The world of business has evolved into an increasingly global, “always-on, always-connected” information-based economy. Today people must work together across geographical and organizational boundaries and make decisions based on vast amounts of information. Today’s organizations need more effective ways to communicate and collaborate with remote workers, satellite offices and international partners and customers. Virtual presentations, meetings and collaborative sessions have made it possible for people to connect across distances but until now these communication modes have been poor substitutes for face-to-face meetings. With the real-time collaboration features in the Windows Vista and 2007 Microsoft Office system, your people and teams can more easily and effectively work together across geographical boundaries and time zones.
These products redefines the desktop experience through a significantly enhanced user interface, a new graphics engine, better visualization capabilities and improved task management. But the 2007 and Vista release goes far beyond the desktop and personal productivity to deliver capabilities that can help you and your people truly impact business performance.
When planning the release of Windows Vista and the 2007 Microsoft Office system, Microsoft took on the challenge of making the core Microsoft Office applications and Windows Vista operating system easier to work with. Taking into account extensive usability data and recent advancements in hardware and software, the Microsoft team has delivered the most significant update to the Microsoft user interface in more than a decade. The result of these efforts is a user interface, although complex, should make it easier for people to get more out of the Microsoft applications so they can deliver better results - faster. With increased functionality, the Windows Vista and Office 2007 products have taken a huge leap forward in providing users with enormous capabilities, although these may present some necessary training.
With such a significant change to the user interface, in comparison to previous versions, end-user training will be required as part of IT’s plan to upgrade its systems to these versions. Traditionally Microsoft user related training has been channeled through HR and training managers with little input from IT. Training needs have been identified by either proactive performance reviews or reactively on a crisis basis. With such a colossal Microsoft upgrade, HR will be required to extend itself and ensure that they are aligned with their IT department’s strategy to ensure the successful delivery of training prior to going live on these new products.
IT departments planning on upgrading to Windows Vista and Office 2007 have a responsibility to include a component of training so that when they go live, productivity is increased as a result of the new technology, not decrease because of the lack of skills.
“Although both departments are often considered as cost centre’s, the very nature of its activities are the backbone of a business through its technology infrastructure and its people and should therefore be closer aligned.” comments Richard Rayne, Managing Director, On-Site Training.
Technology has become a ubiquitous form of our lives and therefore HR needs to be able to understand the business technology needs in order to better serve its people by ensuring that technology aids its employees daily activities, not hamper them. This will ensure that staff is better equipped, through training, with the skills to be able to operate productively without the frustration of trying to figure the software out.
“Generally people who use applications like Microsoft Word, Excel and Outlook are self-taught.” says Rayne. “It is only through an effective training solution that users will realize the benefit of using such applications to its full functionality. With such a major interface change, I believe your basic – average users are going to be blown out of the water, without training.”
| 
