The Best Change Management Software List
Here’s the best change management tools for technological or personnel change:
- 2. ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus — Best for visualizing change management with the visual workflow builder
Change management tools offer structure for the often chaotic process of change in our teams, businesses, and organizations. But change is steeped in ambiguity—how do you know what tools you even need for managing change?
Organizational change management can be tricky. After all, there’s no single suite of tools to navigate every type of company change. That makes change management software reviews challenging, as you often cannot compare them across the board. Different types of change management tools need to be addressed differently.
As a technical project manager or change manager, you may be charged with aspects of software change management as your organization adopts new technology or builds solutions for clients who are transitioning to new systems.
As well, for non-technical project managers, you may effectuate change by introducing a new tool or process to your team’s workflow or updating your company’s standards for customer development. Change is a huge part of your daily work, and you’ll work best when you can quickly organize and maintain your process.
In this post, I’ll go over the change management tools that best support each need, as well as explain what change management process flow is and how IT change management software can help you navigate the change process.
Below you’ll find an overview of each of the 10 best change management software, with screenshots, feature overviews, and pricing.
What are Change Management Tools?
Change management tools are anything that can be used to alleviate tensions that arise during a shift in process, staff or software. Change management tools might be needed for collecting feedback, implementing plans, and structuring training programs.
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 have 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.
If you have more general questions about change management, you can skip to our FAQ at the bottom of the page. Or, you can jump right to the best change management tools overviews if you're ready to start comparing.
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.
The Digital Project Manager is reader-supported. We may earn a commission when you click through links on our site — learn more about how we aim to stay transparent.
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.
Jira Service Management
Best for its risk assessment engine
Previously known as Jira Service Desk, Jira Service Management is a complete IT service management (ITSM) solution designed for DevOps, IT operations, and support teams of all sizes.
Apart from incident management, Jira Service Management also empowers IT operations teams through its change management tools and software. Users can reference change requests for complete context regarding the change, the personnel or teams, as well as the related work involved. The change requests view allows users to acquire valuable information from their CI/CD tool, name required approvers, share the risk score with stakeholders, and list all affected devices.
The change management software also comes with an advanced risk assessment engine. It employs automation technology to provide risk scores on every change. This means the user can easily determine whether or not a specific change has low, medium, or high risk associated with it. If the risk score is low, for instance, the system can be configured to auto-approve the request and deploy the change. If the risk score is high, on the other hand, the right personnel will then be automatically notified for further examination and approval.
Jira Service Management’s change management tools and software also allow users to assess dependencies as well as the potential impact of a change through the Insights module.
Jira Service Management is free for up to three agents. For a limited-time offer, the Standard plan is free for up to 10 agents for one year.
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus
Best for visualizing change management with the visual workflow builder
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.
Whatfix
Best change management tool for adopting new software in an organization
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.
WalkMe
Best change management platform for managing both customer and employee change
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, 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.
Viima
Best free change management tool for small companies
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 50 users and then is $3/user/month.
ManageEngine Service Desk Plus
Best change management software for enterprises
ManageEngine Service Desk Plus is a change management solution with ITIL-ready workflow and process management features for incident and problem management. With its robust ITIL processes, Service Desk Plus helps users automate IT service management operations and improve service delivery. As an integrated desktop central and mobile device management solution, it provides comprehensive control over all assets from a single console.
ManageEngine’s change management module helps businesses streamline your processes by providing a central repository for all changes. It includes workflow capabilities to automate the review and approval processes. Users can associate predefined change templates with preconfigured workflows, enabling them to trigger a change upon submission instantly, without having to manually create a new change request each time. ManageEngine helps users define a set of steps that need to be taken whenever a change is made and assigns responsibility for each step to specific individuals or groups, ensuring that all changes are properly documented and tested before being implemented and that any potential problems are identified and resolved before they cause disruptions. Moreover, it also helps ensure that changes are made in a consistent and coordinated manner.
It includes several built-in reports that give visibility into the change processes. These reports can be used to identify potential bottlenecks or areas for improvement. Additionally, the module integrates with the asset management module to give users complete visibility into how changes will impact your IT assets. ManageEngine’s post-implementation review feature allows users to collect feedback from customers after they've received support. This feedback can be used to improve support processes, identify areas for training, and ensure that customers are satisfied with the service they've received.
Pricing for ManageEngine Service Desk Plus is available upon request.
eSM Software
Best change management software for nonprofits (special pricing)
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.
The Change Shop
Best change management toolkit for survey-based insights
The Change Shop is a mobile-friendly cloud-based application for navigating change commitment plans, resistance forecasting, and many other tools that will help your team handle a shift in process or workload. Their app focuses on collaborative feedback, surveys and data collecting, and numerous report styles to evaluate your team’s readiness and capability for change and to make suggestions accordingly.
