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

Windows 7 is upon us. New operating system, new Office suite. Let the games begin.

According to a leading industry source, about 50 percent of enterprise-sized IT infrastructures are running mixed Microsoft Office end-user environments. That’s a whole lot of wasted investment.

Then there are companies who waited for that whole Vista debacle to blow over. They kept XP and Office 2003, with the aim of upgrading when Windows 7 was released.

Windows 7 is upon us. New operating system, new Office suite. Let the games begin.

We have compiled a list of the most common Office 2007 user questions and issues, and it was recently published by IT World. You can read it here. Take notes, and happy migrating.

PC Helps also recently published a white paper on the subject, titled “The Myths and Realities of an Office 2007 and Windows 7 Migration.” Download it for free http://www.pchelps.com/html/o2007mythsrealitiesroi.asp

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Depending on their game plan, IT leaders can come out champions, creating their own Cinderella stories by proving ROI.

The reader said she upgraded to 2007 but asked to switch back to 2003 because her company didn’t provide any training.

She began her comment with a question: “So, how do you propose to deal with user frustration?”

Here’s how I replied:

“I know how immensely frustrating Office 2007 can be without training and support. If it was installed on your work PC, and your company provided no training or assistance, then I suspect your CIO is either clueless or just cheap. Upgrading employees without any sort of assistance is shortsighted.

“For home PC users, that’s another story. The redesign is jarring, to say the least. As one commenter put it: It’s as if Office was an automobile, and the manufacturer put the steering wheel in the trunk and the gas and brake pedals on the ceiling.

“Here’s the thing: Microsoft’s intent was to make the user interface more intuitive. Whether they accomplished that goal is up for debate. However, a look at the Office 2010 beta version reveals that the Ribbon is here to stay, so sticking with 2003 will only lengthen the learning curve.”

In a recent ad campaign, my company framed it in basketball terms:

In the NCAA Men’s Division I basketball world, they have March Madness. Since its 1939 inception, the tournament has built a legacy that includes dynasty teams and dramatic Cinderella stories. History, though, has taught us that for all of the great underdog stories that exist, the top-seeded teams that have a firm strategic game plan and a strong foundation of raw talent and skill win more championships.

In the realm of IT, help desk and end-user services, we face a similar big event, a Windows 7 and Office 2007 migration. Depending on their game plan, IT leaders can come out a champion, creating their own Cinderella story by proving ROI, increasing productivity and demonstrating end-user confidence and early adoption, instead of assumed chaos.

Conversely, IT leaders can opt for no plan at all and fail miserably. With an inadequate team and insufficient game plan, the result is crippled productivity, frustrated end-users (like the commenter above) and damaged help desk service levels.

Click here to see the campaign and to design your own stellar game plan.

MORE INFO IN: Office 2007 Migration Case Study | PC Helps Migration Assurance Overview | Contact PC Helps

The whole point of upgrading to Office 2007 is to utilize new or improved features.

LeBlanc was the subject of a piece last week on NPR’s Planet Money program, and his profession is a particularly timely subject in the current economic climate where “more with less” is the mantra and efficiency and productivity are the only goals. (Listen to reporter David Kestenbaum’s interview with LeBlanc.)

LeBlanc works for a global shipping company, and his role is to find ways to streamline processes. He is sent to different locations and told, for example, to save the company $500,000.

As he explained in his interview with NPR’s David Kestenbaum: When he tells people that he can save thousands of labor hours just by moving a printer, they don’t believe him.

This company, PC Helps Support, is also in the efficiency business. (We’re a desktop application and mobile device support provider.) But instead of demonstrating how moving a printer can save money, we show how eliminating shadow support and increasing productivity can influence their bottom line.

Like LeBlanc, we are met with some resistance. A significant number of IT leaders believe there is little or no demand for software support, and thus don’t provide it. As a result, employees find costlier ways to solve problems:

• An employee asks a colleague (the office tech “expert”) for assistance with a problem. While it may seem harmless, it’s actually taking two employees away from their primary job functions to solve a problem. That’s double-downtime.

• Self-help, which is a proven time-waster.

• And no help at all, which means employees are finding unreliable workarounds.

