Is Your Organization Ready for Microsoft Teams Adoption?
Whether you are looking for a better way to connect a remote, hybrid, or distributed workforce, or you want to streamline your communication and collaboration, Microsoft Teams is a powerful solution. With more than 280 million active users and seamless integration with Microsoft 365 and other productivity tools, it’s an obvious choice.
Microsoft Teams adoption, however, requires careful planning and execution. It’s not as simple as just rolling out a new platform to your team. You need to ensure the platform becomes part of your workflow, integrates with existing tools, meets security and compliance requirements, and works smoothly with existing and future hardware and networking capabilities.
Organizations need a well-thought-out Microsoft Teams adoption strategy to streamline the process to minimize business disruptions.
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Following these five steps can help ensure a smooth transition:
#1: Define Clear Objectives and Use Cases
Before you begin any transformation, you should always outline your key objectives and use cases to ensure they align with your business goals.
You’ll want to meet with key stakeholders in your organization to understand the current workflow and where processes can be improved. It helps to work backwards from the end users’ point-of-view to map and prioritize common scenarios.
One way to do this is to follow this thought process:
Using this framework, you can make strategic decisions about planning and execution.
#2: Use Effective Communication and Training
Before, during, and after rollout, you also need a plan for communication and training.
One of the biggest challenges to organization-wide Microsoft Teams adoption is employee’s resistance to change. They have systems and processes they use now that seem to work just fine. Even if Teams will save them time and make them more productive, there’s a comfort level with current apps.
Many employees may struggle to learn new ways to work or feel overwhelmed by the new technology.
IT teams must communicate the benefits of Microsoft Teams adoption and demonstrate how it makes everyone’s job easier. Your Teams adoption strategy needs to emphasize user training and education to help employees learn how to use the tool and how it benefits them.
#3: Encourage Collaboration and Teamwork
Microsoft Teams is made for seamless collaboration and fostering teamwork. Use the platform’s strength to drive this message home. During the rollout, use Teams tools to engage employees, helping them get familiar with the way things work.
Migrating legacy documents and data into Teams channels and SharePoint sites encourages adoption. Initiate meetings and collaborations within the platform rather than using legacy tools as well. Creating meaningful reasons for employees to work together in Teams can showcase the platform’s benefits and help everyone get comfortable with a more modern way of working.
It also helps to identify key users that embrace the platform. Department or unit champions can help drive adoption by providing coaching and sharing best practices.
#4: Integrate with Other Tools & Systems
One of the keys to Microsoft Teams adoption is creating an integrated workflow so that users don’t have to toggle between apps. With more than 800 pre-built integrations, Microsoft Teams enables organizations to do just that. APIs can also connect other third-party and custom applications.
Using single sign-on (SSO) and identity management can help make using Microsoft Teams easy. The easier it is to use, the greater adoption you can drive.
#5: Measure Adoption and Success
Getting Microsoft Teams in place is a start. To realize its full benefits, you need a high level of engagement across your organization. IT teams should measure adoption to ensure team members are utilizing the platform.
Microsoft’s admin dashboard lets you access analytics, including active users, chat, collaboration, and meeting participation. You can track these metrics to identify trends and any areas where participation is lagging. You can also create surveys to get feedback from users to improve the overall experience.
Facilitate a Successful Microsoft Teams Adoption with Support from Yorktel
Part of your Microsoft Teams adoption strategy should be to make sure you’re working with the right partner. A Microsoft Teams Consultant can provide expert guidance and support to improve adoption.
Yorktel is a certified Microsoft partner that provides end-to-end consulting and support for Microsoft Teams adoption. Speak with a Microsoft Teams Consultant at Yorktel today to get started.