Escaping the IT Silo

Executive Summary

Viva can be thought of as the Operating System for the Executive Committee. One of the biggest challenges facing Microsoft sales teams is selling Viva in areas beyond your deep IT relationships, but that is where its huge benefits reside... beyond the silo.

Over the years, we have perfected four techniques that you can select from to escape IT in any account:

1. Follow the Leader: Align with the topmost Strategic Project.
2. Become a Hero: Solve the IT Department's Problems.
3. Take the high ground: Gain Access to the Executive Committee.
4. Go around IT: Utilize PM2's Thought-Leadership and external status.

This blog sets you up for a discussion with the PM2 team to help you execute your selected approach.

The Sales Problem in a Bit More Detail

There are three key things to remember when selling Viva:

1. The Viva suite of modules helps any leadership team better execute strategy, engage employees, and drive better performance. These are very different benefits than the other Microsoft offerings and need to be sold in a different way.
2. Since Viva is a new and innovative offering, most organizations, let alone IT departments, do not know how to go about assessing or buying Viva.
3. Every executive is going to see different benefits from each Viva module - the sales process has to loop these different views into the same conversation.

Left unmanaged, these three factors leave the Viva sales process (and pilots) being downsized to narrow-scoped, lackluster projects that gradually fall below management's attention level.

Managed correctly, these same three factors are the leverage points to run an effective Viva sales program.

The Four Techniques

Now, let's delve into four effective approaches for selling Viva beyond the IT team (you can employ multiple techniques simultaneously):

1. Follow the Leader: Align with the top-most Strategic Project. Link the benefits of Viva to the biggest projects that are consuming most of IT's resources and managerial attention (e.g., Workday/SAP/CRM implementations). Since Viva is like a Swiss army knife, it offers diverse benefits and can be associated with any big project (at least we have not found one yet that we cannot connect to).

Linking Viva to their key initiatives significantly increases the likelihood of that project's success, enhances the reputation of IT, and, most importantly (for us), makes IT into a Raving Fan who will promote Viva across the organization and prove its benefits to the organization. To use this approach, do your research on what their key projects are, and PM2 will give you a list of benefits Viva can bring to those projects along with case studies, etc. We'll work with you on how to get these in front of the right stakeholders in your prospect's organization.

2. Become a Hero: Solve the IT Department's Problems. Use Viva to address your sponsor's own (IT) strategic and modern work challenges. By solving their issues, you transform IT into a passionate advocate who internalizes how Viva drives performance.

To use this approach, do your research into what their key operational issues are. You'll find that they often fit into one or more of three broad categories:

• Proving that they are adding value to the corporation (not just cost).
• The ability to manage IT projects with greater fidelity than is provided by traditional project management techniques and financial reporting.
• They need to quickly onboard new employees, develop existing employees, and build employee engagement to aid better productivity.

Once you understand their pain points, please reach out to us, and we will give you some talking points on how to help your prospect understand where Viva can help dissolve their operational issues.

3. Take the high ground: Gain Access to the Executive Committee. Leverage Viva to "level-up" your relationship by solving the Executive Committee's issues. Viva is effectively the "operating system" for any leadership team - whether that is at the corporate level, departmental level, product level, etc. In every case, these leadership teams have the challenge of executing their strategy - which includes clearly articulating it, assigning responsibilities and timelines, monitoring performance, and doing everything they can to close any performance gaps. This is what Viva does!

Chances are your sponsor has sat through meetings where the Executive Committee has openly discussed issues that Viva can quickly solve, and if solved, improve employee engagement and productivity. IT can gain great credibility by providing the Executive Committee with solutions to these problems.

You gain both by the incremental sales, but also by broadening your footprint in the organization. Furthermore, whoever owns the Executive Committee owns the organization. Make sure it is Microsoft! To use this approach, interview as many senior IT people as you can to understand what the broader organization's issues are. PM2 can then help you in several ways to gain the attention of these many executives and move the Viva sale forward.

4. Go around IT: Utilize PM2's Thought-Leadership and external status. Use PM2's Thought-Leadership and external status to directly access individuals whom IT (or the gatekeeper) is preventing you from reaching. By leveraging your connections and our credentials, PM2 can go directly to your other contacts without damaging your relationship. Once we have established the beachhead, we will introduce your team to the opportunity. To use this approach, we need to talk with you about your contacts and their possible needs. We can take it from there. We will keep you updated on a weekly basis on how the strategy is going, and jointly we will fine-tune the campaign as we move forward.

If you're ready to move beyond the IT Silo and harness the potential of Microsoft Viva for your sales success, don't hesitate to reach out to us. We're here to help you achieve your goals. Just give us a call.

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