“Collaboration” has been an enterprise buzzword for decades, starting with an analog definition — meaning, simply, working on a project with team members — and evolving into something that’s layered with technology. Now, when we say “collaboration,” we usually mean working with team members while using, or inside of, some kind of tech platform — Microsoft Teams, Zoom, Google Meet and so on.
This is especially true in recent months, when many enterprises rapidly shifted to remote-work scenarios due to the pandemic, and collaboration became almost entirely tied to tech platforms. There’s no doubt that what’s occurring right now will impact enterprise technology and operations for years to come — and these are three lessons UC professionals can take from the pandemic.
Don’t assume people don’t want more — or better — office tech
While many enterprises were using collaboration platforms prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the user base often comprised the more tech-savvy employees, without across-the-board buy-in from all employees in all enterprises.
But the pandemic has proven to be a catalyst for the adoption of collaboration platforms. With the abrupt move to a remote-work model, employees everywhere were forced to become intimately familiar — in some cases overnight — with UC and collaboration technology.
And there’s no turning back now. This move to UC has created a new level of expectation that employees will be able to continue to collaborate from anywhere using these platforms. UC thus will become non-negotiable in the majority of enterprises, even when we return to “normal.”
Don’t underestimate employees’ appetite for technologies that enhance the way they work and make their lives easier — while people can get burned out on tech if there are too many platforms or tools in the mix, with the right solutions, people can quickly adjust and make it part of their workflow.
Reconsider your rollout process
Related to the last point: In our former lives, rolling out new technologies was a lengthy process that took months or even years. Migrating to new platforms involved beta testing different options, selecting small cohorts to test-drive the tech, conducting multiple training sessions, gradually adding technologies by teams or departments, and so forth. It was a slow, straightforward process that allowed people to become more comfortable with different tools during a graduated adoption process.
Then came the coronavirus, and enterprises who had one foot in the world of UC and collaboration tech were pushed headlong into it.
In some cases, IT and UC professionals were given 72 hours to do what they would normally do in 18 months, often cutting out the unnecessary pieces to push out the new tech; some backend transitions began on a Friday night in mid-March and ran nonstop through Monday morning. Employees returned from their weekend (although likely not in person) to a whole new reality. Instead of their learning about new tech via a graduated process, it became the status quo overnight; instead of training sessions led by IT in person, they might have gotten YouTube instructional videos on a private channel.
While this doesn’t sound ideal, people are adaptable, and they’re making it work. Because we’re in extenuating circumstances right now, most employees understand they aren’t going to have their hands held the way they normally would during a transition to new tech. (When you go to a Waffle House right after a hurricane, you don’t complain that they’re only serving a limited menu!)
The way this has been navigated may indicate that we don’t need to allow as much time for some (not all) rollouts as we have been allocating. While something like a cloud migration will continue to be a massive undertaking for a while yet, rolling out new UC platforms — especially ones designed to be intuitive and user friendly — with a shortened timeline might prove to be more effective for getting everyone on board. When people absolutely have to use something, they’ll learn it faster.
