As a Microsoft Cloud Partner focused on small businesses and Office 365, we approached the announced April 30th shutdown of Office Live Small Business (OLSB) with equal measures of excitement and trepidation. Excitement because Office 365 really is a better platform for a small business - trepidation because we expected a large number of OLSB customers began using the service because it was free and we weren't certain what their reaction would be when it came time to transition.
We began promoting our support offerings early in 2012, but interest really began to pick up in late February. One thing that made a difference for the transitioning businesses is that we provided our phone number. So they called. Some had questions, some had complaints, some just wanted to know why something free was being "taken away from them". We were sympathetic, and expressed gratitude for the time that it was free...and then focused on the strength of the new Office 365 platform for enterprise-grade capabilities at a price small businesses can afford. Better collaboration as a means to drive extraordinary productivity gains for small businesses; it can be a real game-changer for those that adopt early.
Some understood the message; and we continue to work with them today to exploit these new capabilities. We are on a journey together. We can teach them how to work with the tools - but the real excitement comes from the success generated by a creative application of the tools to drive sustainable results.
Congratulations with successfully transitioning so many small businesses to the new platform! I'm impressed by Lucidpointe's willingness to not only manage the technology, but also support the small business leaders as they faced this disruptive period.
ReplyDeleteThe key lesson? As you stated so well - "Better collaboration can drive extraordinary productivity gains and it can be a real game-changer for those that adopt early."