I've been chatting about this with several of my peers at Gartner. (Recently, we published a major body of research on this subject - don't miss it and don't assume this personal blog post is a substitute for or summary of that work. It's not.) This post is a less-conclusive look at emerging concerns (and advice on) training and total cost of ownership (TCO) implications of migrating to Office 2007. I'm looking for input from you.

If you don't put a solid training and governance strategy in place, then you're going to be in trouble.

We think Windows SharePoint Services (WSS) is a natural upgrade from LAN file-shares. So much so that, by 2010, WSS will replace a majority of Windows-based, LAN file shares. (We expect explosive growth in WSS deployment and usage.) Enterprises have to get a solid plan in place, however, otherwise anarchy will rule. For typical "office"-type files, migrating up to the WSS feature set is a "no-brainer" because costs and risks appear minimal compared with potential user benefits. Training and governance are key requirements. Rollout, training and the evolution of governance mechanisms can be executed at a leisurely pace.

It's a different story on the desktop. Are you considering mandatory Office 2007 training before upgrading a user's machine? Many users will opt out of the training and can't be forced into it. (Ironically, this may be a bigger problem for more-experienced users, because inexperienced users will be more open to training and have fewer problems adapting to the new user interface.)

Left to their own devices, a few users (particularly the highly skilled power users) will experience self-inflicted traumas as they skip training and dive into short-term deliverables that they just have to get done but have no idea how to do in Office 2007. Trust me, I've already seen it happen, and while that observation is anecdotal, saying, "We warned you, you should have taken the training" is a pretty weak defense. Imagine a seasoned Office 2003 user on a cross-country flight getting ready to create a new presentation for an entirely new account, only he can't instantly figure out how to do with Office 2007 what he used to do with Office 2003. Not a pretty image. Conjure up the worst-case user crisis story you can imagine and use it to motivate power users to come to training.

Consider maintaining the current and new versions of Office on the user's machine until he or she has gone through training. Once users either go to training or self train, few will ever need to go back to the older releases - and you can delete them.

All this training talk raises the bigger issue: what's the real TCO for Office 2007? Microsoft's usability lab results suggest that users will be more productive with the improved user interface (and higher-powered features, such as better graphics and easier formatting). Don't forget the upfront investments you should be making. Upgrading procedures, documentation and user skills will cost real time and money. We think some firms will really balk at much of these upfront expenses. Future savings - whatever they may be - will have to be discounted (based on the time value of money), while current costs will not be. The size of the future savings for enterprises whose users have already mastered the current (less than perfect) interface is less than clear. Although the new "ribbon" user interface is better organized, the loss of time and the potentially real user frustration during the transition period may discourage enterprises from upgrading Office on the desktop.

Do you have a full transition plan thought through? Funded? Have you estimated the costs of training, documentation and process changes, new governance models and all the other soft factors associated with upgrading to Office 2007? Share that with me.