You’ve invested in Office 2007, and now it’s time for the actual migration. You cannot afford to approach the undertaking willy-nilly — a switch to Office 2007 promises to be like no other. The user interface is radically different, and your employees will hit snags just trying to figure out how to perform basic tasks. How you handle the inevitable learning curve depends on your preparedness – and it may dictate future budget allocations, even the health of your IT department. In this series, we break down the components of our Office 2007 migration readiness kit, and give you the information you need for a snag-free switchover.
Part Five, the White Paper:
The anticipation of rolling out Office 2007 and Vista to thousands of end-users has many IT professionals sounding like kids at the doctor’s office who are about to get a shot. The question they just can’t get out of their minds is, “How much will it hurt?” Unlike the one-and-done shot, software migrations can cause pain in at least three areas over several months, even though they will provide long-term benefit.
The first impact is on end-users. The new interface will result in confusion surrounding the common functions that have been performed daily and without effort for years. The most common query with previous version changes was how to find a particular menu. With Office 2007, it will be, “Where did all the menus go, and what is this ribbon?”
Last in a five-part Office 2007 migration readiness series.
The second impacts the IT staff. Immediately following deployment, the help desk will likely be bombarded with support questions from end-users struggling to keep their heads above water. The initial balancing act of supporting daily network and proprietary applications, in addition to Office 2007, will be the catalyst for ongoing pain for both end-user and IT staff alike.
When the sting begins to wane, the next wave of pain will commence. As end-users become more familiar with the interface, they will discover new features within Office 2007. Finding these features doesn’t necessarily mean they will know how to use them, thus high call volume to the help desk will remain steady. Unless the help desk staff completes pre-deployment Vista and Office 2007 training, they will be in the same position as the end-user. Productivity may cease, especially in the IT department.
The third impacts the business. How will a decrease in productivity without proper support impact the bottom line, and for how long? If Mary is churning out a dozen reports a day utilizing Access and Excel, how long will it take her to get back up to that clip using the new version? Interface changes increase support needs more than added functionality because the latter affects only those who try to use the new features. The former affects all users, novice or pro. In previous Microsoft Office version migrations, the applications with the most significant interface changes got the phones ringing at PC Helps.
Is there any comfort at the end of this doctor’s visit? With an Office 2007 and Vista migration assurance program and plan in place, companies can avoid most of the sting. Office 2007 and Vista offer very few new functionality features, of which almost none will concern the typical end-user. The purpose of changing the upfront interface in Office 2007 and Vista is to help end-users and IT professionals find more advanced features they have been missing for years because they would have had to dig for them.
The challenge will be bringing users up to speed with the tools they have been using for years. The bulk of that work will need to be done prior to deployment or within the first few weeks after installation. A lack of immediate support resources will result in a surge of calls to the help desk. Without complete training in the new and old versions, the help desk staff’s effectiveness and the users’ satisfaction will suffer.
READ THE SERIES: Part One, The Big Picture | Part Two, Readiness Checklist | Part Three, Staffing Matrix | Part Four, a Case Study
FIND MORE INFO IN: Office 2007 Migration Checklist + Tools | Migration Case Study | PC Helps eTraining | Desktop Application Support | Contact PC Helps
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