When deploying a hosted unified communications (UC) system, proper employee training is paramount to a successful adoption that keeps employees happy and enables them to continue their jobs with ease. Although it may seem as simple as switching from one type of phone system to another, for many employees UC is completely different from traditional telephony. In order to get the best ROI possible, businesses should use as many of the following training methods as needed:

• Basic training for all users
• Added training for power users
• Advanced training for administrative users
• Personalized training
• Use case scenarios training

Basic Training

All employees should have basic training to get them used to the new system, even if they only use the phone system for simple calls. Businesses can hold seminars, webinars, or provide videos for self-training, but all employees should be shown basic phone skills, such as:

• accessing and changing voicemail,
• placing and receiving calls,
• placing and releasing callers on hold, and
• transferring calls.

Keeping extensions and other basic components the same — or as close as possible — will also help ease the transition and prevent employee frustration.

Power Users

Employees that can take advantage of what UC can offer will need more than just basic training. This can include:

• hunt groups,
• instant messaging,
• mobility features,
• PC soft clients,
• presence management, and
• web and conference calling.

This training should be personalized to the specific employee’s duties.

Advanced Training for Administrators

Administrators need to be able to manage the UC features and serve as a point of reference for employees looking for help. Face-to-face training is often important for these users, and can include:

• assigning and reassigning extensions,
• maintaining the company directory,
• moving devices, and
• setting up or removing users.

Personalized Training

Customized training to a certain group of employees not only saves time, but allows the employees to focus just on what they need to learn in order to do their jobs. This can mean that all salespeople are trained together on mobile features, while customer service representatives are trained on the UC features they’ll need to deal with customers and clients.

Use Cases

Use case examples can be a great benefit to employees by showing them exactly what steps need to be taken in order to reach a desired goal. These examples can cover topics from the very simple (e.g. forwarding calls) to the more complicated, depending on which group is currently being trained.

For many employees, switching to a UC system can seem complicated and scary, but businesses can help make the transition much simpler with good training. This enables a successful adoption and keeps employees happy and productive. To learn more about training employees on a new UC system, contact Cloud Source today.