Summary: Ribbons in the Sky: A Customer-Focused Approach to Implementing Change

Created by John Borwick (Wake Forest University) on June 2, 2009

Cross-posted from http://itsm.is.wfu.edu/node/177.

Julie Leary and Amy Martin from Towson University gave this presentation, "Ribbons in the Sky: A Customer-Focused Approach to Implementing Change."

Originally I was confused by the title. "Ribbons in the Sky" refers to Office 2007 and its new "ribbons" that show up at the top of the bar. This presentation was about a successful training program to support an Office 2007 transition and to improve the reputation of the IT department.

Key takeaways:

Departments will set up their own (decentralized) IT shops if they feel IT is overstepping its bounds or not listening
By showing through a department-by-department roll-out the pain of not having enough RAM, Towson University got permission to add RAM to machines that otherwise could not support Office 2007, which also became a perk for people to upgrade
Appoint an "upgrade coordinator" and create a marketing packet explaining the upgrade
Meet users where they are: talk about the benefits, e.g. the decreased file sizes of Office 2007 files
Training should be task-based rather than tool-based: how do you mail merge?
Training is also a sales pitch
Provide a virtual environment for people to try out new software and to refer to previous software versions
Training teams could be the owners of knowledge management

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		Summary: Ribbons in the Sky: A Customer-Focused Approach to Implementing Change Created by John Borwick (Wake Forest University) on June 2, 2009 Cross-posted from http://itsm.is.wfu.edu/node/177. Julie Leary and Amy Martin from Towson University gave this presentation, "Ribbons in the Sky: A Customer-Focused Approach to Implementing Change." Originally I was confused by the title. "Ribbons in the Sky" refers to Office 2007 and its new "ribbons" that show up at the top of the bar. This presentation was about a successful training program to support an Office 2007 transition and to improve the reputation of the IT department. Key takeaways: Departments will set up their own (decentralized) IT shops if they feel IT is overstepping its bounds or not listening By showing through a department-by-department roll-out the pain of not having enough RAM, Towson University got permission to add RAM to machines that otherwise could not support Office 2007, which also became a perk for people to upgrade Appoint an "upgrade coordinator" and create a marketing packet explaining the upgrade Meet users where they are: talk about the benefits, e.g. the decreased file sizes of Office 2007 files Training should be task-based rather than tool-based: how do you mail merge? Training is also a sales pitch Provide a virtual environment for people to try out new software and to refer to previous software versions Training teams could be the owners of knowledge management EDUCAUSE \| SERC09 \| southeast regional conference 2009 John's blog Login or register to post comments 60 reads
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