Look at an Office 2007 migration as an example. The whole point of upgrading is to utilize new or improved features. If your employees haven’t a clue how to use the software, and neither does your internal help desk, what good is your investment? Where’s the ROI?

LeBlanc says there are eight types of waste, which he memorizes with the help of an acronym, Tim T. Wood: transportation, inventory, motion, talent, waiting, overproduction, overprocessing and defects.

In the case of an unassisted Office 2007 migration, a few of these apply. For one, talent: If your IT department is fielding “Where’s the File menu” calls all day when they could be working on mission-critical projects, do you think you are using their talents to your company’s benefit?

Likewise, your company probably didn’t hire the office “tech expert” – every office has one – to help her neighbors with their VLOOKUPs and macros. Are you using her skills to your advantage?

For more about Office 2007 & Windows 7 migration assistance, download our free kit here.

Poka-yoke is Japanese for “mistake-proofing.” Think of the “In Case of Fire Break Glass” boxes found in office buildings. Because they include a wee stick with which to break said glass, they would qualify as poka-yoke.

Best of all, your employees will experience minimal downtime and very little lost productivity.

In business, Schrage explains, poka-yoke is the “simplest, cheapest, and surest way to eliminate foreseeable process errors.” He urges managers to perform a poka-yoke audit of their own department.

“What are the persistently simple — and simply persistent — dumb mistakes we make that our technologies can help us catch and destroy?” he asks.

Here’s where I believe IT managers should start: the help desk.

Say your company is planning an Office 2007 migration, and you, as CIO, have decided that because of the current economic climate, assistance isn’t needed. After all, your reliance on internal help desk staff during previous Office upgrades didn’t turn out disastrously.

You can take a number of approaches:

• Train your existing IT staffers on Office 2007, and hire extra workers to handle the migration, which would include extensive training and standard benefits;

• hire temps or rely on your current all-in-one outsourcer to get you through it;

• or, bring in a specialized migration partner.

As you may have heard, Office 2007 is radically different from earlier versions. Even the most experienced users will have trouble performing basic tasks like saving documents.

Which one do you think qualifies as the simplest, the cheapest and surest?

In principle, working with the staff you have and hiring a few more keeps the control in your hands, but doesn’t make sense financially or logistically. You will need to train new employees on the entire Office 2007 suite, pay benefits, and dole out extra expenses for an after-hours support skeleton crew.

Such a significant time and money investment (at about $85 per call) does not make sense when you consider that you have no guarantee the new FTEs and your existing IT staff will be able to cover a full-swing migration while maintaining their regular duties. Plus, your new employees will be generalists, supporting only a dozen or so applications. The average peak hold time for this solution is nine minutes, and the call abandonment rate is 10 percent.

At an average of $96 a call, temps are pricier than full-timers, and don’t even deliver better service (15 percent abandonment rate). A temp solution offers generalist support and an average 15-minute hold time during peak hours. It does not provide training, advanced Office 2007 support, or awareness campaigns.

Choosing a big-box outsourcer seems like a smart option if you already contract with one for other services. At $59 on average per call, this option is cheaper than hiring temps and full-timers. Also, some all-in-ones offer training in conjunction with a migration. The downside: The staff is mostly generalists whose first language is not English. Some big outsourcers employ tiered-model desks as well. When you factor in the 10-minute peak hold time and 15 percent call abandonment rate, this option loses its shine.

The last option, a migration partner, is often dismissed as an unnecessary expense, especially when budgets are sparse. However, if you choose the right outsourcer, you will get domestic Microsoft-certified consultants; support for more than 160 applications, including advanced-level Office 2007; training courses and awareness campaigns; after-hours support; no hold time; a call abandonment rate of .01 percent; and a 91 percent first-call resolution rate. Average cost per solution with this option is $25.

Here’s the poka-yoke: By hiring a migration partner, you will not have to hire extra staff (or fire them once it’s complete); you will not need to train your staff to an expert Office 2007 level; you will not have to pay overtime when call volume balloons during the initial migration phase; and, best of all, your employees will experience minimal downtime and very little lost productivity.♦

Read Schrage’s full article.

Download your free migration readiness kit.

