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"This white paper presents the results of a Forrester Research
study commissioned by Microsoft to help IT organizations considering Office 2007
adoptions anticipate the impact of the new
Fluent user interface on their end users.
The results are based on an online survey of 749
IT decision-makers from companies
piloting or deploying
Microsoft Office 2007."
Source : Microsoft
Microsoft Office Fluent User Interface: IT Decision-maker Perception
User Interface is also known as :
User Interface Design,
User Interface Engineering,
User Interface Tools,
User Interface Domain,
User Interface Library,
Web User Interface,
Graphical User Interface,
User Interface Testing,
Free User Interface,
User Interface Software,
User Interface Prototypes,
Top User Interface,
User Interface Process,
User Interface Application,
Office User Interface,
User Interface Techniques,
New User Interface,
User Interface Issues,
Innovative User Interface.
Introduction
In November 2006, Microsoft made its new version of the Microsoft Office system, including the
popular suite of applications that includes Excel, Word, Outlook, and PowerPoint, available to the
public. This release represents the most significant change to the company’s Office productivity
package since Microsoft Office 1997. Changes include the new Microsoft Office Fluent user
interface, improved integration of desktop tools, and the introduction of a host of Microsoft
SharePoint-based collaboration and enterprise content management server capabilities.
While the Fluent user interface promises significant benefits to the end user, the changes that have
been made to the UI may raise questions among IT managers evaluating or planning Office
migrations. IT managers not familiar with the new user interface may ask questions such as:
- What kind of benefits can I expect end users within my organization to receive?
- What impact will the Fluent user interface have on the productivity of end users?
- What IT help desk and training support capabilities do I need to have to support the Fluent
user interface?
Microsoft commissioned this study to provide answers to these questions, and to help IT
organizations considering Office 2007 adoptions anticipate the impact that the Fluent user interface
may have on their end users.
The primary findings from the study include:
- IT decision-makers report that users react positively to the benefits of the Fluent user
interface.
- Many organizations experience a short-term decline in end user productivity, but believe
the benefits outweigh the challenges.
- Most IT decision-makers did not see a substantial increase in IT desktop resource demand.
- The majority of IT decision-makers use in-house training and self-service to support their
deployments.
Study Methodology
In this study, Forrester Consulting conducted an online survey of 749 IT decision-makers from
companies piloting or deploying Microsoft Office 2007. These decision-makers qualified for the
survey based on their role in defining IT strategy, choosing IT vendors, and authorizing IT
purchases. All respondents identified themselves as having requisite knowledge to comment about
their company’s general use of Office programs, including the approximate number of end users
working on Office 2007, the overall experience with the Fluent user interface, end user training and
support requirements, and potential productivity gains experienced by the company.
Additional information about the study methodology and interview respondents is provided in the
Appendix.
Study Findings
Overall, the survey results show that IT decision-makers express positive sentiments about the
Fluent user interface benefits. Respondents cite the “greater access to features and functions,” the
“improved look and feel,” and the ease in creating “high-quality documents” as the most recognized
benefits. For most organizations, end user productivity falls slightly for a period of a few weeks and
returns to previous levels or improves as end users become familiar with the new user experience.
IT organizations experience limited increases in help desk call volumes and IT support staff
requirements associated with the new Fluent user interface. While just more than half of all
organizations surveyed experienced an increase in help desk call volume, the majority of these
respondents characterized the volume increase as “minimal” or “moderate.” More than two-thirds of
respondents had not added IT staff to support end user transitions to the new user experience.
Companies rely primarily on in-house and self-service training methods, such as online training, to
support end users. The majority of companies do not require their users to take mandatory training.
Though most respondents were not distinguishing between “general” and “advanced” users in their
training programs, Forrester Consulting believes that this may be a beneficial practice for
organizations considering Office 2007 deployments.
1. IT decision-makers report that users react positively to the benefits of the
Fluent user interface.
Forrester Consulting asked respondents to indicate the level at which they agreed with a series of
statements about the Fluent user interface. The strongest agreement among survey respondents
related to access to new features and functions, the improved look and feel of the interface, and the
ease with which respondents are able to create high-quality documents. More than 86% of
respondents agree or strongly agree with statements related to these benefits (see Figure 1).
