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CLOUD-BASED COMMUNICATION
conferencing to the cloud make interoperability the vendor’s
responsibility, and avoid being saddled with incompatible
equipment that leaves users in isolated silos.
Choose the right vendor
Once you’ve determined that a cloud-based video
conferencing solution is right for your organisation, it’s
time to vet your vendors. Decision makers should pay close
attention to the vendor service level agreement and support,
ask about outage levels and discuss vendor availability. This
is a business critical tool that must have the highest levels of
support and service levels.
Those who are interested in continuing to provide their
employees with the benefit of a traditional face-to-face
meetings in a conference room, along with the ability for
remote party dial-in and face-to-face meeting options,
should look at a hybrid cloud-based video conferencing
solution with a conference room-based hardware
component. This offers employees the best of both worlds.
Implement effectively
Effective implementation is key – even if the software is
a perfect fit for your organisation, it won’t work if it isn’t
implemented correctly. Effective implementation includes:
Choosing a point person
Select the right team, and establishing who does
what and when mitigates the likelihood of a stalled
implementation, and ensures that everyone knows who has
the final word.
1
Establishing a timeline
Imposing a clearly defined timeline and ensuring the
vendor will be available when needed eliminates the risk of
ongoing implementation with no end in sight.
2
Maintaining focus
Resisting the temptation to think about every detail
rather than focusing on the big picture is vital to moving
the implementation forward. Take care of the highlevel issues first, and enjoy the additional features after
implementation.
3
Listening to the expert
Clients often expect software vendors to configure
the new software to match their internal operations, which
can lead to long-term negative consequences. Remembering
who the expert is – the vendor – when it comes to the new
software, and the organisation when it comes to business
operations is vital to implementation success.
4
Gaining user buy-in
After a long vetting process, it’s common to assume
the internal sales process is over. Nothing could be further
from the truth. The employees who will be using the new
software the most may not have been involved in the
approval process. Ensuring they value, and champion,
the use of the new software will increase the likelihood
of a timely implementation. It’s important to gain the
trust and buy-in of the users and give them a say in the
implementation.
As businesses continue to employ distributed workforces
around the world, the demand for an enterprise-ready
video communication solution that can provide a
seamless, connected experience will continue to increase
exponentially. Organisations that go ‘all in’ and commit
to improving employee communication and collaboration
stand to benefit from a workforce that returns the favour
with increased productivity, less staff churn and great
employer/employee relationships. n
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