the nuts and bolts of teams, groups and conversation as-a-service

The Nuts and Bolts of Teams, Groups and

Conversation-as-a-ServiceChristian BuckleyFounder of CollabTalk LLCOffice Server and Services MVP

Christian BuckleyFounder of CollabTalk LLCOffice Servers and Services MVP

cbuck@collabtalk.comwww.buckleyplanet.com@buckleyplanet

CollabTalk.comCollabTalk provides academic research and community-driven conversations around key tools and trends in the enterprise collaboration, social, and business intelligence ecosystem, allowing you to stay on top of these changes -- and ahead of the game.

Our latest research project:

The State of Hybrid SharePointhttp://hybrid-sp.collabtalk.com/

What is your Digital Workplace strategy?

Turn the Promises of the Digital Workplace to Reality by David Roehttp://www.cmswire.com/digital-workplace/turn-the-promises-of-the-digital-workplace-to-reality/

“In a recent CMSWire series of interviews with digital workplace

specialists, some common elements and themes emerged. One of the most

consistent is the belief that the best digital workplaces take a synergistic approach to fulfilling the wants and

needs of people through processes and technologies.”

Sharon O'Dea, an independent digital strategy consultant, specializes in intranets, social media and digital engagement. She defines the digital workplace as the place where work gets done, connecting people through an ecosystem of tools so they can be productive, informed and engaged, wherever they are.“First, it’s a means of communication top-down, bottom-up and, increasingly, peer-to-peer. Content in its myriad forms, from published pages to snippets of conversation, is the lifeblood of the digital workplace and the digital workplace is what makes that content accessible, findable and usable,” she told CMSWire.The digital workplace should also provide a gate to an organization’s knowledge while at the same time enabling organizations so that intellectual capital to be effectively captured and shared with others as more of it is produced.

Thankfully, he continues:

In The Social Organization by Bradley and McDonald (Gartner), the authors talk about the components of successful collaboration:

Community Social Purpose

But where do we begin?

“It’s the end of the Department of No”

-John White

Organizations have many choices

WHAT IS THE STATE OF COLLABORATION IN YOUR ORG?

THERE ARE FOURCOLLABORATION “TRUTHS”The traditional intranet has failedThe standalone ESN is deadReal work happens between the workloadsCulture directs communication

What is your collaboration culture?

Scenario 1 Meet Stephanie Web developer, millennial Personalization is important Lives on her mobile device Very collaborative, in constant contact with her

team, sharing ideas and discussing the state of customer projects

Values real-time interactions, having fun while working, and is very passionate about her work

Scenario 2 Meet Tasha Program Manager Responsible for several key business processes Has worked to develop several form and

workflow-based sites to help automate and ensure that her team is compliant

Her team includes a number of attorneys and financial analysts, who prefer in-person meetings

She spends a lot of time working in email, and manages a number of vendors and parallel projects

Scenario 3 Meet Hugo Customer Success Manager, business development Manages a number of projects and events with

large teams of external vendors and partners Very involved in the customer community Helps drive their partner and customer portals,

provides online and in-person product training Also manages his company’s social profiles,

interacts with customers and partners wherever they congregate

Real-time Team-based Persistent chat

In-person Process-based Email

Mix Community-based Social

The reality is that most organizations have all three

With differences across your business – or even within a single team or business unit

Which tool to use when?

So many options…

Outlook Groups

Skype for Business

Yammer

Microsoft Teams

SharePoint Social

ISV solutions

BUT IT SHOULD BE PART OF A PLAN

Modern SharePoint and Office 365 Groups

WHAT IS THE RIGHT USER EXPERIENCE?

Wants real-time communication

Wants process

and structure

Wants community and transparency

Conversation-as-a-Service?

Conversation-as-a-Service?

ItDepends.

What is the right solution for your org?

Teams are scrambling to find the right tools and technologies to fit their cultural needs

What we know is that the traditional intranet approach has failed to deliver what we need

CULTURE IS KEY

GIVE THEM CHOICES

BUT NOT WITHOUT

CONTROL OR GUIDANCE

Throw in a matrix animationMaybe close with “Welcome to the Matrix, people”

Enterprise collaboration requirements can be complex

Your ultimate goal is to support the entire company

However, different teams and business units often have competing priorities

In an attempt to satisfy everyone, the reality is that most planning efforts fail to satisfy anyone

Any organization that wants to deploy a digital workplace, with enterprise

collaboration at its center, would benefit from a systems-based planning approach

Systems-Based Planning What is needed is an iterative, strategic, and systems-based approach:

Identifying core business use cases and challenges at the team level Identifying use cases and challenges at the company level Performing a gap analysis between team and company levels Mapping out current state, and desired future state Working with key stakeholders to identify appropriate strategies and priorities Instituting (or reinforcing) the stakeholder review and change management

process

This approach drives stakeholder engagement, and ensures a more holistic solution that aligns with the needs of the business at every level.

Minimized Methodology Engaging leaders in a systems analysis,

identifying high-priority needs and challenges Outlining a set of targeted and strategic actions

based on common customer scenarios Developing an implementation plan to support

successful operational and improvement strategies

Minimized MethodologyAt a very high level, it is about: Assessing where you are Envisioning where you want to be Devising an implementable path to take you from “here to

there”

As project complexity increases, the ability for individual participants to maintain sight of the larger vision and whole will often decrease.

Where is your focus?

Focus on Key Business Problems Many transformative efforts fail because key users decide to “play

with the tools” rather than take the planning process seriously.

The lack of goals and purpose quickly leads to low levels of engagement and superficial usage. Without clear goals and engaged users, you’ll never gain a clear assessment of the end results.

Take it seriously. You will be using other people’s time to make your decisions on how to move forward. Make good use of their time – and yours.

What does success look like?

If you haven’t defined the end result, how do you

know when you’ve reached it?

How will you decide if your transformation is successful?

Know your evaluation criteria before you start!

Set specific goals and indicators related to your business goals.

Put in place mechanisms to collect data and measure your success (or failure…) at the end of each phase.

For example, if one of your business goals is to “reduce internal communication and email overload” you might measure success by:

Creating a baseline of current activity Measuring email volume today and then again after the pilot. Comparing the email open-to-read ratio Tracking the volume of “Likes” and other metrics based on the

collaboration features being used within your pilot.

• Activity within communities• Interest in content, keywords, ideas• Level of engagement• Overall platform adoption• Measuring the increase in innovation• Decreasing the cycle of new

product introduction• Sharing of content and expertise

What does this mean within enterprise collaboration?

Make it part of your ongoing support model

Due to the fluid nature of enterprise collaboration, organizations today find that implementing a true change management program to monitor and adjust based on analysis is critical.

Formation of a ‘Center of Excellence’ to both manage change and administrate your platforms is becoming the standard approach.

Culture is Important

Wrap-Up

In my personal experience, what works is: Focus on specific business problems – and clear outcomes. Make governance and change management the priority. Look at your systems holistically, understanding both

company-wide and line of business needs – and the gaps between them.

Be prepared to regularly iterate on your strategy. Organic growth through pilots is the most sustainable model

for successful enterprise collaboration.

Download the Whitepaper

The Nuts and Bolts of Groups, Teams, and

Conversation-as-a-Service

By John White, UnlimitedViz and tyGraph

http://promo.tyGraph.com/GTP

Christian Buckleycbuck@collabtalk.com@buckleyplanet

Thank you very much!