Up until about 5 years ago, I’d never used Microsoft Netmeeting, at least not in anger. I knew it was there, built right into Windows, but had never had a need to use it. Then I took a job at huge multinational company where I discovered Netmeeting was used extensively.

IT Support staff used the screen-sharing capabilities to take control of a user’s screen. Trainers used it to deliver 1:1 training sessions and demos and managers and others used it to deliver presentations to colleagues in far-away places.

I’m still at that company, now working for the IT Training team. The company has just finished a 6-month upgrade from Windows 2000/Office 2000 to Vista and Office 2007. Prior to the start of the rollout, our team delivered a number of pre-migration seminars, the purpose of which was to let users know about the rollout process and advise and educate them regarding new functionality on offer.

“Live Meeting and Office Communicator will be replacing Netmeeting”

They were OK with the Live Meeting bit – “Netmeeting on steroids” is how I explained it, but when it came to talking about Office Communicator, the instant messenger client, I would get comments such as

“I’m not using that”

“Can I turn it off?”

“I’ll never get any work done”

Yet, these same people are quite happy to use Yahoo IM, MSN and even SMS on their phone (during work time). Don’t they realise that Office Communicator is just another IM system?

Fast forward 6 months and guess what? Everyone loves OC! It’s being used in a responsible manner, users respect other user’s status setting (i.e. if you set your status to Do Not Disturb then chances are you won’t get disturbed unless it’s a dire emergency).

From a training and education point, one of the key areas is ensuring that users understand when to use email v when to use IM.

So what’s next? Well there’s a pilot running, which I’m part of, which will really bring us into the 21st century with webcams and VOIP.

Now where did I put my razor and hairbrush?

So does your company use Office Communicator? What training-related issues do you face? Is it revolutionizing the workplace? Please let us know via the Comments box below

Republished from I’ll Never Get Any Work Done at mthomas.co.uk

Available From: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/communicator/
Platform: Windows
Price: Available through Volume Licencing Only