How to achieve success with Office 365

Are you introducing Office 365 in your organisation? When it comes to introducing new technology, it can be a potential minefield, with IT, Comms and HR departments all having their say and making recommendations.

Sound familiar?

I’ve been working with a number of clients recently helping them think through all things technology related to help them achieve communication excellence.

VisionFrom devising workshops on social business and responsive organisations to advising on Yammer use and communication strategies, All Things IC counsels companies through the choices.

I thoroughly enjoy encouraging organisations to think beyond using enterprise social networks. I share theory and ideas to help them unlock the potential of transformational communication and ways of working.

Microsoft is constantly improving its offering. For example this month it has announced several new Office 365 investments to boost collaboration.

This includes Skype for Business Mac Preview, new Yammer external groups and improvements in the Office Mobile apps on Windows Phone, iOS and Android.

Putting employees first
I’ve also been teaming up with my husband Jon, who is an IT consultant, and we’ve been working together to provide a joint approach with our respective clients.

This means putting employees first, as our advice keeps engagement and communication at the core.

We keep spotting opportunities for different teams to talk to each other, and through our own consultancies, make suggestions of how companies can make the most of their Office 365 environment.

The recommendations we make are based on what companies are trying to achieve.

We take behavioural and cultural changes into account, which are then underpinned by technology. Not the other way around.

In other words, we look at your organisation and make recommendations based on how you work now and how you want to in the future. So that’s not just seeing what technology can do, but what your business does.

Why?

You can’t retrofit your culture to suit technology.

office-365-logo_gallery-100266091-largeJon typically works with IT teams to advise them on strategy, technology and ensuring they have the necessary capabilities e.g. can they actually use mobile devices or apps to reach all employees.

From looking at Delve to Sway, Yammer to Skype for Business, there’s a whole suite of tools and technology available to you, and he helps companies make sense of them.

I work with Comms, HR or Digital teams and focus on engagement, communication and behaviours. We recommend aligning conversations across the business to meet your goals and often find ourselves in the same room having brought respective business partners together to talk about their rollout plans.

Get help here
If you’re looking for help to get your Office 365 rollout sorted and turn it from theory into reality, you’re in the right place as I’ve got lots of information to help you.

You could of course hire All Things IC and I’ll tailor my approach to your culture, but here are some freebies to get you started…

Mike Grafham I’ve known Microsoft’s Mike Grafham (pictured) for nearly five years and he’s now based over in their Redmond office.

We caught up via Skype recently to talk about Office 365 and what’s available for companies and communicators to help them make smart decisions.

Mike @mgrafham, is the FastTrack Centre Adoption Lead. FastTrack is the customer success service for Office 365 and has been designed to help you move to the cloud and realise business value faster.

I’ve used it with a number of clients to help point them towards resources, images and plans to boost their communication efforts and save time, money and effort.

What is it?
FastTrackA year ago FastTrack was a one-time on boarding benefit for Microsoft’s largest customers, but it is now an ongoing customer benefit available for free to customers with 50 seats or more of eligible Office 365 plans.

FastTrack lets you discover what’s possible with Office 365, plan for successful rollouts and enable new users and capabilities at your own pace.

Rolling out Office 365 isn’t an IT/Comms/HR initiative. It should be linked to what you’re trying to achieve as a business, something FastTrack recognises.

Microsoft has announced new user adoption services which are worth checking out. They include comprehensive guidance, content and best practices for a successful Office 365 rollout to all customers that use FastTrack.

They include how to generate awareness, gain executive buy-in and implement end-user training.

The-evolution-of-Microsoft-FastTrack-1

What else is in FastTrack?
You can also find awareness kits and end-user training for some of the most fundamental usage scenarios, to help you launch Office 365 and begin getting your employees ready.

FastTrack

 

Mike says: “Demonstrating how Office 365 is relevant in the context of your business, roles and functions will help people in your organisation to understand how to achieve more with Office 365.

“You can also now browse through new industry-based and role-based scenarios to identify new ways of supporting your business stakeholders with Office 365.”

You can get an overview of what FastTrack is about via Mike himself in this video:

You can find out more about FastTrack via this short video:

Are you using Office 365? If so and you have a story to share with other readers, do please get in touch.

You can find out more on Twitter @Office365. There are also various case studies online of companies using Office 365 including Atkins.

I recommend these resources via FastTrack:

Adoption plan guide

Champions Program Guide

Getting to know Office 365

Further reading via All Things IC
Ideas to rollout and launch Yammer
It’s Yammer Time – everything I’ve published to date about Yammer
Seven golden rules when using Yammer

I hope you’ve found this useful. If so, why not share it on?

Post author: Rachel Miller

First published on the All Things IC blog 27 April 2016.

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