Going back and forth between different conversations leading to inefficiency, expert warns
With a plethora of collaboration platforms for organisations to choose from, it can be the case that multiple communication tools get deployed leading to decreased efficiencies as employees go back and forth between them.
According to Kara Korte, director of product management at TetraVX, the need to stay up-to-date and involved in conversations taking place across channels such as Slack, Teams, Gchat, Flowdock, and Trello, causes employees more headaches than relief.
She told UC Today that employees get overwhelmed with multiple platforms as there is a disconnect between what individual departments need and what the IT department has provided.
“Without understanding the unique needs of each department, or even more granularly individual personas, the IT department runs the risk of implementing a solution that doesn’t meet their needs or align with their department processes,” she said.
In situations like this, department heads take matters into their own hands, finding solutions that accomplish what they feel their existing solutions can’t.
“This shadow IT epidemic leads to security challenges, budget inefficiencies, and ultimately, low user adoption for the IT departments solution. It also leads to a puzzle of disparate technologies that create collaboration inefficiencies between departments,” said Korte.
A major problem with using multiple platforms is user adoption and training, she said.
“For each solution, you have a new UI/UX, new functionality, and often limited integration on how the different systems work together. It also leads to challenges for the IT department as they are left managing multiple vendors and must be the source of training and ticket resolutions for each system,” she said.
This can be overcome by businesses by understanding end user needs and the business’s current technology stack.
“First, identify if there are redundant systems or features that can be easily consolidated. Next, with any possible consolidation accomplished, it’s important to look at the integration capabilities between those systems at both a product and organisation level,” said Korte.
Korte added that if there is too much to handle then external help may be required from a partner that specialises in UC and collaboration technology. She said:
“By performing an architecture and design session, your partner can help you accomplish steps one and two as well as provide end-user support and training for your employee base”
Korte added that all too often providers push their product as being the best without understanding what’s truly best for the company.
Korte stressed that risk of not including employees in the conversation about which platform is best often goes unnoticed until after the solution is deployed.
“Not only are you greeted with frustrated employees who may be reluctant to change, but they also may not see the use case for their day to day tasks.” “By incorporating the employees early on, you not only pick a solution that matches their unique needs, but you can also leverage those personas in the training process, tailoring their onboarding to their operations,” she said.