Figure 1: Benefits Statements About The Office 2007 User Interface
“Please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with the following statement(s) about
the new user interface.”
“End users say that the new user interface . . .”
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft
Forrester Consulting believes that the improvements users have experienced in terms of
functionality are primarily a result of the new “Ribbon” — the banner at the top of the desktop
applications — that consolidates the toolbars and menus found in previous versions and displays
functions and commands. The Ribbon allows users to more easily access a number of common
and high-value commands related to document publishing, spreadsheet formatting, and graphics
creation. This effectively exposes users to functions and commands that, while available, may have
been less accessible to the average user in previous versions of Office.
In addition to the Ribbon, Microsoft has made several changes to the core functions applicable to
more advanced users, such as Excel pivot tables and PowerPoint charting. The value of these new
features and functions is likely reflected in the positive responses to the statement about the end
user’s ability to more easily create high-quality documents.
2. Many organizations experience a short-term decline in end user
productivity, but believe the benefits outweigh the challenges.
Though respondents were generally positive about the benefits associated with the Fluent user
interface, the data show that there may be a short period of reduced productivity in which end users
adjust to the changed user experience. Commands that have become second nature to some users
may be in new locations, resulting in an initial period of relearning. As a result of the user-interfacerelated
changes, it was not surprising to see “Is easy to learn” and “Requires less time to
accomplish the same tasks” at the bottom of the list of benefits listed in Figure 1.
Despite the time required to adjust, however, Forrester Consulting believes that the learning curve
will be short term for most end users. When asked how long it took for the average worker to
become as productive as with previous versions of Office, 52.8% of respondents indicated that it
took two weeks or less, and 4.9% of respondents said that end users did not experience a decline
in productivity at all.
A small group of respondents believe that the relearning process will take longer: 11.7% of
respondents said that it has taken longer than six weeks for the average user to become as
productive as with previous versions.
Figure 3: Productivity Among New Users
“Please estimate the number of weeks it has taken the average worker at your company to achieve
the same level of productivity he or she had with the previous version of Microsoft Office.”
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft
While the exact time frame for attaining previous levels of productivity will vary by end user, the vast
majority of respondents are positive about the overall benefits of the new user interface. When
asked whether the benefits of the new interface outweigh the challenges, 84.4% agreed or strongly
agreed (see Figure 4).
Figure 4: Benefits Versus Challenges
“Please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with the following statement about the
new user interface.”
For the majority of endusers
within my
organization, the
advantages associated
with the new user
interface have
outweighed the
challenges
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft
3. Most IT decision-makers did not see a substantial increase in IT desktop
resource demand.
To understand the impact that the Fluent user interface changes had on IT organizations, we asked
a series of questions related to help desk call volume, IT support staff, and ease-of-deployment
compared with previous versions of Microsoft Office.
Forrester Consulting found that most organizations did experience an increase in help desk call
volume, but this increase was not typically characterized as significant. Of the 55.4% of
respondents who said they experienced an increase in help desk call volume, 81.5% characterized
the increase as “minimal” or “moderate” (less than 10%) (see Figure 5). Almost 10% of the overall
respondent set characterized their increase in help desk call volume as “substantial” (greater than
10%). While Forrester Consulting did not specifically ask how long the increase in call volume
lasted within organizations, we can infer that help desk call volumes rise primarily during the initial
period of reduced end user productivity (zero to four weeks for most organizations), as highlighted
in Figure 3.
Figure 5: Help Desk Call Volume Requirements
“Has your organization seen an increase in IT help desk call volume related specifically to use of
the 2007 Office user interface among end users? Please assess the level of increase in IT help
desk call volume your organization has experienced.”
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft
The level of IT staff support that organizations added to support the new UI varied. More than twothirds
of respondents indicated that they had not added staff specifically to support the new user
interface (see Figure 6). For those companies that had added staff, Forrester Consulting asked
respondents to characterize the type of staff that had been added. 55.1% indicated that they had
added full-time staff, while 41.5% indicated that they had added part-time staff (multiple responses
could be selected).1
1 Based on experience in previous research regarding Office 2007, Forrester believes that some respondents may still have
had difficulty distinguishing between staff added to support installation/integration and staff hired specifically to support the
new user interface.
