With September fast approaching, many organisations are preparing for their big return to office. In this lead up, leadership groups are already working on how to reestablish centralized planning for the hybrid environment, and specifically, on which platforms it gets done.

After a year of WFH and everyone just trying to keep their heads above water, managers are attempting to figure out what are the right Unified Communications tools that will allow their teams to collaborate effectively.  

Not only on a departmental level, but across the entire organisation.

At the same time, establishing control should not be a dictatorial process. Reducing shadow IT and achieving buy-in from your team is essential for any UC strategy’s long-term success. But getting there is not without its challenges. 

Taking on the Challenge of Shadow IT 

One of the challenges that many organisations are now facing is the fact that while everyone was off at home, there was a lack of centralised direction when it came to which UC platforms were being used.

Product decided that they were a Teams outfit, while Marketing and Sales went to Zoom. Meanwhile, the CFO continued to use Webex for all her calls, keeping the C-suite in the Cisco space.

So, while everyone was able to find the platform that got the job done for them, the result has been a substantial application sprawl. Contending with this shadow IT environment is no small feat and can be difficult to overcome. But there are a number of reasons why it is important to make the effort in doing so. 

For starters, security is much harder to maintain when everyone is using different services. It is not impossible to implement security on a range of services, but it is only possible if the IT team is aware of what is in use. In some industries, there are regulatory requirements that organisations must report on regarding which services and products they are using, so that might also be a strong incentive for management to get a handle on what folks are using.  

However, even as leadership works to centralise business processes, they need to remember that their workforce needs to be an integral part of the decision making.

Looking for some insights on how organisations should approach their UC purchasing process, UC Today caught up with CallTower’s Chief Revenue Officer William Rubio.  

Pick the Right Collaboration Tools by Listening to Your Team  

In their experience from working with their clients end-to-end throughout the adoption, implementation, and support cycles, Rubio says that the key element that many organisations miss is driving the adoption by explaining the value of purchase decisions to the people who are actually going to be using the technology for their day-to-day operations.

He says that it is crucial for managers to not only explain why they chose a product like Microsoft Teams or Cisco Webex, but also to tell them what it will allow them to do better. With some exceptions, most of the folks on your team care less about one product or another. They care about the results that it allows them to achieve.

A little bit of transparency here can go a long way in making sure that people feel like they are part of the process.

Along with that useful piece of advice, Rubio makes three additional points that every organisation should consider in this purchasing process.  

Listen to Your People  

First is that we need to listen to people about their actual needs.

Rubio advises that organisations open up to their staff in the earlier stages of the assessment process, sharing thoughts about what direction they are considering and listening to them about what their needs or concerns are.   

This feedback is an important indicator for understanding the technical requirements for judging your purchases. It helps to provide useful criteria for comparing one product to another and landing on the one that will make your people the most effective at their job.  

Put in the Effort, Get the Buy-in with Training

If people don’t feel like they are being listened to and that their opinions are being taken into consideration, then they are far less likely to actually use the solution that they are handed.  

Getting buy-in from your team is a process that doesn’t happen overnight or simply because of a top-down approach.

Rubio tells UC Today that engaging the workforce with proper training is a key component of getting folks on board with the product purchasing decisions.  

“At CallTower, we’ll do the training and work with the IT team to drive that message home as to why we’re adopting a specific platform, whatever platform that might be,” he says.

Rubio advises sharing the reasons for why one product might be easier to work with from home or the office. 

“In some cases, the bandwidth constraints aren’t as much, or we have a shared location for all of our documents, whether it be for marketing, contracts, etc, folks should understand why a decision has been made,” he explains, adding that:

“We work with the IT departments to really spread that message in group or departmental trainings. Whichever is the right forum to achieve that buy-in” 

Think About Solutions, Not Products 

Second, don’t think in terms of products. Approach the situation from a solutions POV. What does this mean in practice?

For starters, it means that you don’t have to go all in on any one product. No this doesn’t mean buying licenses for multiple products that results in excessive redundancy and exorbitant monthly billing.

Instead, it is an approach that says to work with a solutions provider that has the experience and ability to combine different aspects from various products like Teams or Webex in a way that is more cost effective, centrally controlled, and actually effective for what your organisation needs from their UCaaS tech stack.  

Invest in the Process 

Coming back to the office and settling into whatever form this hybrid working environment shakes out to be is going to take time, as well as considerable effort and patience.

While it is true that not everyone is going to be happy about every decision that management makes, there are tried and true tactics that can be used to make them feel like a part of the process.   

As an experienced leader in helping organisations navigate this tricky set of discussions and decisions, CallTower is well-placed to offer organisations the step-by-step service and support that they need to achieve their UC goals. For more information, visit CallTower and request a consultation. 

 

 



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