September 2013
To see how these concepts played out in our project for this client, please visit Software Configuration and Support by Implementing Office 365.
Have you ever heard someone quip "Fish don't know they're in water" to illustrate how something so obvious to one person can be so unapparent to another? This saying came to mind recently, while having lunch with the Chief Financial Officer of a client.
Office 365 – An Unexpected Benefit
We were helping this company migrate to Office 365 and the CFO told me his biggest benefit would come from having EVERYONE in the company on the same version of Microsoft Office. His comment took me aback, so I asked if he would explain this further:
"Sure, happy to explain – having everyone on the same version of Office means everyone can go to the same training class, and users can begin to help answer each other's questions, rather than coming to ME all the time."
This benefit had NEVER occurred to me. Why? Because we're a business technology consulting firm! Everyone in the firm is capable of switching back and forth among various versions of Microsoft Office because we have to do that when working with our clients.
To us, different versions of Office are no big deal – we live with that issue all the time. We have learned to deal with different functionality, different user interfaces, and different file formats. Our successful adaptation to all these differences made us like fish who don't know they're in water.
Involuntary IT Manager – Are You One?
This CFO had become the "Involuntary IT Manager" for his company – although fielding technology questions was not officially in his job description, he knew more about Office and information systems in general than anyone else in the company. Thus, he was frequently interrupted to answer questions about Excel or Word, and these interruptions WERE a big deal because they diluted his productivity.
Microsoft Intune – Making Life Easier "Behind the Scenes"
This month's case study discusses only the Office 365 portion of our engagement. We also helped our client implement the cloud-based version of Microsoft Intune, an integrated collection of system administration tools and services.
Microsoft Intune consists of security and administrative software and services, used to simplify managing Windows-based laptops and desktops. Read more on Intune's features and benefits.
While Intune goes about its tasks very quietly and efficiently, it provides a big benefit to our client – the CFO no longer has to personally handle security and administrative tasks. Now, the CFO can oversee and review these tasks, leaving more time for his REAL job.
In Closing ...
To this fish, I'm very glad my client educated me on his REAL pain – I now see I was a fish unaware of being in water. Thankfully, I now know to look for this pain and thus help other clients with the same issue.
Todd L. Herman
