Today’s workplace is the most dynamic it has ever been. With Millennials now the making up the highest percentage of the workforce, they’re put a high value on work-life balance, according to a recent survey, and are willing to change employers frequently to achieve it. Part of that is a change in both culture and technologies that allows them to work remotely, or outside of business hours, to gain the flexibility they crave.

Unified communications as a service, or UCaaS, plays a big role in how companies can successfully offer this freedom and flexibility to employees. Successful adoption requires a change management strategy, a formal framework that ensures that all stakeholders are in lockstep and following a specific strategy to drive user adoption.

However, while a formal process is paramount, it’s the people-first approach to UCaaS adoption that will complete the circle and not just drive initial success, but rather long-term return on investment (ROI) in the form of employee satisfaction and longevity. It’s not enough to focus on a checklist of services; a strong strategy will also take a hard look at how the day-to-day tasks of people—everyone from the CEO to the market team to the IT group to the mailroom—could be positively impacted by UCaaS.

Solving for Scenarios

UCaaS adoption means organizations need to place a high focus on the particular scenarios taking place across their business, such as:

• “My team needs to be able to work from anywhere.”
• “We share and collaborate on more than just documents.”
• “We need one way to look at all our work.”
• “There are just too many versions.”
• “I need to connect with other topic experts.”

There are dozens of other specific scenarios that are particular to each individual organization. By understanding these and working to drive solutions that match those needs, organizations are better positioning their UCaaS deployments for success.

Understanding employee needs across the business is critical, as no two users, or their roles and responsibilities, are ever the same. Each has their own tasks—and their own preferences for communications—so it’s important to develop and evaluate personas and use cases throughout the business, from the mailroom to the boardroom, and everywhere in between. As this evaluation takes place, some questions will arise:

• What does a ‘day in the life’ look like for individual employee personas? What is their typical schedule? How much time are they spending in meetings? Answering email?
• What specific functionality does each require? Will they be working offsite frequently? At home or on the road?
• What devices are needed? How often will they need to check in from them?
• What value does a UCaaS solution bring them? How can UCaaS help them streamline some of their most time-consuming tasks?
• What are the common use cases across all roles within the organization?

Taking the time to identify and fully build out the scenarios in which employees would use UCaaS is key. Employees’ current use cases and scenarios can help create a starting point. The journey to UCaaS can begin with “like for like” functionality, leveraging the net new capabilities, or somewhere in between.

Buy-in must come from every part of the organization, from the C-suite to the mailroom. While having the approval of the executive team is vital to success, champions must be found throughout each department and at every level. The growing Millennial workforce will be key to this success.

UCaaS adoption is a multi-faceted strategy that encompasses both a structured framework and a people-first mentality. With both are working hand-in-hand, organizations will see strong ROI, not just in the cost savings that UCaaS can offer, but also in employee satisfaction and retention.

For a deeper look at how organizations can combine a people-first approach with change management to ensure successful UCaaS adoption, view our eBook.

• change management, 
• collaboration, 
• technology adoption, 
• UC as a Service, 
• UC&C, 
• UCaaS