Collaboration success is all in the planning
Our Head of Digital Workplace Consultancy, David Willie, explains the secrets of successful collaboration deployments to AV Magazine’s Lindsey Reynolds.
It’s all in the planning
“Collaboration means something different for every customer”, explains David Willie Head of Digital Workplace Consultancy at Visavvi. “But successful collaboration deployments have one thing in common, they start with the right planning.”
“Here at Visavvi, we work in close consultation with our clients”, Willie explains. “The first step is to listen and understand the nature of their business activities, and the resources that are available to them. We fully explore their view of collaboration and their expectations to build a picture of their key objectives. The last conversation we would have at this stage is about the technology”, he adds.
“Once we have fully defined what they require, we can create the technology eco structure to deliver their vision. The advantage of working with an integrator is that, unlike a manufacturer, we know there is not just one way of acheiving this. Our long standing experience for blending technologies from multiple manufacturers enables us to deliver bespoke environments for clients. We possess the depth of knowledge across many brands and products, so we can take the best of what’s available to build the correct solution.”
And strategic objectives
“Successful collaboration deployments fulfil the client’s strategic objectives”, explains Willie. “The planning stage is vital because it defines those objectives and explores the best technology solutions in detail. It also requires the technology to be fully utilised”, Willie adds.
“Video conferencing technology especially, has been overlooked in the past. New technology may be easier to use now, but we still need to support users once it’s been introduced. We believe in best-in-class so we work closely with a specialist in user adoption and end-user training with the expertise to design and deliver that user enablement.”
“The way clients judge the success of an investment has also changed”, he adds. “In the past, organisations tended to focus on ROI as a purely financial return – how much they reduced travel costs with video conferencing, for example. Now, ROI is focused on the real value delivered, not only monetary but also operational benefits or in terms of recruitment. Whatever the customer’s definition of collaboration, value is most certainly the universal measure of success”, he concludes.
We fully explore their view of collaboration and their expectations to build a picture of their key objectives. The last conversation we would have at this stage is about the technology…”
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