CIO: How to Successfully Deploy Collaborative Tools

collaborative tools are a great way to improve the employee experience, as they help streamline teamwork and communication, and provide greater flexibility for employees. The IT department plays a key role in deploying these tools, as it must not only select the right software, but also support employees throughout the project.

Read also: Remote Work: Choose French Tools!

Here are some best practices to help you successfully complete each stage of the deployment.

[This article is adapted from our white paper “Hybrid Work: New Challenges for the IT Department” >>> Download the Full White Paper for Free]

Assess Your Needs

First and foremost, start by talking with your employees to gather their needs and identify their pain points. To do this, we recommend surveying them directly through questionnaires or one-on-one conversations, and also observing how they work in the field and speaking with their managers.

This is the approach favored by Olivier Montanes, IT & Business Improvement Director at Decouflé:

“I talk with users by going directly to see them in the field to understand how they use our tools and the problems they face. This is what is called “gemba” in lean methodology. It allows me to better understand employees’ needs and provide solutions tailored to those needs.”

Here are some example questions to ask employees during these interviews:

• What tools do they currently use in their work? Which features do they rely on most?
• What is their overall satisfaction level with these tools?
• Do they need further training to better use these tools?
• What challenges do they encounter?
• Do any tools seem ineffective or unsuitable for their needs ? Why?
• What tools are they missing to carry out their work effectively? And what are their expectations for these tools?

Once these interviews are complete, you will be able to identify:

• the collaborative software to replace, remove, or add to your application portfolio,
• the criteria for selecting your new collaborative tools,
• the training or support initiatives to put in place.

Choose the Right Tools

Before starting your benchmark, there is one more thing to decide: the type of solutions to implement.

Best of Breed vs. Digital Workplace: Which Approach to Choose?

There are currently two widely favored approaches for selecting software:

• a patchwork of applications best-of-breed, i.e., tools considered best-in-class in their respective categories.
• a digital workplace solution, digital workplace meaning a digital platform that brings together all the information, documents, applications, and people employees need to work, anytime, anywhere, and on any device.

Each approach has its own advantages and drawbacks. For example, best-of-breed tools are more customizable and flexible: they can address specific business needs more precisely, and can be swapped out easily if users are not satisfied. However, this approach can lead to tool proliferation, resulting in a less consistent user experience.

Conversely, a digital workplace can cover a broader scope and centralizes all information in one place. Users don’t need to juggle different tools, enabling a more consistent experience.

Read also: How the Digital Workplace Transforms the Employee Experience

Of course, it’s also possible to adopt a hybrid approach combining best-of-breed and all-in-one tools. Michael Cohen, CTO of Eksaé, shares this view:

“I believe we need both all-in-one solutions and best-of-breed tools. For some needs, a single platform centralizes all information in one place and prevents tool sprawl within the organization. But for certain specialized areas, the “all-in-one” system quickly reaches its limits. In those cases, I prefer to rely on best-of-breed tools. They’re also more open: they can integrate more easily with other solutions.”

What Criteria Should You Use to Choose a Collaborative Tool?

It’s now time to choose the software you will deploy. To compare the available solutions, we recommend examining the following criteria:

• price,
• ergonomics,
• features,
• integrations with your business applications,
• ease of deployment and use,
• the quality and responsiveness of customer service and user support,
• commitments in terms of data security and hosting (for example, is the vendor subject to the Cloud Act?),
• user reviews (on platforms such as G2, Capterra, Appvizer, or by requesting customer references directly from vendors).

“When we select applications, we are very focused on user experience: the interface ergonomics are just as important as the business process, technical, or security aspects.

We also verify that these applications offer single sign-on (SSO), which allows each employee to access all internal tools with a single username and password.” Sébastien Louyot, IT Services Director at Doctolib

To help you make your choice, you can also consult this comparison of the best collaborative tools.

Si possible, essayez dinvolve your users in the selection of these tools, for example by assembling a group of beta testers who can share feedback on user experience quality, platform ergonomics, and various features.

