Congratulations! You are a business that has gone through the UC evaluation process, figured out your business needs, and defined your priorities. You have figured out your technical requirements. You are now ready to put a plan in place to make sure the roll-out is smooth, the applications are effective, and your user enthusiasm is high.

Here is an eleven-point check list to keep you on track:

1. 1. Look at timing and the exact challenges your new system is designed to solve.
      What other projects are going on in the enterprise? You do not want to overload your users. If there is another big roll out happening at the same time, should you dovetail on it, should you be part of it, or should you wait? Look at the user burden in terms of the enterprise application change and adoption. Weigh in the level of urgency for the solution itself. Stay focused on what you are solving, and how time critical it is to have that solution in place.
   2. Get the word out creatively and effectively
      Enlist your marketing team to devise a marketing campaign to the users letting them know what to expect, and when it will be happening. Create excitement.
   3. Deputize champions and super-users
      Identify a “champion” and a “super-user.” These are people considered thought leaders in each department. If you are a global company, appoint someone in each office. You want someone on each site who is your cheerleader, the champion, who highlights benefits and generates enthusiasm, This is especially important if key decisions were made in another location and may give the perception of coming from “outside.” Additionally, appoint a second role, the super-user, the person who develops expertise and is the go-to person for questions. (This can be a boost for that person’s career as well).
   4. Understand your resources
      Understand all the resources you have available through Savvy and the vendors to whom Savvy is connecting you. Understand what they will be providing for you, and what internal resources you are expected to provide yourself. Understand the timeline, and the division of labor as to whom is doing what.
   5. Get a “stumbling block” history
      Understand the “gotchas”, the common stumbling blocks, others have faced in similar rollouts. For example, has the porting of telephone numbers to your new platform been arduous in the past for the selected carrier? What do you need to provide so that a given traditional stumbling block does not happen and your process goes smoothly?
   6. Map out your use cases ahead of time
      Understand the use cases for your solution, and strategically plan how each of those, whether they are by job function, department, office or remote location, will be conducted.
   7. Know your special needs locations and ascertain that customization is in place
      Understand any offices or locations that require particularly custom approaches, that fall outside of your main design parameters. Make sure you have that customization buttoned up and that the resources and hardware are in place. You may be in a country where the provider does not natively offer voice services. It may have been one office out of twenty offices that you have, and so the provider was part of a compromise decision; For this office, you may have to buy a special piece of hardware like a SWIFT gateway. You will have your voice services come in from an additional provider and some parts may look like a premises phone system (but they won’t be—it will still be cloud based).
   8. Keep an eye on your supply chain
      Be aware of supply chain issues for equipment. We recently had a client’s phone equipment hit issues and it created a 5-month delay.
   9. Be strategic about training
      Understand how training can be delivered effectively and efficiently. Do you want custom training? Do you need it in language for offices in other countries? Do you want it live or on-line? What would your users prefer? Look at the level of comfort within your user population. How many can pick up new technology and run with it? How many need more hand-holding and guided transition?Consider the change management training that would benefit your team. Will the new features of your unified communications system literally change the work culture itself? If so, you may want to help your teams recognize the change in the paradigm of their work life—and then your new system will impress them as being strategic rather than an irritating burden.
   10. Have your help desk up and ready
       Make sure your help desk is established and well versed in the 10 most common user questions.
   11. Prepare your data network
       Make sure your data network is prepared for your unified communications. Do you have internet interfaces at all locations, and the right interfaces to connect with your new platform? Do they have redundant internet, SD WAN? You need all the things that will guarantee your up time from the start.Think out your roll out. It is one of the most crucial components of the entire process. If the rollout is cumbersome, unclear and takes too much time, users will be distrustful of the new system and become disgruntled, and not wanting to use it. <Like all other aspects of the implementation of your solution, do not do it alone. This is why we are SAVVY—we will not only help you with the questions you need to ask to have an effective rollout, we are the ones to make sure the answers are in place, and ready.

Savvy Technologies provides game-changing technology solutions that transform the way a business performs and operates into the future. Through big picture thinking and a relentless attention to detail, Savvy manages each step of the vendor selection process to ensure the best fit and highest value solution is selected and implemented. When you win, we win!

Research:
SEVEN THINGS TO CONSIDER FOR A SUCCESSFUL UC ROLLOUT
Unified communication has the power to make us more productive, build better relationships, save money and improve our work/life balance. Convinced of the potential to create business value, organizations of all types have invested in UC technologies, from video conferencing and TelePresence solutions to web conferencing, instant messaging, and enterprise social collaboration tools.