How to make non-tech-savvy workforce embrace Google Apps
“We’ve been really happy with the Blue Seed resources on our project. This hasn’t been an easy project and we have appreciated the quality, strength and commitment of the Change Consultants. Both of your consultants were able to take charge and drive a successful change outcome throughout all phases of the project.
Going Google Project Manager, 2014
We as a team and project have learned a lot about change and its importance as a result.”
Brief
As part of the global IT strategy, our client initiated the Going Google project to transition their entire workforce from the existing Microsoft Outlook platform to the new Google Apps for Business.
This was an initiative largely driven by IT but required extensive business engagement to ensure the existing business processes would not be impacted by the technology implementation.
A key challenge of the initiative was that a large portion of the workforce was considered to have low technology capability, so the change management stream would need to take this into consideration. Another challenge was driving awareness, desire and commitment in a workforce who felt overwhelmingly that the change was unnecessary and disruptive.
Solution
Blue Seed worked alongside a Google third party integrator to develop the overall change strategy. The focus was on achieving buy in from the Executive team and ensuring the change was leader-lead. It was also important to create the right level of excitement and support at the other levels of the organisation. This was the key to a successful transition.
The change strategy included a robust stakeholder engagement plan, a strong internal communications and marketing plan as well as a comprehensive training and support model to deliver the required skills across the business.
The multi-phased implementation approach allowed Blue Seed to continue to tailor and perfect the employee experience with each implementation.
Results
In partnership with the Google third party integrator, Blue Seed oversaw the overall change stream and provided expertise particularly in the area of thought leadership, stakeholder engagement, communications and training.
Key achievements included:
- Smooth employee transition to the new platform
- The creation of a robust network of change champions Google Guides’ that not only played a key role in supporting each system implementation, but more importantly continued to offer support and guidance on Google Apps beyond the projects life.
- Delivery of a comprehensive Google Apps toolkit that provided a sustainable artefact to embed the change and another resource for new employees to become Google savvy.
The delivery was so successful that Blue Seed was later approached by the organisations North American colleagues to support their local implementation.
