

What Are The Types Of Change Management?

Types of change management include:

  • idea management
  • onboarding new staff or partners
  • customer success navigation
  • transformational or transitional change (acquisitions, mergers, re-brands)
  • developmental changes (employee engagement initiatives, procedural changes)
  • IT implementation management

What Are The Steps In Change Management?

This varies from group to group, but common steps in change management include:

  1. Finding an area that needs improvement;
  2. Developing a plan for improvement;
  3. Researching the proper tools for change development;
  4. Identifying who will be affected;
  5. Implementing training processes;
  6. Trying a beta or soft-launch;
  7. Collecting feedback;
  8. Initiating a hard launch.

What Is A Change Management Plan?

A change management plan is a step-by-step breakdown of how you intend to alleviate the strains of introducing a change initiative into the workplace. It involves anticipating pressure points and strategizing how to navigate them before they become a problem. Change management plans often need robust communication systems, training programs, and some sort of success/failure feedback loop.

What Are The Types Of Change Management Software?

Change management comes in many shapes and sizes, depending on what’s changing. There is change management software for:

  • Software (SW change management), IT roll-outs and upgrades
  • Training and onboarding
  • Feedback, polling and analysis of new tools and processes
  • Change planning and running what-if scenarios to calculate change impact

What are Key Feature of Change Management Software?

  • Key Features: Here are some of the key features I look for in change management tools:
  • Flowcharts & Process Maps: Some way to visualize what the change process and roadmap will look like and flag key milestones. Find a round-up of dedicated flowchart software here.
  • ADKAR Analysis: Some way to communicate awareness, desire, knowledge, ability, and reinforcement of the change process.
  • Reinforcement of Behavior: Some way to encourage and monitor team behaviors associated with solidifying the oncoming elements of the change.
  • Elevation of Change Cheerleaders: Some way to make the voices heard of those advocating and role modeling the change expectations so others can buy-in.
  • Learning Management & Skill Building: Some way to develop necessary new skills to accommodate changing workflows or environments.
  • Impact Analysis: Is the change working? Is it good for team members, project goals, and business processes?

What Is The Difference Between Change Management And Change Control?

Change management often refers to how change affects the people within an organization and may highlight communication, training and feedback in order to lessen disruption to service and ROI. Change control is a more technical element, whereby the services being changed are documented, planned, launched, and assessed (usually handled by IT).

What Other Change Management Resources Do I Need?

I would suggest you check these out if you are looking for change management help and resources:

What’s In Your Change Management Systems?

You probably have dozens or hundreds of things to consider as you implement something new and transition away from the old. Change management tools can make leading change less daunting for yourself and for your team.

What software, tools or skills do you find the most handy for navigating big or small company changes? Share your ideas in the comments below.

More change management advice: check out my podcast episode where PM Alexa Alfonso talks about how to manage process change.

And for regular updates on how-to guides, podcasts, and digital project management articles, subscribe to The DPM Newsletter. See you there!

By Ben Aston

I’m Ben Aston, a digital project manager and founder of thedpm.com. I've been in the industry for more than 20 years working in the UK at London’s top digital agencies including Dare, Wunderman, Lowe and DDB. I’ve delivered everything from film to CMS', games to advertising and eCRM to eCommerce sites. I’ve been fortunate enough to work across a wide range of great clients; automotive brands including Land Rover, Volkswagen and Honda; Utility brands including BT, British Gas and Exxon, FMCG brands such as Unilever, and consumer electronics brands including Sony. I'm a Certified Scrum Master, PRINCE2 Practitioner and productivity nut!