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When the Tasmanian Perpetual Trustees Ltd decided to move to Lotus Notes, they engaged our services to assist implement the software and conduct user training.
At the conclusion of the implentation, we interviewed David Mills, TPTL's CIO.
[matnewman.com] What were your major reasons for moving to Lotus Notes?
Applications – we identified Domino as cost-effective platform to facilitate implementation of electronic document management and workflow applications
[matnewman.com] What were your users initial reactions upon learning they were switching from Microsoft Outlook?
“Why do we need to move?”; “Will my email and contacts be copied across?”; “What is Lotus Notes?”,
[matnewman.com] Did your users have any opinions or perceptions of Lotus Notes prior to the roll-out?
Mixed perceptions – mostly fear of the unknown. Some users had had exposure through past employers and as a result had some good and bad perceptions. Drilling down on this it appeared the bad perceptions were related to very early versions of Lotus Notes or poor implementations or poor applications used that didn’t meet their needs. Ie Things to keep in mind or TPTL implementations but nothing to deter decision.
[matnewman.com] What options for user education did you consider before deciding to implement Instructor Lead Training conducted by Mat Newman?
Very little time was spent considering use of methods other than face-to-face training as I strongly believe there is no real effective substitute for this. Use of Mat Newman’s services in the past through a previous employer highly influenced this – (we) had achieved very positive results.
[matnewman.com] What were your major reasons for employing Instructor Lead Training in preference to other methods?
The change, in the eyes of the users, was significant hence needed to ‘sell’ the move. The use of a highly-skilled Lotus Notes trainer would ensure the knowledge required to answer all user questions was available.
We had a lot of material to cover and needed it expose all staff (~100) to this in a condensed timeframe – 4 weeks leading up to changeover. Instructor lead training ensured we could set the schedule and pace to get this complete.
An experienced and enthusiastic instructor, such as Mat Newman, also helps keep the interest up of the attendee.
[matnewman.com] Did you have any professional experience or knowledge of Mat Newman prior to your roll-out?
(I) Had extensively used Mat in a prior organisation to delivery training to our National user-base. Personally I do not think you would find a more qualified and enthusiastic Lotus Notes trainer. He lives and breaths Lotus Notes and this is reflected in his product knowledge and the energy he puts into delivering the “Yellow” message.
[matnewman.com] What were your users impressions of the Training undertaken?
Very positive – from the MD down we had very positive feedback. The comments we solicited through a session survey reflected this and reinforced the comments I made regarding Mat’s competence. Also, reinforced my recommendation to conduct instructor lead training.
[matnewman.com] How successful would you rate your roll-out of Lotus Notes?
With 4 weeks since cut-over now behind us, I can say that overall our move to Lotus Notes went very well. Our end-users required little or no additional training to that provided in the formal sessions.
[matnewman.com] To what degree do you attribute the Training undertaken to the success of your Lotus Notes roll-out?
Training was paramount to the success of this roll-out.
[matnewman.com] Following the roll-over date you used Mat to provide 1-1 coaching to all you staff, did this service have any benefits?
Mat was used at roll-out just to do the rounds of our branches over a few days to provide any assistance where needed. This presence assisted with ensuring the users didn’t think we simply rolled out a new application and ignored the impact on them.
[matnewman.com] What are your users current perceptions of Lotus Notes ?
Not hearing too many complaints so must be good!
[matnewman.com] Thank-you David
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