Changing the Collaboration Conversation Event - Recording Now Available

[Cole Callahan]

In this event, we will be having a fireside chat on the topic of Webex adoption. Every organization is different, whether it be the size, industry, workflow, etc. And adoption doesn’t just happen, it requires effort on behalf of everyone from IT, through HR/Comms, and right down to the end-user who we are expecting to change.

Our experts will walk us through what it means to have a successful adoption plan and discuss the following:

• What is Adoption
• Why it matters
• Who benefits from it
• How do you achieve it

About our Panelists

Jonathan George - Jonathan is the co-author and facilitator of the Change the Collaboration Conversation workshop. A Cisco Webex Expert with more than 10 years of experience helping Cisco, its partners, and their customers understand the real professional and personal benefits that can be derived from the world’s most comprehensive collaboration platform and its suite of tools - Webex.

As an evangelist with a passion for what the technology can make happen and how its application delivers business outcomes, he believes that collaboration is a business superpower. However, without help to use and adopt the platform and tools correctly, it is likely that the business will not derive the full value from their investment and the users of the technology will fail to experience the full benefits available to them.

Linda Uli - A pioneer in the Virtual Training space, Linda Uli began her training career with Apple Computer, gaining unparalleled experience managing their training division, while also establishing herself as a respected learning and development professional. Her passion moved her to the virtual world while working at WebEx where she created an award-winning Customer University. As Webex became Cisco, she shared her love of collaboration and Webex by helping customers take their adoption strategies to new heights. 

Currently working as the Learning Experience Training Manager for Cisco, she uses her secret talent of strategically designing memorable, high energy training experiences by building a customer university. While her speaking and consulting engagements have taken her around the world, Linda is proud to call the bay area of California home.

Make sure to reply to this thread with any questions you have about the event or would like me to ask our panelists. The two responses with the most Helpful votes will receive a free Webex tumbler!

[Fritz_H]

After reading some of the suggestions in the Community-Feedback-Forum:

I guess, Cisco may increase the willingness (?) to adopt new software by offering more options for customisation:
custom ringtones and other notification-options in general, visual customisation (not just colors and wallpapers, but also usability-features like selection of Font and Font-size etc.).
(I do understand, that some of these customisations may perhaps not be visible on mobile devices...)

[Cole Callahan]

Hi all,

Let's give a huge THANK YOU to @Jonathan George for sharing his time and knowledge with us today!

Thank you to everyone who attended today's event! I have updated the original post to include the link to the event recording for those who weren't able to attend and anyone who may want to want to view it again.

Feel free to respond with any feedback or any follow-up questions.

[Jonathan George]

Always a pleasure @Cole Callahan thank you for hosting us.

[adam_eberhardt]

How do we best drive adoption when some users may be determined to use another provider's solution. even though our organization has chosen Webex?

[Jonathan George]

One thing we know won't work is to mandate usage - this usually has the oppositite effect. However, any adoption strategy should consider a balance between "carrot and stick" - but I would suggest mostly "carrot" and less "stick".
In this example I think it would be crucial to know *why* the other provider's solution is being used. What is it about that solution that means the user prefer to use it. Are there actual gaps in functionality or is this an issue of perception and simple change resistance.
Communication is key here, explaining to users why the company has chosen a particular path, what the benefits of that approach are and the roadmap going forward. Publicising "success" from other parts of the organisation also help to showcase the solution might also help.

[Fritz_H]

@Jonathan George 

When talking about the psychological aspects of motivation etc. it´s even more important to take the local culture and mentality into account since this has impact on the local business culture.
Youtube offers lot´s of "Culture Shock"-Videos by people who have moved from the USA to e.g. Europe.

I was employee of a US-Company for several years and more than once the "ideas, suggestions, questions etc."
from the USA caused us (Austria) to either smile or shake our heads.
(e.g. e-learning sessions about: to avoid accidents at work when using the stairs (instead of an elevator..) it was mandatory to use the handrail... ?!?!?!)

What perhaps will work in any culture is "show, don´t tell" and allow the user to get first-hand impressions about the benefits of something new by finding (creating?) use-cases in which a new technology is beneficial.

[Jonathan George]

@Fritz_H- totally agreed.

Don't assume that what works (or worked) well in one case will work across the board. I would further suggest you need to be even more granular in terms of consindering different roles and also demographics (as we working in a multi-generational workforce). What might appeal to the bright young people in an organisation (who are maybe more willing to adopt/adapt and try new things), might not work with people have been around for a few years (and who are maybe more set in their ways and change resistant).
I would also agree that telling people that this technolgy is good for them doesn't work, whilst part of an adoption methodology is to inform and educate the purpose should be to guide users to their own value, the "what's in it for me" (or us). How will adopting this new technology benefit me and the people I work with in terms of making things better, easier, simpler, quicker, more productive, more connected, more collaborative - addressing whatever issues I maybe facing currently. A colleague of mine here at Adoptt uses the phrase that user's are driven by one of two things, either desperation (i.e. a problem that needs to be solved) or inspiration (a realisation that things could be better, simpler, easier, quicker etc.). Understanding those motivations is key to driving successful adoption.

