This document provides best practices and lessons learned for successfully deploying a Microsoft Unified Communication platform based on the author's experience managing such deployments for large organizations. It stresses the importance of executive buy-in, branding the program, generating excitement, customizing training and communications for different user roles, identifying advocates and power users to help with adoption, and viewing the deployment as a cultural change rather than just a technology change. The author estimates that 30-50% of the total cost should be invested in organizational change management to ensure users gain productivity from the new system.

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most effective deployment plan and to
carefully pick who your first customers
will be. This group will generate the
organizational first impression, so it is
extremely important that you choose
a team for whom the value of the new
collaboration capabilities will outweigh
minor glitches that you might have
during your first deployment. This can be
accomplished by sending a simple survey
to all of your users to understand their
willingness to welcome the change.
Sales and Marketing are usually
eager to try out new technologies, yet
we all have departments that are more
change averse. Deploy to people who will
generate a positive message about your
program first. Remember, the success
of the deployment is all about positive
momentum.
Role-Based Training
While the technology being deployed is the
same for everyone, there are capabilities
and features that will benefit one role
more than another. In order to maximize
your ROI, invest in diversifying your
training so that you can spend more time
training your customers, specifically on
features that will most benefit their role.
For instance, your Marketing and Sales
team might need more training in using
the mobility and off-line features while
your Finance department might need
more training on how to use SharePoint
Pivot Charts.
Communicate Abundantly
After all, this is a Communication
program, so use all of the
communication channels your Corporate
Communication department offers and,
if possible, add a few more. An excellent
way to communicate this change is to
create short two-minute videos that
explain in plain English the different
features of the new platform. For the
deployments I executed, “how to” videos
proved to be very popular, especially ones
where we explained how an operation
was performed in the old system and
translated that into how the operation is
performed in the new platform.
Find Your Connectors
These are the people in your organization
who simply cannot stop talking. They
know everything about everyone and they
are not shy telling you what they think
about any topic. Pay very close attention
to them, as the success of the deployment
is highly dependent on their buy in. Make
them part of your discussion groups and
always make sure they feel part of the
team that makes design decisions. The
payoff of this simple step is that they will
do all the advertising for you.
Department Power Users
They are the go-to people for quick
questions on how to use technology within
their departments. They are usually tech
savvy self-starters who can use the web
to find the answers they need to do what
they need to do. They should receive the
same type of training you will be giving
your help desk, plus additional training on
the features that their department will use
more than others. By taking this step, you
will be able to limit the risk of flooding
the help desk with calls at the time of
deployment.
The Evangelists
This is possibly the most important role
to affect adoption. It’s usually a team of
two or three people (dependent on how
big your organization is). Their role is
to spend “a day in the life” in different
departments and watch people go about
their day with the new technology based
on what they learned from training.
Most times, people tend to adapt the
new technology to their old processes,
which negates your business case. After
a couple of days of watching, they will
switch to the driver’s seat and show
the customers how to adjust their old
processes to a much more efficient new
process that will take full advantage of
the new Unified Communication and
Collaboration capabilities.
In Conclusion
Plan on investing 30 to 50 percent
of the total cost of your program on
Organizational Change Management,
as it is the only way to assure that your
investment will produce the productivity
gains you claimed in your business case.
If, after your deployment, your
customers continue to use Office365,
Excel 2000 or perhaps even Excel 95 as
they were previously, you failed.
Survey your customers often
and ask what you can do to improve
your communication. Implementing
the practices discussed in this article
takes work, but the work pays off by
significantly contributing to the success
of your deployment.
A Unified
Communication
deployment should
not be approached
as any other
deployment of new
technologies, but
rather as a cultural
change
Leo Barella
Gaining Competitive Advantage by Implementing
the Microsoft Unified Communication Platform
By Leo Barella, VP & CTO, Excellus BlueCross BlueSheild
Based in Rochester, NY, Excellus BlueCross BlueSheild is a nonprofit organization that finances and delivers vital health care services
Lessons from the Field
I had the opportunity to execute global deployments of the
Microsoft Unified Communication platform for four of the largest
organizations in the Strategic Consulting, Pharmaceuticals,
Healthcare and Financial Services industry.
Each program involved the migration from the IBM Domino
platform and included the deployment of combinations of
Microsoft Lync, Outlook and SharePoint.
Acknowledging that every deployment had very different
requirements, I will try to summarize the common practices that
made every deployment a success.
Obtain Executive Buy-In
A Unified Communication deployment should not be approached
as any other deployment of new technologies, but rather as a
cultural change. In order for your investment to truly achieve
maximum value, you must obtain executive sponsorship not
only for financial approval, but for their personal commitment
in leading this change by example. This is one of the most
transformational programs your organization will endeavor and,
if executed properly, can provide a CIO and the executive team
with great customer loyalty and credibility.
Engage with your Corporate Communication team as early as
CIOReview|1 1 2| JULY 2014
you can and, if possible, make them co-sponsor of the initiative.
Brand Your Program
Since you are changing many of the most-used applications
on your users’ desktops and will likely not change them all at
once, you want to be able to relate all the changes throughout
the lifecycle of the program. Make your brand easy to associate
with collaboration. In the past I used names such as “Connect” or
“iConnect” followed by a slogan that can help you explain what
the program is about in a few words, such as “Communicate,
Collaborate, and Connect”.
Generate Excitement
If your budget permits, I strongly recommend hiring a
professional designer to create your branded materials. This
should include a logo and a presentation template that you will
use to communicate this program from the start. As soon as your
program gets the green light, start generating your “Coming
soon“ announcements and, if possible, start distributing branded
merchandise such as pins, pens, mouse pads, etc.
Profile Your Customers
One of the most important aspects of success is to define the
CXO Insight
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