There’s no denying that Google Workspace has the tools your company needs to boost productivity and improve enterprise collaboration. The key, however, is knowing how to use these collaboration tools. While you may already use and benefit from some of these tools every day in your enterprise, you may find that there’s a knowledge gap that keeps your company from leveraging the full benefits of Google Workspace.
Home Shopping Service, a subsidiary of Groupe M6, was initially created as a teleshopping network, but has since expanded its e-commerce services. Today, HSS covers several different business segments, including the commercialization of both household and personal goods, operated by company brands M6 Boutique and Leon’s Corner along with subsidiary Best of TV. With several distinct sites in France, the company has over 200 employees. Revevol has worked with the company since 2009 when we helped migrate HSS users to Google Workspace.
The challenge: staying up to date with Google Workspace
Nearly a decade has passed since 2009 and there have been countless evolutions in Google Workspace’s collaboration software. Not to mention, Home Shopping Service has grown significantly as a company. With a constant influx of new employees, new arrivals were not trained on or aware of everything that could be done with Google Workspace tools. The majority of employees were therefore either not optimizing the collaboration platform or not using the tools at all. We interviewed IT Director Olivier de Montalembert who identified the company’s need for intervention:
“We wanted adoption of these tools to come from [the employees’] own initiatives, for everyone to be up to date on Google Workspace’s possibilities…and for it to become a reflex for them.”
Our solution: Google Week****
As a valued partner of Google since 2007, Revevol has been helping companies get the most out of Google Workspace for over 10 years. Google Week is our solution for customized, high-quality Google Workspace training led by our network of certified trainers and change management team. We offer unique modules and training sessions adapted to your company’s needs in order to improve Google Workspace adoption and ensure users are leveraging the full potential of Google Workspace for effective collaboration. If you’d like a refresher, here’s everything you need to know.
For HSS, the choice was simple. After recent updates to the Google Workspace interface, Olivier noted that employees weren’t using even 25% of the functionalities available to them. The company wanted to find a user training solution, but lacked the internal resources to do it alone.
“Google Week was exactly what we had in mind…something ‘fun’, with small, customized and flexible modules.”
Employees did not need to block off their days during the training week, they simply came to the training sessions they chose based on their needs and what they were looking to improve. The open, yet structured format was what appealed to the company.
“Revevol’s team prepared all the training content, and was very clear from the onset on what would be delivered.”
The approach in a nutshell
Revevol worked directly with HSS team members to prepare training modules that best responded to the company’s needs, and their learning gap on Google Workspace. We prepared training modules for Google Sheets, Gmail, Calendar, Slides, and Docs, as we decided these were the tools that could really be leveraged to boost employee productivity, and these were the areas we were not yet optimizing. Revevol also prepared several games, including a Google Workspace treasure hunt where employees were challenged to answer clues to find the hidden “treasure” using different Google Workspace tools.
The strategy was to provide adapted and adaptable content in the context of a fun yet informative week.
“Including games and promoting Google Week as a sort of an enterprise-wide event really made it appealing to our employees, and got them excited and involved.”
Our value add: flexibility is key
Revevol’s team took care of all preparation, content, and scheduling of modules, with project managers accompanying HSS teams throughout the process.
“We discussed and designed the basis together with Revevol, but they remained flexible throughout the entire process and adapted the modules depending on the attendees.”
Users simply had to sign up on the calendar with the links provided, so each employee had his/her own personal agenda. Gamification kept the modules light and fun for users, while pre-prepared surveys helped us gather feedback from participants of each session. The Google Week format typically uses several short training modules, which allows us to hone in on specific topics.
“No two sessions were identical, plus each trainer has his/her own style or technique.”
The result: awareness + interest = action
The company’s IT Director expressed how pleased he was by the interest his employees took in Google Week:
“Everyone was genuinely curious about a subject (technology) that had never before been of interest to them, which was exciting to see. Some people even took the same training module twice!”
75% of HSS employees attended at least one session, while each module was at least 80% full.
The essential is that these employees now have a comprehensive knowledge of how Google Workspace can be used on a daily basis. Employees are now saving time every day having improved simple tasks like managing their agendas with Calendar, better managing email exchanges, document sharing on Drive, or collaborating on Docs, Sheets and Slides.
“Our usage of slides evolved more than anything else. It has quickly become our primary tool for all company presentations, which saves us a lot of time.”
Before, he explained, employees were using PowerPoint: downloading the slides from an email attachment, adding contributions, then re-attaching and sending back via email.
“Now, we no longer have the issue of ‘Who has this document open? Can you please close so I can edit?’ that we always had working on our local server.”
Revevol created a game where each person could come up with a transformation plan, a concrete case of how an action could be simplified using Google Workspace’s productivity tools. Seeing employees participate encouraged others to do the same, and the act of thinking about different use cases helped the employees put their ideas into effect.
“Now we’re seeing firsthand how processes have improved.”
While the use cases may be simple, often taking no more than a couple minutes to realize, (i.e. uploading a file to Drive for real time collaboration), they are still crucial to our everyday work environment.
“They had to be aware of the [use cases] in the first place, and that’s what Google Week enabled. These aren’t complicated tools, everyone can do it. But it helps to know how.“
Employees surveyed at HSS were equally as enthralled: 91% said they were satisfied with the training overall, while 64% said the new Google Workspace knowledge has had a positive impact on the way they work.
The secret: make it fun
Learning new technology can only be successful if fully embraced by your employees. With Google Week, our gamification techniques are designed to make sure your employees enjoy themselves while learning, and that they take genuine interest in the content. For HSS, the Google Week experience, followed by a special awards ceremony for those having participated in the different games, served as a team-building experience for the enterprise:
“The week felt like a special occasion for all of us, like something fun was going on in the office… It really brought our employees together. To see this level of curiosity, willingness, and implication from our employees for the occasion, this is what really made Google Week special.”
ABOUT M6 Group
Industry:Media
Location:France
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