3rd July, 2025
The shift from desktop software to a cloud platform is a significant step for any accounting practice. Cloud practice management software reduces your reliance on IT hardware and on-premise access, keeps client data safe and secure, and helps streamline work, taking the burden off your team.
Of course, those upsides don’t appear overnight. Moving to the cloud requires a thoughtful change management process. Change management guides employees through the transition, minimising disruption and maximising the benefits that come with cloud adoption.
Change management is the process of planning, carrying out, and integrating a significant organisational change. It’s a structured, step-by-step process that can help your practice navigate a complex transition – whether it’s implementing new technology, reshuffling your team, or updating workflows. Change management differs from project management because it takes a broader view, considering your people and business structures as well as your software and systems.
Change management for cloud transformation is a specialty. Cloud software doesn’t involve hardware or on-premise servers, it allows faster, simpler change. It’s accessible and visible to your whole team, which means that everyone can be involved in the transition process. It lets you take an agile approach to change, adding modules and automation as needed.
A cloud change management process will depend on your business goals, existing software and transition goals. Here’s a look at some common stages:
At the first stage, you need to lay out the broad goals of the process, along with the specific changes needed – for example, implementing a new software platform. At this point, you should define the scope of the transition and examine potential impacts on your team and other stakeholders.
Stakeholder buy-in comes next. This stage is about communicating your goals and transition plan to your practice teams. It may\ involve bringing in leadership teams and talking to outside advisors. The aim is for everyone to understand the key steps, timelines and reasons behind the transition process.
Goal-setting involves defining clear expectations for the change process, assessing your readiness for change, and identifying potential roadblocks. These findings flow through into a comprehensive change management plan, including key steps, a timeline for implementation and team members responsible for leading the process.
Training and support for your teams are among the most important elements. This ensures that they are set up to navigate new cloud software with minimal disruption to their everyday work. Ongoing support, whether through your software provider or a dedicated internal team member, can minimise teething problems and integration issues.
The final stage is ongoing monitoring and evaluation. This helps you track the ROI of your cloud transition and identify possible issues or gaps.
For accounting practices shifting a cloud-based practice solution, effective change management is a must-have. It’s a path to faster ROI, enhanced employee engagement and increased agility. These benefits stretch beyond the actual change management process and into your wider practice.
How does change management help you achieve the return on your cloud investment? It’s about condensing the change process so your new cloud software is up and running more quickly. Once it’s live, you can start to see the ROI emerge in time savings, accuracy and improved customer service.
In a fast-moving market, being able to move quickly is a business advantage. Cloud change management can help your practice build this skill, allowing for rapid pivots and adaptability when your new software is bedded in.
Smart change management benefits your team, as well. Because it’s collaborative and focused on communication, it keeps all your people on the same page and ensures that your employees feel involved and considered in the change process.
Planning key implementation stages between busy times and training employees ahead of time helps you avoid disrupting day-to-day operations, minimising the impact on productivity.
How do you avoid roadblocks in your change management process? Here’s what to sort out before you start – from communication, to employee reluctance, to unrealistic expectations.
Effective communication is an essential component of any change management process. Without it, stakeholders can be left out of the loop, which can lead to missed updates or a fundamental misunderstanding of the change’s purpose. Make sure you have communication plans in place – for example, a weekly employee update, regular transition meetings, or a dedicated chat channel for change management messages.
If your practice has been using desktop software for years, a shift to the cloud could run into resistance from employees. They may be used to your current system and concerned about learning a new one – particularly if it involves a shift from desktop to cloud. A collaborative approach can help you combat this issue, ensuring that employees understand the goals of change management and get a chance to share their perspectives.
Lack of support from leadership is another common issue. Without leaders acting as advocates for the change process, it’s easy for planned changes to fall behind or be abandoned altogether. Support from leadership also ensures that employees have dedicated time for training and development.
Sometimes, practices struggle with change management because their expectations don’t align with reality. Some assume that moving to the cloud will happen overnight, with everything up and running instantly – but this isn’t usually the case. Working closely with your cloud provider or third-party support team can help you set realistic goals and timelines, and understand what the final result will look like.
For accounting practices, the benefits of cloud software are clear. Instead of storing documents and practice management software in your office, your practice can work almost completely in the cloud. This reduces your reliance on IT hardware and lets your people work remotely.
Cloud platforms usually include built-in security protocols, helping you elevate client service by providing safe, compliant data storage and simpler access for collaboration. In daily operations, cloud systems offer automation and connected workflows, maximising productivity and making the job easier – and more engaging – for your people.
Beyond those benefits, the cloud can help you reduce your spending on local servers and on-premise hardware, which helps minimise IT costs and the need for setup support. They’re flexible and scalable, allowing practices to add custom integrations, extra users, or new modules as needed.
The end result is a system set up for adaptability and access, without additional software costs or friction for your team.
MYOB has been supporting accounting practices through the change management process for years. Now that our accounting and practice management solutions are available in the cloud, we’ve shifted our change management process to support this type of transition.
We support your team through the implementation process and beyond, helping you plan, set goals, and navigate the shift from one platform to another. It’s about minimising disruption and helping you hook into the benefits of the cloud ASAP.
Information provided in this article is of a general nature and does not consider your personal situation. It does not constitute legal, financial, or other professional advice and should not be relied upon as a statement of law, policy or advice. You should consider whether this information is appropriate to your needs and, if necessary, seek independent advice. This information is only accurate at the time of publication. Although every effort has been made to verify the accuracy of the information contained on this webpage, MYOB disclaims, to the extent permitted by law, all liability for the information contained on this webpage or any loss or damage suffered by any person directly or indirectly through relying on this information.