Don’t get me wrong, I have a healthy degree of respect for many a well-designed piece of software. I’d even go so far as to say I have real affection, for specific apps which enhance my life in various ways. But love? That’s a tall order, even for a collaboration platform.
It’s a leap year though and a time for inversion, perhaps for taking a step beyond every day assumptions. Back in the structurally-sexist days of old it was an occasion for women to propose marriage to their menfolk. In 2020, maybe it’s time for executives of the future to propose a new way forward to their IT decision makers? To request — perhaps even demand — access to the best way to collaborate: internally, externally, and with remote colleagues.
Core’s London event “Fall In Love With Teams” was created to facilitate just such a shift, and help demonstrate the benefits of Microsoft Teams to organisations who could most benefit from it. The speakers from both the Core team and Microsoft product team made their case most persuasively, for the assembled audience of London-based enterprises.
Making the move
This is important, because even for those convinced of the benefits of adopting Teams, the transition is a huge step. Just for SMEs shifting to a new collaboration platform has big admin overhead, and for larger organisations it’s a significant state transition, requiring a structured change management process. This exploration of fit followed by a supported implementation pathway is where Core come in, as a matchmaker or marriage broker — to help organisations explore whether Teams is right for them, then to project-manage the changeover and digitisation of the workflow.
This initial exploration and process design, which can in many circumstances be funded by Microsoft, is vital — because, when it comes to getting the relationship with Teams off on the right foot, ‘it’s complicated’. Ensuring the platform delivers productivity gains to offset the transition and opportunity costs as early as possible, is where the benefit of using a managed service provider like Core makes clear sense.
Expert assistance
When life was more straightforward a generation ago, there was stigma attached to using a dating agency or service — whereas today people get to the point and use the technology available to optimise their relationship success.
It’s the same with collaboration tools in 2020 which need to help 5 different generations get work done together online after all.
Employing an expert facilitator is the way forward, because deploying Teams across a large enterprise is really a case of recreating an entire workspace and workflow digitally. Ensuring that it is efficient, compliant, scalable, agile, and secure is critical, whether you are transitioning from Skype for Business or on-prem Office 365 deployments or some other evolved blend of tools. Getting the architecture and structures right, then building out the groups and applications which help support the unique way each team works, is where expert input makes a big difference, and as a Microsoft Gold partner, Core have the longer view to provision the service based on what is coming down the line in the product roadmap for the future as well.
So, did the audience fall in love? Well, I think it was a great first date, and I for one look forward to getting to know Microsoft Teams even better — and seeing how the relationship develops. If you’re looking for a long-term partner to commit to, it might be worth exploring your options.
