Myth: Office 2007 support needs fade within just a couple weeks of deployment.
Reality: Providing support and training to information workers before, during and after deployment is crucial to early and sustained adoption. The new interface is designed to make people aware of features they never found in the old versions. Information workers will continue to discover these new features for months after deployment and they will need ongoing help using them. It is unreasonable to expect the help desk to have found and mastered the features that were so well hidden in previous versions of Office. Above average migration call volume can be expected to last as long as six months, as call volume is linear throughout the migration. The peaks in volume will crest most noticeably during the initial installations. During months 1-3, call volume for how to questions on Office 2007 can spike to a 50 percent increase, drop to an average of 30 percent during months 4-6 and then continue to decline.
Myth: Migrating to Office 2007 is like every other software upgrade or switchover.
Reality: The application looks radically different and is a complete overhaul of the user interface. There are no menus and no toolbars. Many information workers won’t even be able to open files without training and assistance. In past upgrades, an information worker’s knowledge of how to get to the features in the previous version was 95 percent effective in the new version. For Office 2007, it is zero percent effective.
Myth: Information workers will benefit from Windows 7 without training and support
Reality: A learning curve is guaranteed when information workers, or even an internal help desk staff, are faced with tools, applications or operating systems that look differently. A lack of proper training and support will prolong the adoption period. Maximizing the productivity increase — and resultant ROI — from the new tools in Windows 7 requires training in the theory and support in the practice of using the new tool. Read more myths and realities of an Office 2007 and Windows 7 migration and eight service levels needed to prove migration ROI http://www.pchelps.com/html/o2007mythsrealitiesroi.asp
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