The whole point of moving to Unified Communications (UC) is to make it easier for people to communicate and collaborate.

But… your users may not embrace the use of the new UC tools that your company wants or has already deployed.

So…

Here Are a Few Reason Why
Your Users May Reject Your UC Tools

• Some users aren’t comfortable using video for point to point communications… most of these concerns revolve around their concerns for their appearance (think “bad hair days”) …

• Some users will claim that the old communication methods are “good enough” …

• Others will simply say that the new UC tools are “too complex” …

• Some will even “freak out” when they first learn about Presence Tools that publish users’ availability… a sort of “big brother-esque” like feel to it…

And the list goes on, and on, and on…

What I’ve learned, after working on many UC projects, is that users end up using the tools far less than what was expected. (For reasons which I’ve stated above and more).

If You Are Deploying UC Tools,
You Have (I Hope)…
A Deeper Understanding of How…

…the new tools can benefit you and everyone else!

But, for the rest of your colleagues who are not directly involved in your project, their understanding won’t match yours. You can safely assume that they are unaware of the capabilities and benefits that the UC tools could give them.

For this reason, they may be reluctant to give up their “old ways” of working… their “old school” communication tools.

The truth is,  if the benefits of UC are not clearly evident to them, and the UC tools appear too complicated to use, then fewer users will use the tools and this will undermine the outcome of your project.

Be aware that Unified Communications will deliver maximum benefits to the organization when it’s been fully deployed!

So unless you do something about this issue, users will have any number of the beliefs and challenges listed above which will ruin your chances of success .

Now, what can you do to get users to use your UC tools? (So that you can maximize the desired end result of deploying your UC solution).

Well…

Here’s a Couple Things
You Should Do Right Now:

First, realize and understand this: No matter how beneficial the UC tools may appear to you not everyone will share in this opinion (initially).

To generate acceptance, you must demonstrate how the new tools benefit people personally.

Second, design and implement a comprehensive user training program coupled with an awareness campaign. Focus these two initiatives on key groups of users and or departments which will have the greatest potential boost in productive or reduction in operational costs.

And remember, although Unified Communications tools should have an intuitive user interface… on the surface they can appear complicated to users and shouldn’t be overlooked without a targeted, comprehensive end user training program or else…

…UC applications will often sit unused!

Oh…

And One Last Thing…

Collaboration tools can serve as a key enabler in allowing your organization to communicate more efficiently, however use of these new tools will also require establishing entirely new user behaviors.  Usually, when introducing new technologies, a way must be found to allow end-users to adopt these new tools on their own terms and within their own time-frame.