It also fosters a closer relationship between IT and workers that want to use the latest tech. On the flip side, it makes preparing for new technologies easier and allows IT to be better prepared when those technologies are officially released. IT staffers will need to develop a close working relationship with these users and will need to actively solicit their input, advice, and feedback. The approach requires a bit of a culture shift for many organizations. That gives IT a greater ability to prepare, both in terms of updating apps and in terms of developing support and user-facing resource material. They can see which apps have issues, which workflows need to change, and report back on any general support issues. If you recruit beta users, they can do much of that testing for you. That means you have a limited window of opportunity to vet them now, test enterprise and key third-party apps with them, and build a knowledge base of issues your support teams may encounter.Īll of that is a tall order to pull off in the span of a few months with existing staff and all of it requires testing the betas. One of the challenges in today’s landscape is that it’s generally expected that IT departments are ready for new technologies to walk in the door the day they're officially released. You can actually recruit these users as helpful allies. Ideally, it will be on a secondary device, though some people will probably still install on their primary device. As a result, most organizations will encounter the public beta at some point this summer. Like most early adopters, many of these beta testers will likely be somewhat tech savvy, though their savviness may vary. And be sure to note the potential impact to personal tasks they rely on that device to accomplish. Explain that, yes, they will get to use new features before anyone else - but also that there may be challenges that could impact the ability to do their job if they install on their primary device. The best piece of advice here is to advise users that want to sign up as beta testers that they should do so using a secondary device instead of one they rely on for critical work and personal tasks.Ĭrafting a nuanced message is key, one that actually describes the challenges that they may encounter in a friendly, advisory manner yet doesn’t alienate those who want to be part of a beta program. Keep in mind that as mobile OSes have shifted much of the upgrade process to users, it's likely that you won't be able to stop everyone, particularly if they'>re installing on a device they own. Remind beta testers they're installing pre-release software So users who install unsupported software on work devices can lesd to support calls and employee downtime if they can't access core tools. Bugs, issues with existing apps, and confusion about new or altered functionality are often part of the beta-testing experience. But they do pose obvious challenges for IT, especially if beta testers install pre-release software on their primary devices that they use for work.
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