“Lorsque nous souhaitons déployer de nouveaux outils, nous vérifions que chacun d’entre eux répond bien aux critères établis en termes de prix, d’ergonomie, de facilité d’usage, etc., puis nask employees to test them and compare them. Because the most important criterion is that the tool meets users’ needs.” Michael Cohen, CTO of Eksaé

Training Your Teams — and Yourself

Training Employees

According to a survey by Mitel and Orange Business Services, 78% of CIOs believe training is essential to ensure the success of a collaborative project, as it teaches employees how to use new tools optimally. Better tool usage means time savings and increased productivity.

To facilitate the deployment and adoption of your collaborative tools, we recommend including in your training program:

• an onboarding workshop onboarding (in-person or via video conference), introducing the tool and its key features
• video tutorials for the platform and use cases, covering the platform in more depth, along with different use cases
• an best practices guide et/ou une usage charter for the tool, sent to users and platform administrators
• video tutorials for regular training sessions for ongoing user support with the tool

For Les Petits Frères des Pauvres and ARML-IdF (Regional Association of Local Missions in Ile-de-France), this training approach is critical for driving adoption:

“We organized breakfasts, tutorials, and MOOCs to introduce the new tools to volunteers and employees. During the Covid crisis, we also scheduled workshops every two weeks to facilitate the sharing of ideas and experiences among volunteers.” Lionel Babin, CIO at Les Petits Frères des Pauvres

“Every month, we organize the “Digital Uses Thursday” pour accompagner larollout of new tools. For example, our latest event was dedicated to our enterprise social network Odyssée, built on the Talkspirit platform. We took the opportunity to highlight our various use cases, share some best practices, and answer questions from employees about the tool.” Philippe Crest, Digital Uses Delegate at ARML-IdF

Continuous Learning for IT Leaders

Of course, training employees is not enough. The IT department itself must also engage in continuous learning through training, webinars, and technology monitoring to anticipate the needs of employees, and to proactively propose the right solutions.

For Céline Massy, Digital Transformation Architect at CEA, “it is urgent for CIOs to constantly anticipate new employee needs and usage patterns. Maintaining ongoing monitoring of modern tools that can enhance the employee experience is no longer optional. Because if the IT department is not proactive about this, employees will seek out solutions on their own, sometimes taking risks with security and data management.”

Read also: Working Differently: A Challenge Met in Just a Few Months by the CEA, with Talkspirit

Beyond monitoring and training, “it is also important to connect with other CIOs to share best practices and help each other build expertise on new topics”, adds Johnny Cervantes, CIO of WeLink.

Gathering Employee Feedback

Once your collaborative tools are deployed, don’t forget to regularly collect feedback from users through interviews, satisfaction surveys, or polls (ideally online, to encourage participation).

Here are some example questions to ask:

• How often do you use tool X?
• On a scale of 1 to 10, how useful do you find this tool?
• Do you continue to use other tools with a similar function in parallel? If so, why?
• Do you have difficulty using any tools? If so, why? What improvements could be made to address this?

This feedback will allow you to assess employee satisfaction, identify those who need specific support, and become aware of any frustrations that may be hindering the adoption of new tools.

Read also: Summary of the webinar “Why and How to Build a Feedback Culture?”

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Successfully deploying new collaborative tools is not simply a matter of choosing “good” tools. You must first ensure that those tools meet employees’ needs, and also make sure that users receive the support they need to get the most out of them.

Want to learn more about the challenges facing IT departments in the hybrid work era? Download the full white paper:

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This article is adapted from our White Paper “Hybrid Work: New Challenges for the IT Department”. Inside, you’ll find: the 3 major challenges for IT departments in the hybrid work era; practical advice on accelerating your digital transformation, securing workstations, and improving the employee experience; as well as testimonials from 10 CIOs working in companies, public organizations, and associations.

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Author: Emmanuelle Abensur