Another company learns what others have for years—the GDT and Cisco partnership doesn’t disappoint

According to a recent survey concerning employee productivity, ninety-seven percent (97%) of respondents believe a lack of collaboration delays projects’ outcomes. It’s an eye-popping statistic. And for a regional cable TV and Internet service provider serving the upper Midwestern United States, it could relate. They thought they’d addressed this very issue when they selected a collaboration and communications provider that promised its solution would simplify communications and enhance productivity. It did neither, but in large part due to a lack of training that resulted in low adoption rates and the vast majority of its two thousand (2,000) employees wondering if the solution did just the opposite—complicate communications and lower productivity.

After conscripting the help of GDT’s Customer Experience (CX) professionals, the customer soon learned that a solution’s success is measured by effectiveness and employee adoption rates. By turning to GDT, the customer soon enjoyed both.

From interviews comes an Action Plan

As they always do, GDT’s tenured team of software lifecycle professionals with key stakeholder interviews, who relayed exactly what was needed to ensure the needs and demands of their teams would be fully addressed.

As a result of their thorough, upfront research, GDT’s CX team knew that Cisco Webex, its on-demand collaboration, online meeting, web conferencing and videoconferencing solution, would deliver the perfect solution. GDT’s CX team knew that its close Cisco partnership, which spans more than two (2) decades, would do exactly what it has done for thousands of customers over the years—perfectly address customers’ unique technology needs.

The GDT CX team crafted a detailed Action Plan that addressed everything needed for the solution to be considered successful—detailed training and communications plans, measurement of key performance indicators (KPIs), tracking of employees’ usage, barriers (and how to overcome them) regarding adoption, and all business processes that may be affected by GDT’s Webex solution.

“The purpose of today’s training is to defeat yesterday’s understanding.”

The effectiveness of any solution relies heavily on knowledge sharing and training, and GDT’s CX professionals put together a plan to not only address both, but one (1) that would include information that can stand in the way of the best of solutions—the fear of change. GDT made available multiple training sessions to accommodate the customer’s workforce, which included an array of work shifts, and also included Lunch and Learns at their corporate headquarters.

“Success is led by the power of communication.”

When it comes to putting action and training plans to the test, nobody knows better than GDT’s CX team that communication is the linchpin of a solution’s success. Without it, adoption rates are low, metrics aren’t met, the fear of change is validated, and desired business outcomes are quickly extinguished.

GDT’s CX team crafted a communication plan that addressed each of the customer’s concerns. They soon learned, as GDT had promised, that they would gain many advantages by migrating to a cloud-based interface. Team spaces in Cisco Webex were created to immediately respond to employee concerns that may affect adoption rates. And training didn’t take a backseat once the solution was deployed. Through virtual desktops, Webex teams were deployed for multiple departments.

Cisco Enterprise Agreement (EA)—a simple solution to a complex, decades-old problem

Prior to the 2017 launch of Cisco Enterprise Agreement, three (3) key elements software customers had always wanted, but never received, including simplicity related to license management, flexibility to meet the changing demands of businesses, and value that comes from financial predictability and the end to retroactive fees. Cisco Enterprise Agreement delivers on all three (3). It helps organizations buy, consume and manage Cisco technology across its entire software portfolio. And it accomplishes something else—freeing up customers’ time, so their personnel can work on more pressing, business-driving initiatives.