Figure 6: Additional IT Staff Requirements
“Has your organization added IT staff (temporary or full-time) specifically to support users as they
begin using the new user interface? Please indicate the type of staff your organization has added to
support the transition to the 2007 Office user interface.”
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft
To examine the impact that stage-of-deployment has on IT support requirements, we cut the data
responses to several help-desk-related questions by the company’s stage of deployment (pilot
underway, pilot completed, partially deployed, fully deployed). We found that respondents from
companies with pilots completed were more likely to say that the new user interface requires
extended IT support staff hours and additional IT staffing requirements than other respondents (see
Figure 7). The percentage of respondents saying that extended hours were required was more than
14.5% higher at companies with pilots completed than at companies that had completed their full
deployments. A similar trend is apparent among companies that have added IT staff specifically to
support the transition to the new user interface. In this case, the percentage of respondents that
indicated they added IT support staff was 13.4% higher for companies with pilot deployments
completed than for the fully deployed companies.
Figure 7: IT Support Requirements By Stage Of Deployment
“Has the transition to the new user interface
required extended IT support staff hours
(temporary or full-time)?” (“Yes” responses)
“Has your organization added IT staff
(temporary or full-time) specifically to support
users as they begin using the new user
interface?” (“Yes” responses)
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft
These findings are not surprising when put in the context of other findings from this study,
particularly the findings related to initial productivity declines. It is likely that companies with pilots
completed experienced some user-interface-related disruption during their pilot programs and are
now planning for a higher level of disruption as they prepare their companies for deployment. These
companies may be in the process of adding resources to support their organizational deployments
and are likely to be conservatively estimating their support needs. As highlighted in Figure 3, the
period of disruption with the Fluent user interface is typically short-term in nature, which may explain
why the percentages in Figure 7 fall among companies that have completed their deployments. The
data suggest that as companies deploy Office 2007, they find that they do not need as much
additional IT resources as planned and so scale back accordingly.
Overall, the results show that IT call volume increases and changed staffing requirements were not
substantial enough to give respondents a negative impression of the new user interface. 84.1% of
respondents indicated that the new user interface “does not represent a significant obstacle” to the
deployment of Office 2007 (see Figure 8).
Figure 8: The Fluent User Interface And Deploying Office 2007 Applications
“Please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with the following statement about the
new user interface.”
The new user
interface does not
represent a significant
obstacle to deploying
the 2007 Microsoft
Office applications
within my
organization
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft
4. The majority of IT decision-makers use in-house training and self-service
to support their deployments.
Forrester asked several questions to understand what kind of training programs were most used,
whether training programs were mandatory, and how training programs differed among employees
with different levels of experience on Office.
The questions revealed that, for the most part, companies do not rely on mandatory training. Of the
companies that do provide some training to their end users, 55.4% say that training is not
mandatory for any end users within their companies. For companies with mandatory training, we
asked what type of training they provided to employees (see Figure 9). “In-person training,
developed within the company” was the most popular response, selected by 58.7% of respondents.
Almost 56% of respondents said that they rely on Microsoft’s online training tools (multiple
responses accepted). Less popular on the list of training options were training options from thirdparty
sources, such as online training tools other than Microsoft’s, and in-person training from
outside vendors.
Figure 9: Type Of Training Used By Survey Respondents
“Please indicate which of the following types of training your company provides to 2007 Office
users: (select all that apply).”
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft
Differences Between General And Advanced Users
As a follow-up to the more general questions about training requirements, Forrester Consulting
asked whether training varied by the level of experience of end users. In previous research
concerning Office 2007 adoption, we have found that “advanced” end users may be the most
affected by the new user experience, since many commands that have become second nature to
these advanced users may be in new locations and will therefore require some relearning among
end users. In this study, Forrester Consulting asked a series of questions in which respondents
were asked to distinguish between the training required for “general” users2 and the training
required for “advanced” users.3 While we expected to see some noticeable differences between the
types of training used for these different types of end users, there was little distinction in the data
between these user groups (see Figure 10).
2 In this study, Forrester Consulting defined “general” users as including basic or intermediate 2007 Office users who use a
variety of Office applications and basic Office applications and features. This group may use some advanced features, but
expert proficiency with the Office applications is not a job requirement.