[Fritz_H]

@Cole Callahan @Jonathan George 

Thanks for your kind replies.
After reviewing my posting, I think that my suggested questions are too much "sales"-oriented.
Please allow me to offer some more thoughts as possible topics:

- How to deploy: Dept. by Dept.? Top-down? Bottom-Up? Location by Location? Key-Users first? (e.g. C*O + Assistants first?)
- How do adoption-strategies vary depending on the number of users (= size of company) ?
- Which Key-Factors have impact on adoption -speed / -success / ..
- What are the KPIs to watch during deployment and adoption to see whether the product is accepted/embraced by the users or not?

- Which tools does Cisco provide to watch/collect those KPIs?

- Does Cisco / Cisco-Partners offer on-site adoption-support? (Demos?, Admin and Key-User - Training?)

Offtopic:

To succesfully move the disussion away from cost towards "outcome and vaue" you need to make your product and it´s benefits known.

As far as I can say, large parts of the european education-sector moved to MS-Teams in pure panic.
I guess, because of (no extra-) cost and not knowing better.
Since adoption happens after having sold the licenses, Cisco may want to try to become known first - at least in Europe.
(IT-Staff knows Cisco, but Management-Level does not -> Problem.  I really hope that I am wrong or too pessimistic )

[Jonathan George]

What great questions @Fritz_H !

I'm sure @Cole Callahan will challenge us with those (and more!) during the event. I do hope you'll be able to attend to hear our thoughts on the them.

On your offtopic point; I firmly believe that those partners who invest in Customer Experience/Success and Adoption services will be the ones who succeed. Selling IT Technology to IT buyers as a pure transaction (licences, number of users) ends up as a race to the bottom. It is incumbant on all of us to inform and educate and jointly invest in the success of whatever the solution is. Whatever the technology the assumption is it basically works! Sure there are some nuances and differences in the function and feature set, but success depends on how well the solution is implemented and adopted. Those partners that are able to address these challenges will be the winners, their customers will be winners and ultimately the vendor wins.

[Jonathan George]

Hi @Fritz_H thanks for your post and hopefully you'll be able to join the session later this week.
Suffice to say that when it comes to adoption don't assume "one size fits all" - the better you understand the personas, cohort, use cases, culture, demographics and geography and the more you are able to tailor your approaches to take that into account the more successful you are likely to be. Generally the "funny" stories are when things don't quite go to plan and whilst they might not appear funny at the time it is always valuable to look back to see what you learnt from them and how your approach might change next time. I would also suggest that adoption is an ongoing process and not viewed as a one-time intervention. Use data, analytics, surveys, polls, interviews (basically whatever information you can lay your hands on!) to inform how things are going and based on that data be prepared to adjust or completely change your approach if you see it isn't working.

On your second question, the conversation needs to be elevated away from technology cost - instead the focus needs to be on outcomes and value. If nobody ever uses the technology then there can be no value, so it doesn't matter whether it was "included" or not. Also ensure you factor in the bigger picture and ensure you capture the different use cases - whilst a laptop, webcam, VoIP experience is the obvious focus, what about external collaboration, what about PSTN (for those who can't use VoIP), how will you handle room systems (not just in terms of user experience but considering maintenance and operation).

As an example, I have long been an advocate for dedicated personal video endpoints - having been fortunate enough to use such devices for many years the experience you get when compared to a soft client on laptop is just worlds apart. I am never late to meetings and I'm never early because when I need to join I simply press the "big green button" and I'm in. I don't have to worry about what other things are running on my laptop, have I configured external devices (like headsets, or higher quality webcams) - I push the button and I join the meeting. I honestly could not my job today if this experience was taken away from me - that's when you know adoption has been successful - when you threaten to take something away and you end with a user revolt!

[Fritz_H]

Hi@Cole Callahan ,
great to see your strong dedication to support this community.

possible questions:

* Are there any interesting/funny/... stories about cultural differences regarding the adoption of Cisco Webex outside the USA?
(Explanation: USA = one country, one language.  Europe: many countries, even more languages, very different mindset..)

* How to convince the CEO/CTO/CFO... to spend extra money on Webex-Licenses although the Office 365-License already includes a similar product.

* at least the german version of Webex (-Teams) contains many translation issues and visual glitches.
I don´t think this will help to promote Webex against the competitors? = why does Cisco provide unpolished products?
This will not support adoption...
(e.g. the Android-App never managed to show the date properly in european format.. )
(I would love to provide a collection of all my observations, but how? a TAC-Case is not the ideal solution...)

* During webexone Cisco presented many US-testimonials. I missed examples from Europe (yes, there have been a few..).
-> Cisco and Webex is pretty much unknown to the "Average Joe" (including C-Level Management) in Europe.
Any plans to change that? How?

[Cole Callahan]

Hi @Fritz_H ,

Thanks for responding to the post! I appreciate the kind words, my friend.

The event won't dive too much into any known limitations or adoption of specific features, but I'll make sure to fit in at least a couple of those questions on Thursday.

I love that you mentioned the topic of product adoption and mixing cultural differences. Those differences absolutely affect the approach to adoption and so do the different personas within an organization. We will make sure to discuss that and how different use cases are used for different scenarios, with geography acting as one of those factors.  See you there!