Upgrading to SharePoint for CEOs - IT Bandwidth

I’ve been talking to a lot of IT teams recently about their challenges upgrading to SharePoint and Microsoft 365 in general. Their priorities are - quite rightly - to execute the upgrade and transfer the files safely and securely. There are many hurdles, but this is generally completed very effectively. What does this mean for CEOs and other layers of management?

The challenge is that with so much pressure to on the delivery, it soaks up IT bandwidth, and it makes it hard to focus on other priorities.

Most places rely on their IT company for strategic, design and more - not just as technical delivery. Not all large organisations have access to separate strategic consultants or architects with the right experience. This all makes it harder to have discussions about the wider goals or even get the right information for more fundamental decisions.

Moving to the Cloud

While companies shift their operations to the cloud every day, it is not a simple procedure. Two different world views are colliding, and even the most basic setup is sophisticated and complex. IT companies are filled with dedicated engineers, who like the challenge of solving practical problems. The sheer weight of tasks required, boxes to tick, and settings to adjust can be overwhelming. It is certainly time consuming.

New Skills Required

Microsoft 365 offers a whole new back-end environment for IT companies to master. There are many familiar aspects, but a lot to learn. Re-skilling for the new technical skills required is important, but the way to do this is are not always obvious. So much is new that the best learning resources may not be available.

Often, this can mean that the needs of the user – and what the new software actually does - is not always a key focus. IT support teams are struggling to keep up, simply because there are so many diverse and novel skills and concepts to learn.

Much More Support Required

Meanwhile, the users are struggling in this new environment. This is a radical change for most, and many simple ideas are unknown. This means more activity, more angry customers, staffing issues, stress for indivudal staff. This pressure flows upwards.

Some IT companies are judged by resolved support calls as a metric. This is not an staff concern, or operational challenge for their management. If they fail to meet targets, it can mean payments are withheld and revenue falls. That usually gets people’s attention.

Security - not sure what to worry about the most

Security issues further strain the resources of IT companies. For many CEOs, this is the unknown nature of the risks and capabilities that keep them awake at night. Everyone has confidential files and important files – often they represent the value of the business.

Even with normal usage, there are challenges with how widely files can be shared? Are the default settings safe? Do users understand the differences between sharing options – can they even find them?

The explosion of personal devices brings on migraines to whoever has to worry about them. And then their are passwords. I don’t have to explain the difficulties that passwords create in this modern world, most people experience most of these every week.

This is all before considering actual criminal attempts to infiltrate a system. There are plenty of resources on the cloud to fight this, but the goalposts are constantly shifting. Finding the right questions is often as hard in this space as finding the right answers.

Training Partnerships

Training really helps

We have found that a simple training program is a critical component to help IT companies in this situation. Some already offer training, but the demand is rising, and the topics expanding. Training offers an opportunity to cement the relationship with their clients, both in terms of revenue and good will. This risk is that without training, the opposite can occur.

Jansz Digital Coaching can partner with IT companies to fill in their gaps of their current program. We can provide training, testing, evaluation, resources and plenty of low level follow up support.

Our Flexible Approach

At Jansz Digital Coaching, we typically focus on introducing the core skills and understanding of the new environment quickly and efficiently. These may include file storage, file retrieval, sharing, collaborating and version control. It’s also a good time to create or reinforce business rules around file naming, storage, banning attachments etc.

We offer a wide range of learning options to suit individuals and groups of all sizes. We can customise the content, the goals, the pace and the delivery to create the best opportunities to learn.

Whatever the situation, the training program should build the set of skills that support the business outcomes, as required by management at that point. We can deliver all of this training framework, but you don't have to take the whole show. Whatever part of the training process you need right now, we will focus there.

Please contact me directly if you have any questions. I hope this helps.