Stress-free transition from Skype to Microsoft Teams, like Théa Pharma

 

Thea is an independent pharmaceutical laboratory specialized in research, development, and marketing of ophthalmic products in 70 countries.

Théa officially switched from Skype Enterprise to Microsoft Teams in July 2020. Aware of Teams’ rich functionalities beyond simple unified communication, this switchover project required a global reflection on how the tool would be used, deployed, and managed. Being a new and disruptive tool in the working environment, it was unthinkable for Théa to implement Teams without extra support. They needed a well-defined framework from IT and simplified uses for employees facing a complex change of habits.

Challenges

Operating in a multinational environment, with over 28 subsidiaries and working with many external providers, collaborating simply, securely, and with the new practices Teams brought seemed complex. Therefore, establishing governance and simplifying uses were two determining conditions for deploying Microsoft Teams..

 

Objectives

To ensure the success of this launch and the sustainability of the digital workplace, Théa chose Powell Teams. Primarily for its intuitive, easy-to-use nature and its ability to meet the needs of both IT and end users.

 

Results & Impact

For IT Departments

Define governance & secure best practices

The IT department wanted to create something simple, with rules that were easy to follow. Powell Governance made it possible to put them in place and standardize the Teams environment. Naming conventions, categories, and predefined owner best practices help avoid complex management across all 31 subsidiaries.

It only took a few days to master the tool, define the governance and apply it to the entire group

Deployment

After organizing the group by country, subsidiary, and department in a file, we deployed the corresponding Team templates and added users to each team. This allowed us to maintain control and structure to stay efficient and avoid complicated searches. Business units are free to create and use the templates provided to carry out projects without needing training on Powell Governance.

For Business departments

Simplifying uses

The aim was to dust off old working methods, modernize them, and make collaborative processes more efficient. Powell Teams has facilitated change by enabling departments to collaborate instantly and effortlessly. This is a real asset in promoting the adoption of Team spaces, mainly because the tool and its methods are new. The pre-designed Team templates made available to users save them from spending time creating each Team. They don’t need to know anything about the tool and can concentrate on collaborating with colleagues. The advantage is that these templates also incorporate business applications like Planner for task management or OneNote for centralizing information. Having these integrated into the templates makes them visible. This has helped employees to become aware of the apps and use them to their full potential.

Use cases

Each country and department have access to guided Team templates specific to their use and pre-designed templates for projects.

Conclusion 

Théa Pharma’s successful transition from Skype to Microsoft Teams, facilitated by Powell Governance, demonstrates that migrating to Teams doesn’t have to be a daunting task. By focusing on governance, simplifying the user experience, and providing robust IT support, Théa Pharma not only switched tools but also significantly improved collaboration and communication across its global operations. The impressive results, including increased adoption of Teams workspaces and progress in cross-functional collaboration, highlight the effectiveness of a well-planned and supported transition.