Increasing Workplace Transformation Adoption by 110% in Less Than Six Months

Customer Success Blog Series

The Customer Success Blog Series highlights Customer Success Managers (CSM) and their Customers where we spotlight a Customer Success Story. Learn how Cisco’s collaboration technology is making positive organizational impacts, solving real-live business challenges and can impact a customer’s outcome.

Kickstart Workplace Transformation with Cisco Webex

As a Customer Success Manager I spend the majority of my time helping customers overcome barriers to adoption and spend significant time working through challenges to ensure the end user is achieving the optimal Webex experience. In work, just as in our personal lives, we are often so focused on the action plan at hand and, of course, the next success, we forget to pause, celebrate and reflect on our current achievements. Yet, this is an important step in our journey as these wins motivate and propel us to continue onwards and upwards. Just as we reflect when things go wrong, we should also relish in our wins.

Collaboration Solution for Siloed Videoconferencing & Multiple Instant Messaging Platforms

I had the opportunity to do just that with my customer, Midco, a leading service provider company in the Midwest. I recall joining the team amidst their adoption journey – they had the technology in place, they had the right stakeholders to champion the collaboration effort, the only thing missing was the intense focus on end-user adoption. Siloed tools and multiple instant messaging platforms made employees frustrated about the technology and caused some users to use it altogether. Cisco helped transformed user experience with seamless videoconferencing and messaging capabilities. After realizing that people were using four different messaging apps, I worked with the Midco IT team to focus on Webex Teams as their primary collaboration platform. The all-in-one-integrated Cisco Webex Teams platform, including DX80 desktop devices, Webex Boards, Room Kits, and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure (VDI). It didn’t take too long to see positive changes in employee collaboration and communication.

Promoting Adoption at Midco

After forming a powerhouse team including representatives from Cisco, Midco and the partner, we were able, together, to achieve an increase in adoption of 110% in just under six months. But driving adoption to achieve collaboration success would take full adoption from the end-user. How did we achieve such a huge increase in adoption? I worked with the Midco adoption team that included IT, marketing, and project management teams to provide a seamless transition to Webex Teams. We met on a monthly basis and I worked with them through adoption barriers. I also joined Cisco reps in a launch event to inform others at training sessions and live demos to make the transition seamless.

Celebrating Success

Among the positive results of the adoption initiative, I was honored to nominate Midco for a Webex Award. I was thrilled to learn they had been selected the winner in the Webexemplary Growing Business category! When my customer, whom I had formed a strong partnership with, walked on stage at Cisco Live to accept the award, excitement and happiness bubbled up inside me – like a proud mother watching her child graduate. Look what we did, look what you did! Taking that thirty minutes to recognize trailblazers of collaborative innovation has lasting impact. Midco promoted the win internally with a press release and video which continued to cultivate their innovative and collaborative mindsets. I returned from Cisco Live in beautiful San Diego refreshed and energized to take the learning lessons and successes to other customers facing similar business challenges.

Moving Forward

The thing about an adoption journey – it’s never really over. While we reached a high peak of user engagement and executive endorsement, we will continue to partner together to enhance the user experience. Technology, especially here at Cisco is evolving rapidly; every time a new feature is released, there is a new opportunity to engage and further the value in our offerings.