This platform would work best for change management involving disparate teams or groups where constant collaborative feedback is a must. Their Change Simulator will be helpful to onboard anyone who may be nervous about the shift or getting hung-up on the “What-ifs”.
While The Change Shop boasts a wide variety of tools, it would benefit from supplemental systems for compliance management and training management. As a relatively new software in the change management space, having launched in 2018, there is always the possibility that more features come in future updates.
The Change Shop starts at $29/month for up to 2500 users and has a free demo.
AppLearn
Best digital change management tool for complex organizational change
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.
Giva
Best intuitiveness and user-friendly UX
Giva boasts intuitiveness and user-friendly UX from change planning to follow through and compliance audits post-initiative. Defined ITIL processes speed up approval times and document management, dashboards and notifications keep everyone on the same page, and detailed records of all IT changes for longterm visibility into code and configuration changes throughout the organization.
Giva is primarily for IT change control, meaning that it works best for larger scale companies looking to better track and navigate software implementation, application updates, server upgrades, system patches, and so on.
New releases come out with some frequency, around one per month, which can mean constantly adjusting to new additions or changes as you go. While they offer many customizability options, they are not as flexible as other IT-focuses software on the market like ServiceNow.
Giva starts at $29/user/month and has a free 30-day trial.
Need expert help selecting the right Project Management Software?
We’ve joined up with Crozdesk.com to give all our readers (yes, you!) access to Crozdesk’s software advisors. Just use the form below to share your needs, and they will contact you at no cost or commitment. You will then be matched and connected to a shortlist of vendors that best fit your company, and you can access exclusive software discounts!
The Best Change Management Tools Summary
| Tool | Free Option | Price | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jira Service Management Best for its risk assessment engine | 7-day free trial | From $21/agent/month | Visit Website |
| 2 |  ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus Best for visualizing change management with the visual workflow builder | 30 Days Free Trial | $58 / technician / month | Visit Website |
| 3 | Whatfix Best change management tool for adopting new software in an organization | Free Trial | Pricing Upon Request | Visit Website |
| 4 | WalkMe Best change management platform for managing both customer and employee change | Free demo | From $2-3000/annually | Visit Website |
| 5 | Viima Best free change management tool for small companies | Free for up to 50 users | From $3/user/month | Visit Website |
| 6 | ManageEngine Service Desk Plus Best change management software for enterprises | 30-day free trial | Pricing upon request | Visit Website |
| 7 |  eSM Software Best change management software for nonprofits (special pricing) | Not available | From $800/month | Visit Website |
| 8 |  The Change Shop Best change management toolkit for survey-based insights | Free demo | From $29/month | Visit Website |
| 9 |  AppLearn Best digital change management tool for complex organizational change | Not available | Visit Website | |
| 10 |  Giva Best intuitiveness and user-friendly UX | 30 days free trial | From $29/user/month | Visit Website |
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.
- The Change Compass
Best change management tool for large companies and enterprises
- Engage Your Team
Best change management tool for HR management
- Howspace
Best change management tool with AI capabilities
- ClickUp
Best to record change management phases & track progress
- Wrike
Best for team collaboration solutions
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.
- Sunview Software – best ITIL change management tool for DevOps
- BMC – best database change management software (but also has tons of features for software change management)
- Freshservice – best software change management tool for SMB
- 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.
AppLearn tracks how users engage with your smart page elements and where said users come from.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Create, design, customize, target, and publish flows, tooltips, and modals with Appcues.
- 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 starts at $649/month for 3 users and offers a free demo.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Planhat brings your customer data together from different sources to display in a single dashboard.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Talmundo offers ways to help automate HR administration and employee onboarding.
- Talmundo – Get new hires integrated into company workflow with custom roadmaps, mobile and PC options for engagement, and a feedback system for new recruits.
- 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.
- Workday – One cloud ERP system for finance, HR, and planning with machine learning capabilities that helps identify risks.
- 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.
OfficeAccord lets employees connect about day-to-day concerns while analyzing interactions.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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:
- Finding an area that needs improvement;
- Developing a plan for improvement;
- Researching the proper tools for change development;
- Identifying who will be affected;
- Implementing training processes;
- Trying a beta or soft-launch;
- Collecting feedback;
- 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:
- An Effective 3-Step Change Management Process For Project Managers
- 3 Warning Signs Your Digital Transformation Is About To Stall & How To Course Correct
- Making Process Change Work (with Alexa Huston from Crema)
- 15 Best BPMS (Business Process Management Systems)
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!