Change is the new norm for businesses. A fresh generation of workers brings new expectations to the workplace, crossing paths with the ongoing pursuit of productivity and a new focus on how information is shared and used. Technology is evolving rapidly to help organizations keep up with the new demands.

Microsoft 365 offers tools and solutions that support customers’ increasing emphasis on collaboration and teamwork. Having the tools isn’t enough, though. To support a new teamwork culture and capture the full benefit of their investments, organizations want to accelerate adoption of Microsoft 365 and ensure that their employees develop genuine proficiency with tools such as Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Yammer, and SharePoint.

Organizational change management—helping people master new ways of working—is one of the keys to driving adoption and proficiency when new tools are introduced in the workplace. For more than 25 years, Vitalyst has been one of Microsoft’s leading Adoption and Change Management partners, helping a wide variety of organizations implement new technologies to drive cultural changes in their businesses. Their proven approach ensures organizations can capture the benefits of Microsoft 365 and helps them establish Teams as the new hub for teamwork.

The challenge: new tools, new expectations. Vitalyst has identified several intersecting trends that are driving demand for their change management solutions. “First, you have changes with the cloud and the faster pace of technology updates,” explained Barry O’Donnell, President and CEO at Vitalyst. “Then, there’s increased diversity with multiple generations in the workforce now, more part-time workers, more people working remotely, more contractors and they all have different expectations of how they want to engage across the organization.”

At the same time, customers’ businesses continue to become more global, creating a growing need for tools that provide seamless teamwork experiences across multiple languages and enable employees to work effectively in virtual and global teams.

Microsoft 365 can help customers meet these challenges, and effective use of organizational change management solutions can help customers accelerate adoption and drive usage. “When you look at the pace of digital transformation and why projects fail, research indicates that change management makes a big difference. Customers are six times more likely to succeed when change management principles are leveraged,” said O’Donnell.

Partner Profile: Vitalyst is a Microsoft Gold Partner and a global provider of client learning solutions. They specialize in adoption and change management solutions that deliver unique, employee-centric experiences, enabling clients to develop sustainable improvements for continued innovation and growth.Their adoption and change management solutions have driven more than 4 million seats of Microsoft 365, averaging more than 28,000 activations per client. In July, Vitalyst was recognized by Microsoft as the Top U.S. Microsoft 365 Adoption Partner for 2018.

Headquarters:Bala Cynwyd, Pennsylvania www.vitalyst.com

Change management: Enabling customer success in a rapidly evolving workplace

This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

1 http://blog.prosci.com/the-correlation-between-change-management-and-project-success.

A MICROSOFT CASE STUDY

This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

The solution: A methodology to drive adoption of Microsoft 365.A proprietary change management methodology called PROPEL lies at the heart of Vitalyst’s change management solutions. Based on the Prosci ADKAR (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, Reinforcement) methodology, PROPEL provides customized adoption and learning programs to set up customers for long-term success with Microsoft 365.

“Our PROPEL methodology is at the core of everything we do. It starts with a Change Management Workshop using an assessment that allows us to understand the needs of an organization,” said O’Donnell. “There are the needs from a user standpoint and organizational needs in terms of a broad digital transformation. Some of the executive-level priorities may be different than what the real needs are at the user level. PROPEL helps ensure we really understand all of those things, so that we can provide the best recommendations for moving forward.”

Examples of PROPEL deployments with Microsoft 365 include:

Local State GovernmentVitalyst developed a comprehensive communications, training and support program that made it easy for state employees to use a “How do I…?” live-support system to get quick answers to questions related to their Microsoft 365 deployment. Using highly targeted email and Yammer campaigns that reached influential user groups, plus a wide range of communication opportunities across relevant intranet sites and social network pages, the program reached thousands of employees and drove high levels of engagement and adoption within targeted agencies and teams throughout the state. Program managers used dashboards to track call center usage, effectiveness of training courses, adoption, and more.

Fortune 500 Healthcare Organization Digital transformation at a large healthcare company called for a phased approach to support their shift to the cloud. They began by moving users to Office 2016, then migrated users to Exchange Online to enable their employees with the core set of Microsoft 365 services. Next, they moved communications services to Skype for Business. During each phase, Vitalyst closely monitored adoption and usage data and adjusted training content and schedules to deliver maximum impact. Vitalyst also reviewed the questions employees were asking the support teams and worked closely with team leads and managers to ensure employees were fully engaged during each phase.

Global Financial and Payment Technology Provider After deploying Office 365, a global financial and payment technology provider found that usage of OneDrive, Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams did not meet expectations. Vitalyst recommended a more mobile-focused approach to ensure training was accessible to a workforce that was not only younger than average, but also culturally diverse and physically dispersed. The multi-faceted training solution included live digital training for remote workers, mobile on-demand trainings and live support via Skype to help employees better understand how to best use the technology to perform their job functions.

Global RetailerA large, global company deployed Microsoft 365 to revolutionize how their employees collaborate and work together. To help the retailer adopt Microsoft Teams, Vitalyst developed a series of Excite Days designed to introduce their global workforce to Teams chat and project management activities. Excite Days include a number of engaging activities, such as a scavenger hunt, trivia games and other hands-on challenges that gave employees experience with Teams. Live usage data was used to adjust training to ensure activities addressed the unique needs of each targeted user group, including Firstline Workers and Office users.

Change management works, the results are in!To showcase how a change management practice can help customers accelerate their digital transformation, Vitalyst’s PROPEL framework uses dashboards that provide a view of customers’ usage growth. The dashboards also provide documented examples throughout the organization to show how Microsoft 365 has transformed how users work together.

Vitalyst’s change management and adoption solutions have had a measurable impact on customer success, helping users adopt new tools like Microsoft 365 more rapidly and more widely across organizations. Their change management workshops help customers adopt technology two to five times faster, which accelerates customers’ digital transformation journeys.

Looking ahead.Vitalyst sees growing demand for change management services, increasingly driven by customers’ desire to foster teamwork and maximize the value of their investments as technology tools move to the cloud. “When you look at the way people are consuming Microsoft’s solutions, you’re starting to see that people are organically moving towards experiencing Office solutions through Teams as a central hub,” said Keith Carvalho, VP of Alliances at Vitalyst. “This is a big step from email-based collaboration, and many organizations need assistance navigating the changes.”

“One of the biggest trends in technology over the last few years is the move to cloud-based solutions that really unleash the ability to collaborate,” added O’Donnell. “This is where I think Microsoft solutions really add value, with collaboration tools that integrate at multiple levels and are empowering organizations to be much more agile. Our mission is to enable organizations and their employees with the right training and support to get the most out of their Microsoft investments.”

This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY.

“We see that customers are organically moving towards experiencing

Office solutions through Teams as a central hub.”

— Keith Carvalho, VP of Alliances, Vitalyst.

“We see that our engagements accelerate solution adoption from 2 to 5 times faster than other solutions.”— Keith Carvalho, VP of Alliances, Vitalyst.