Pre-Rollout Communications Program

Available only with Mentor™ purchases

Most of us don't like change, especially disruptions to our basic ways of working. And that make problems for software rollouts and migrations. User resistance slows down rollouts, raises their cost, and stresses the organization. To get them behind you, and get on to better things, you need to turn that resistance into motivation, and people's fears into comfort. You need your users not only to accept the change, but to embrace it and assimilate it quickly.

Can that really be done? To a large degree, Yes. And how? The way all motivation is done: by communication. You need to tell people about the change as early as possible, explain its benefits for them personally, and show them how they'll get help when they need it. If they understand these things, and why you've chosen to make the move in the first place, you can expect a lot more cooperation and acceptance of the change.

And you can do all of this without interfering with their work. That's important, because after all, a drain on productivity is the worst, most expensive "change" of all.

Sound too simple?

With Mentor's Pre-Rollout Communications Program it actually is very simple. We created the first one five years ago, so we've had lots of user experience and customer feedback to put into our latest designs. They're by far the most effective, lowest cost pre-rollout tools available from any source.

A series of three emails goes out to every user over a period of about one to two weeks. (And there's a one-email version for those who want to minimize broadcasts.) They announce the arrival of the new software, discuss its features, and contain links to brief multimedia presentations from the corresponding Mentor that show people the new elements, benefits, and more importantly, the new user interface. They can see demonstrations of how the software's main components work, how to get started using it, how to accomplish some basic tasks with it, and how to work with some of its more advanced functionality.

The last email shows them how to use Mentor-when they have a questions, want to do something new, or forget something they've done before. They can see that when they're working with the new system and have questions, they don't have to call the help desk, search through manuals, bother a colleague, or waste time pushing buttons to figure it out for themselves. They'll know that they can turn to Mentor, get the answer quickly, and get on with their work. That allays a lot of fears, reduces the grumble factor, and therefore makes your life a lot easier.

The Pre-Rollout Communications Programs, sold only with their corresponding Mentors, are available for the following software:

Lotus Notes 6
Lotus Notes R5
Outlook 2002
Lotus Domino Web Access
Lotus Sametime 3.0
Lotus QuickPlace 3.0

To find out more about the Pre-Rollout Communications Program, to purchase it, or to discuss developing a custom version for your software, drop us a line at sales@trymentor.com, or call us at 203.847.5555.