MORE INFO IN: Office 2007 Migration Case Study | Office 2007 Migration Assurance Program | Migration Readiness Checklist | Migration Competitive Analysis | Contact PC Helps

Final post in a four-part Office 2007 migration series.

It needs to be said: Finish what you started.

In June 2009, PC Helps partnered with CIO.com to communicate the myths and realities of an Office 2007 migration and eight service levels needed to prove migration ROI. Since the recent release of Windows 7, We have updated the Office 2007 myths and realities white paper to include actual call statistics and adoption considerations for Windows 7 as well.

IT leaders cannot afford to approach an Office 2007 or Windows 7 migration blindly. The user interface is radically different and guarantees that your employees will flounder just trying to perform basic tasks. Separate the facts from the myths, and learn how to get the most return on your investment. Download the free, updated white paper now.

Read the series: Finish What You Started.

MORE INFO IN: Office 2007 Migration Case Study | Office 2007 Migration Assurance Program | Migration Readiness Checklist | Migration Competitive Analysis | Contact PC Helps

Third in a four-part Office 2007 migration series.

It needs to be said: Finish what you started.

In part one of this series, I highlighted the reasons an estimated 50 percent of enterprise-sized IT departments are running mixed Microsoft Office end-user environments. Part two offered information on how to complete the migration with minimal downtime. This post lays out a project timeline and readiness checklist.

You want successful transition to Office 2007 and early ROI. In order to meet those goals, you need to keep your employees informed and trained before, during and after deployment. With a plan in place, you will minimize or eliminate dips in productivity and give your workers confidence to use the tools they rely on every day. This is what you should expect from a migration partner:
Before

• Educate employees about what’s to come via e-mail, newsletters or the company intranet
• Create an employee education campaign, with live, expert training and support
• Offer instructor-led, Web-based training
• Provide access to a self-service learning portal with hundreds of Office 2007 audio and video tutorials
• Train internal IT staff on basic, intermediate and advanced Office 2007 frequently asked questions
• Alter voice response unit (VRU) message to address specific migration calls

During

• Continue employee education campaign, with live, expert training and support
• Offer instructor-led, Internet-based training
• Provide access to a self-service learning portal with hundreds of Office 2007 audio and video tutorials
• Provide immediate, expert support on Office 2007 applications, 24 hours a day, seven days a week
• Deliver “type 2″ and related topic training to all employees during and following support calls
• Offer live, Web-based training sessions covering specific applications: Excel, Word, PowerPoint, Outlook; beginner, intermediate, and advanced. Select group, individual or customized sessions

After

• Continue employee education campaign, with live, expert training and support
• Continue to offer instructor-led, Internet-based training
• Provide access to a self-service learning portal with hundreds of Office 2007 audio and video tutorials
• Solution-based call details, productivity measures
• Call analysis identifying targeted training needs
• Quality assurance program measuring user satisfaction, call complexity reporting and downtime analysis
• Monthly e-mail newsletter featuring Office 2007 tips, tricks and shortcuts

If you were surprised by the amount of work that goes into a migration, remember that you are part of the way there. It’s not a simple upgrade, but it can be done with minimal pain.

Stay tuned for part four, our free, downloadable Migration Assurance Program Kit.

MORE INFO IN: Office 2007 Migration Case Study | Office 2007 Migration Assurance Program | Migration Readiness Checklist | Migration Competitive Analysis | Contact PC Helps

Second in a four-part Office 2007 migration series.

It needs to be said: Finish what you started.

In part one of this series, I highlighted the reasons an estimated 50 percent of enterprise-sized IT infrastructures are running mixed Microsoft Office end-user environments. This post offers information on how to complete the migration while minimizing downtime and frustration.

Most IT leaders realize that an Office 2007 deployment requires coordination, planning and oversight. As a result, many bring in a third party for migration assistance.

The support options and partnerships are abundant, including training companies, consulting firms, domestic and offshore outsourcers, and certified Microsoft Office 2007 migration launch partners.

Whichever partner they choose, IT leaders need to keep in mind that, to prove ROI, they need to place a priority on early adoption levels, limiting downtime, maintaining productivity and cost expectations. What’s more, providing on-demand, expert support and training to information workers before, during and after deployment is critical for a successful migration.

