Get Started with Webex Teams: 6 Ways to Secure User Buy-In

Cisco’s Webex Teams, just like all collaboration solutions, lives and dies based on end user acceptance. If the buy-in isn’t there, legacy methods will continue to thrive while the effort and expense Get started with Webex Teams that went into the upgrade ultimately goes to waste. Of course, the sooner goodwill campaigns kick off, the better the chance they generate the level of organization-wide support needed to successfully rollout a more modern approach to collaboration.

Using our own experiences, coupled with insights from industry insiders, we’ve put together a collection of six best practices designed to help organizations get started with Webex Teams and begin fostering buy-in before it is even fully rolled out:

  • Draw an organizational map. Most businesses already have an organizational chart at the ready. Take some time to consider how to recreate that reporting and workflow structure using Webex Teams. Determine if it would be better to group users together based on their department or by project responsibilities (or both). At first, it might make sense to limit the architecture to a few higher level teams before gradually subdividing those into more granular alignments.
  • Hold two sets of strategy meetings. Twice the meetings likely doesn’t sound all that appealing. However, it’s wise to split planning into two separate tracks, one focused on the technical aspects of implementing Webex Teams and another honed in on the strategic side. Doing so will keep meetings shorter and eliminate the risk of inundating stakeholders with information outside their jurisdiction.
  • It’s never too early to collect advocates. Try using Webex Teams as the communication backbone of its own organization-wide launch. Anyone participating in the rollout should receive an invite to join a project team, allowing them to see firsthand how the solution works. This way, should they go on to serve as internal advocates for the solution, they’ll be able to speak from real experience, not data sheets.
  • Nail down group naming conventions.  Webex Teams includes two types of designations – teams and spaces. Teams should more closely align with an organization’s structure. They are akin to departments or long-term project groups. Meanwhile, spaces should serve a more fluid, short-term collaborative function. Given their alignment with the organizational structure, teams will likely share a name with a specific department or function, e.g., marketing or sales. Spaces, however, offer more flexibility. It’s a best practice to name spaces after their intended purpose. If that doesn’t provide a specific enough designation, it’s also an option to name spaces after members. Without consistent naming conventions in place from the jump, it could lead to excessive numbers of teams with similar purposes.
  • Steer clear of communication channel overload. Webex Teams streamlines increasingly complex collaboration environments rather than further complicating them. Instead of working alongside legacy tools like internal distribution lists, shared mailboxes, and instant messaging platforms, Webex Teams serves in place of them. Before sunsetting these options, spend time with those who leverage them the most to determine how to migrate their preexisting workflows seamlessly into Webex Teams.
  • Select the right style of rollout. There are multiple ways to actually roll Webex Teams out to the organization. Example: Responsibility for creating all teams and spaces can go to one person or group. Once the structure is in place, stakeholders can then be set as moderators. Another option involves allowing stakeholders to set up their own teams and spaces. Of course, it’s also an option to grant this ability to anyone within the organization, regardless of position. Pick the approach that makes the most sense based on organizational culture and size.

Next steps: Get started with your own Webex Teams success story

Success with Webex Teams starts prior to deployment, but it doesn’t end there. Check back in the coming weeks for additional best practices on how to continue getting the most from Cisco’s newest collaboration solution. If you’d like to take the conversation offline, our collaboration engineers are ready to share their expertise. Visit https://www.arrayasolutions.com//contact-us/ to connect with our team today!

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