Driving adoption of anything within an organization is difficult enough, because people tend to resist change. Even more so when it comes to all-new collaboration tools. So how do you ensure their buy-in and ongoing support for the tech? Easy. With some good old fashioned education.

We should know

It’s crucial not to take deployment lightly. We say this from experience. If you hand the management department a flimsy brochure or a demo video that just scratches the surface of the product, it might do more harm than good. Sometimes higher-ups may be even more resilient in the face of change than the workforce on the ground floor. When it comes to communication & collaboration tools, knowing the numerous benefits of each feature in part lets you align those features perfectly with your business.

Big or small, any team is bound to improve collaboration with a tool like Hubgets. From centralizing information to assisting with communications (in more ways than one), our collaboration software brings together people and projects like a flower bouquet. Features include: instant messaging for real-time communication, topics, presence (teammates are aware of your activity at all times), voice and video in the same GUI, and seamless integration with VoipNow for advanced PBX features like call waiting, call transfer, call hold/mute, call recording, call history, do not disturb, voicemail, conferencing, faxing, password protection, incoming call rules (transfer, hang up, call priority, etc.).

Photo by Olav Ahrens Røtne on Unsplash

Adoption doesn’t take care of itself

One big misconception is that viral adoption— where the lower-tier workers create a groundswell of interest and participation— will take care of everything. Not true. While this can set the wheels in motion, there’s still a long way to go for full acceptance. Fail to use the momentum and adoption not only halts, but it can even regress. The same goes with middle management. If the managers don’t believe this is a committed strategy, they will impede adoption. So what you need is a top-down education strategy.

From the CEO all the way down to the janitor. People react best to suggestions when they’re in the mood to listen to them. Some may appreciate one-to-one training, but won’t be too thrilled about group sessions. Others might prefer online programs over meetings, and so on, and so forth.

Deploy, offer support, test the results

The more options you can provide, the better the chance that everybody will get an in-depth look at the collaboration technology. Support during testing is also paramount. Finally, it wouldn’t hurt if the CEO asked employees to pass a collaboration technology test. Quite the contrary, this would further streamline the process and – if successful – even seal the deal on adopting the new technology. Bottom line, if employees can’t see the benefits on a personal level, the technology is not going to stick, and they will end up reverting back to their old habits.

Here are the steps again, in brief:

1. Identify the key features that your company needs from a collaboration standpoint
2. Educate upper management (revolve around their schedule)
3. Deploy / implement the platform and offer support at every pace
4. Ask staffers to take a test at the end of the deployment program
5. Proceed with full deployment

Understanding the features built inside a product like Hubgets can help you improve customer experience, speed up operations internally, and at the same time reduce costs while not compromising on security. Getting the message across an entire organization may not be easy, but when you finally pull it off, you’ll pat yourself on the back.