Below are four Microsoft Office 2007 myths and realities to keep in mind:

Myth No. 1: Migration support needs disappear completely after a few weeks.

No, no, no. Microsoft designed the new interface to make it easier for users to find features that were available in older versions, but were buried in an elaborate menu structure. It’s working, too. Months into a rollout, your employees will be finding tools they never knew existed — and they will need help learning how to use them. To expect IT generalists to know how to use long-hidden features is downright unreasonable.

Myth No. 2: Migrating to Office 2007 is like every other migration.

Two words: no menus. Two more: no toolbars.

Many users will not even be able to open files without help. Office 2007 is a complete overhaul of the user interface. In previous upgrades, knowledge of how to get to features in the previous version got users where they wanted to go 95 percent of the time. With 2007, it’s zero percent.

Myth No. 3: Handling a migration without outside help will give my staff a chance to shine.

Don’t turn your IT staff into scapegoats. The scale of end-user need when Office 2007 hits a desktop guarantees your IT department will be overwhelmed.

Myth No. 4: I have smart employees. They’ll have no problem figuring out how to use Office 2007 on their own.

An employee does not call the general help desk when he can get the answer from a colleague who sits near him. If none of his colleagues know how to use Office 2007, and he calls a generalist at the help desk, how much expertise will he find there? ♦

Stay tuned for Part 3: The Readiness Checklist. Click here to read Part 1.

MORE INFO IN: Office 2007 Migration Case Study | Office 2007 Migration Assurance Program | Migration Readiness Checklist | Migration Competitive Analysis | Contact PC Helps

Part one of a four-post Office 2007 migration series.

It needs to be said: Finish what you started.

According to a leading industry source, more than 50 percent of enterprise-sized IT infrastructures are running mixed Microsoft Office end-user environments. The reasons are many.

The Recession: During the past two years, IT budgets were cut and some employees were let go, leaving Office 2007 deployments incomplete.

Misjudgment: IT leaders were unaware of the amount of work that went into a migration. A dearth of internal resources to handle increasing call volume and demand for training halted phased rollouts.

Choice: IT leaders who weren’t mandated to deploy Office 2007 to the entire company chose to migrate in more of a “drip” fashion. Only those who requested the upgrade received it.

It’s not just user frustration you have to worry about either. Managing a staff that is running two versions causes pain for the company in other ways: compatibility issues, limited return on your Office 2007 investment and a semi-knowledgeable internal help desk.

Below is a sampling of the most common Office 2007 issues for end users.

All Apps:

1. Completing basic tasks such as opening and closing files, applying formats, printing and setting application options.

2. Inability to customize the ribbon and Office bar.

Excel:

1. Sorting and filtering data in a completely changed interface.

2. Applying conditional formats in a completely changed interface with many more choices.

Outlook:

1. Confusion due to partial implementation of the new interface and changes in the parts that resemble the 2003 interface.

2. The difference between opening and previewing attachments.

Word:

1. Formatting changes in documents both on conversion and in compatibility mode.

2. A thoroughly revamped mail merge feature.

PowerPoint:

1. Custom animations created in earlier versions not working properly.

2. Changes to the way templates, masters and slide layouts work.

The pain doesn’t need to be great, however. With a plan in place, you can cost-effectively finish your Office 2007 migration while minimizing the end user and help desk learning curves.♦

Stay tuned for part two, which will give you the information you need to get it done.

MORE INFO IN: Office 2007 Migration Case Study | Office 2007 Migration Assurance Program | Migration Readiness Checklist | Migration Competitive Analysis | Contact PC Helps

Knowing what to expect and whether to bring in the help of a migration partner can help you eliminate the fear. Our Migration Assurance Plan can help. And we put a whole lot of experience in this package. Our company has migrated thousands of customers to Office 2007. We know the value of quantitative and qualitative solution-based call reports, and the importance of ongoing call analysis and updates to identify training needs.

Here’s what it contains:

• Windows 7 action plan
• Migration assurance plan
• Readiness checklist
• Staffing matrix
• Details about eTraining courses

See for yourself. Go ahead, don’t be scared. To download your own free kit, follow this link: Windows 7 & Office 2007 Readiness Kit.

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