3 In this study, Forrester defined “advanced” users (also considered “production” users) as those users who generally use one
or two Office applications as a primary tool to get their work done. Examples include financial analysts using Excel,
PowerPoint production staff, technical writers, or legal assistants using Word. High levels of competency with one or more
Office application is considered a key job requirement for these users.
Figure 10: Training Among “General” And “Advanced” End Users
“For each of the following user types, please
select which describes your organization’s use
of mandatory training programs.”
“Please indicate which types of training are
mandatory for the following user types.”
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft
While there are several explanations for the similarity in the data related to “general” users and
“advanced” users, it is not clear that organizations are distinguishing among types of end users in
their training programs. Since more advanced users may have the most to gain from structured
training sessions (due to their heavy reliance on Microsoft Office), we believe distinguishing
between “general” and “advanced” users, and designing training accordingly, is a potential best
practice for organizations considering deployments.
To understand whether stage of deployment has any impact on a company’s perception of training
requirements, we cut the amount of training time recommended by each respondent company’s
stage of deployment (see Figure 11). The results show that as companies move through their
deployments, the hours recommended for mandatory training falls.
Figure 11: Recommended Training Time, By Stage Of Deployment
“On average, how many hours of training do you expect general and advanced users to need as
they transition to the new user interface?”4
Source: A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Microsoft
More research is required to fully understand this decline, but the finding is consistent with the
primary findings in this study. IT decision-makers that are piloting or have just completed pilots of
Office 2007 may initially be concerned about the level of disruption that the new user interface will
cause. Consistent with the other data in this study, however, the length of this disruption is typically
short-term in nature and limited to a few weeks. Companies that have partially deployed or
deployed Office 2007 may have benefited from the return to productivity, and may consequently
have a higher level of confidence that fewer hours of training are required.
Differences Between Mandatory And Non-Mandatory Training Time
Forrester noticed a significant difference in the hours of training recommended by companies with
mandatory training programs and companies without mandatory training. As Figure 11 indicates,
the average amount of recommended training time at companies with mandatory training is 11.2
hours. When Forrester asked respondents at companies without mandatory training programs how
many hours they recommended their users take to get used to the new user interface, the average
response was only 6.9 hours.
The amount of hours recommended by IT managers is higher than Forrester Consulting expected
going into this study. Forrester Consulting believes that with some preliminary orientation and
access to some reasonable self-service training programs (such as online training) in place, the
average end user is not likely to need a full day or more of structured training to become
accustomed to the Fluent user interface. Survey respondents may have been conservative in their
estimates of hours (overestimating training requirements for the average user within their company),
or may have cited the total hours required to adjust to the new user interface, including all
troubleshooting, and extending over a period of more than several weeks.
4 Any responses of more than 40 hours removed from this analysis.
Still, the difference between companies with and without mandatory training is significant: The hours
of training recommended by companies with mandatory training programs in place is 62% higher
than the companies without mandatory training. While there are several possible explanations for
this difference (i.e., companies without mandatory training may be underestimating how much time
is required to train their end users, and vice versa), Forrester Consulting believes that companies
without formal training programs are likely to expect their users to “learn by doing.” Training is not a
high priority for these companies, and therefore fewer hours are recommended.
Conclusions
The data gathered in this study indicate that the Fluent user interface represents an improvement
for most organizations. Respondents cite the improved look and feel, greater access to features
and functionality, and the improved ability to create high-quality documents as primary benefits. The
vast majority of respondents said that the benefits of the new user interface outweigh the
challenges, and that the new user interface does not represent a significant obstacle to Office 2007
deployment.
Still, the improvements to Office 2007 depended on substantial changes to the user experience,
and the UI-related changes may present some initial challenges for individual end users. IT
managers considering deployments of Office 2007 can expect to experience a transition period that
is short-term in nature but requires a moderate level of additional resources. This study showed that
the majority of companies saw an increase in call volume related to the new user interface, and
almost one-third of organizations had added staff to support the transition. For most organizations
the period of transition appears to be temporary — approximately zero to four weeks — and the
increase in help desk call volume is minimal or moderate.
Forrester Consulting believes that organizations can learn from the experiences of those surveyed
to help reduce the level of disruption their organization may face in Office 2007 implementations.
