Migrating to GSuite Apps can be quite rewarding for any organization, but this migration is easier said than done. Moving to GSuite Apps is not just about changing software. In fact, the “changing of technology part” might be the easiest part of the whole migration process.

Bear in mind that every member of your organization will need to be part of the GSuite Apps migration process, which can be hard to manage (especially for companies with 50 plus users.)

If you want to ensure that your GSuite Apps migration process is successful and yields a high Return on Investment (ROI), you will need to move your organization to this “new technology” using a solid change management plan.

When you use an effective change management plan, you will:

• Minimize the loss of productivity to your business resulting from the change.

• Reduce the risk associated with employee or user acceptance (or rejection before acceptance) to GSuite Apps

• Increase user usage, proficiency, and adoption

• Lower the costs linked to unplanned disruptions to your business operations

• Help ensure your team’s seamless transition to GSuite Apps

If you do not have a solid transition plan to GSuite Apps in place, you can use this Change Management Activity Planner to capitalize on your move. This activity planner will provide tips for communicating with your employees about the impending changes, training plans and a change impact plan.

Change Management Activity 1:
Communicate the Impending GSuite Apps change

Chances are, your employees may not be too willing to let go of the all familiar “MS office”’, and may, therefore, reject the change to GSuite Apps. To avoid this rejection, you should let your employees know that your company is officially moving to GSuite Apps, by effectively communicating this message to them. This communication should be done, often and through official channels of communications, such as through the company email.

Part of the efficient communication process should involve building a communications plan stipulating the kind of message that should be sent out, via what channels and on which dates. For instance, you can make an official announcement via the company’s intranet five weeks before GSuite Apps deployment about the change to Apps. This should be followed by an official customized GSuite Apps printed poster a week later (four weeks before deployment); after which, you can make a training announcement on the same week. Your communication plan should be to keep the message constant, timely and effective.

Effective communication will ensure that the GSuite Apps migration is not assumed to be another “I.T thing.” You should, therefore, make sure that the CEO or someone of authority is the one tasked with communicating this important information to the company’s employees.

Change Management Activity 2:
GSuite Apps hands-on-training

Your employees probably have years of experience working with their current software tools, so when you request them to adopt GSuite Apps, you will be removing them from their comfort zones, which can yield anger. To avoid such occurrences empower your employees with GSuite Apps hands-on-training.

Training your employees on how to use GSuite Apps will help them understand the benefits and features of this software; it will also help improve communications, and the acceptance of the GSuite Apps implementation process. Also, once your team does a road-test of GSuite Apps, they will be more efficient, more productive and even happier.

Users can get a variety of training resources from the GSuite Apps Learning Center.

You should consider developing an elaborate training plan to help you manage this training effectively. The plan should include the training courses to be offered, based on user experience and on what dates. The plan must also identify a training format for each course, for instance, self-study or classroom. The plan should also identify a trainer and a particular location where training will be conducted. For example, a course on Delegated Gmail and Calendar is mostly important for administrative assistants, and learning can be in the form of eLearning, self-study or classroom. This course can be taught a week before launching GSuite Apps.

You should also consider developing a training calendar, which stipulates the course and the training times. This calendar should also allow your employees to acquire the necessary information they need about GSuite Apps by simply clicking on their assigned training courses; doing this will make your employees feel empowered, and they will be motivated to learn on their own.

Change Management Activity 3:
Develop An Ongoing GSuite Change Impact Plan

There is usually an impact/effect to any change. So, when you are changing to the GSuite Apps system, it is important to prepare for any effects of this change. For instance, there is bound to be new policies on new mail retention especially when there was no such policy previously.

In order to eliminate the challenges associated with ‘change impacts’, you should consider developing a change impact plan. This plan should help you proactively address the effects of the GSuite Apps migration to your organization’s policies or processes. You should also consider working with other stakeholders to identify these change impacts, and how to effectively address them. A helpful change impact plan should:

• Identify the likely effects/impacts of the GSuite Apps switch.

• Outline an effective action plan to address the impact.

• Identify and assign a relevant authority (person) to implement the action plan.

There are many benefits of moving to GSuite Apps, but your company may not experience these benefits if the migration and implementation process of Apps are not carried out efficiently. To ensure that you gain from GSuite Apps, make sure that you address both the technology part and the social part of the GSuite Apps migration process, by using an effective change management plan. Utilize the above Change Management Activity Planning tips to capitalize on your move to GSuite Apps.