- By carefully assessing the company’s reliance on the Microsoft Office Suite, and
segmenting end user groups accordingly, IT managers can create training programs that
are more efficient and effective. Companies that think a large segment of their user base is
heavily reliant on Microsoft Office for daily business activities may want to consider more
structured, in-depth training.
- By making self-service tools, such as online training, available to end users, IT
organizations can help users address many of the UI-related questions that they will face in
the first weeks of use. Integrating Microsoft’s tools into your own custom training materials
will allow your organization to provide training that is relevant and effective, and does not
cut into the daily productivity of employees.
- By creating clear consistent communication about upgrade plans and benefits of the new
user interface, companies can prepare users and generate excitement about the changes
to the interface. Users who understand the challenges they will need to overcome, and who
can envision the long-term benefits to be gained, are likely to be better positioned to
address challenges and move forward without heavy reliance on the IT organization.
Careful planning is the key to success in any transition. Companies that anticipate some short-term
challenges related to the new user interface, communicate the benefits of the transition to end
users, and create self-service training and support programs can keep the impact of the transition to
a minimum. For these organizations, the challenges associated with deployments of Office 2007
user interface should be minor in comparison to the benefits.
Appendix: Methodology Details
Methodology Overview
- The survey was conducted online through an online survey panel generated by Forrester
Consulting. No sample lists were provided by Microsoft.
- Forrester Consulting and Microsoft prepared study questions. Both Microsoft and Forrester
Consulting made efforts to keep survey questions objective. To provide objectivity,
Forrester maintained editorial control of the survey questions.
- Forrester Consulting maintained editorial control over presentation of results.
Respondent Overview
- Respondents in this study are defined by Forrester Consulting as “IT decision-makers,”
meaning that they have responsibility for defining IT strategy, choosing IT vendors, and
authorizing IT purchases.
- Panel respondents were invited to participate in this study based on their match with a
description of IT decision-maker characteristics created by Forrester Consulting.
- All respondents self-selected as having requisite knowledge of their company’s Microsoft
Office deployments to talk about their company’s approximate number of end users,
experience, training and support requirements, and productivity gains.
- 44.8% of respondents characterized themselves as the primary person in charge of
MSFT Office deployments at their companies.
Demographics And Other Respondent Detail
- Survey quotas were set based on company size:
- 25.2% from companies with 25 to 49 PCs.
- 25.8% from companies with 50 to 249 PCs.
- 49% of companies from 250+ PCs.
- Companies represented were at various stages of Office 2007 deployment:
- 41.9% of respondents were partially deployed.
- 9.3% had completed their pilot.
- 36% were partially deployed.
- 12.7% were fully deployed.
- To participate in the study, participants needed to be from companies with users of the
Microsoft Office 2007 outside of the IT organization (self-selected).
- 17% had fewer than 10 users.
- 31.5% had 10 to 49 users.
- 18.4% had 50 to 99 users.
- 17.1% had 100 to 1,000 users.
- 16.0% had 1,000+ users.
- Forrester Consulting asked all respondents how long their organizations had been using
Office 2007:
- 16.7%: less than one month.
- 41.8%: one to two months.
- 22.0%: two to three months.
- 9.3%: three to four months.
- 10.1%: more than four months.
- A cross-section of industry verticals was represented:
- Primary production and raw materials: 2.5%.
- Consumer products: 5.9%.
- Chemicals and petroleum: 1.7%.
- High tech products: 13.4%.
- Industrial products: 2.8%.
- Retail: 4.0%.
- Wholesale: 4.0%.
- Transportation and logistics: 3.1%.
- Professional services: 17.4%.
- Construction and engineering: 5.1%.
- Media, entertainment and leisure: 4.4%.
- Utilities: 1.5%.
- Telecom: 1.9%.
- Financial services: 8.1%.
- Insurance: 2.5%.
- Public services (healthcare, education, social, nonprofit): 14.7%.
- Public services (federal, state, and local government): 7.1%.
Table Of Contents
- Introduction
- Study Methodology
- Study Findings
- Conclusions
- Methodology Overview
- Respondent Overview
- Demographics And Other Respondent Detail
© 2007, Forrester Research, Inc. All rights reserved. Forrester, Forrester Wave, RoleView, Technographics, and Total
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