My Role
I was a combination of a technical contact and sponsor for the ChromeOS roll out at LivePerson.
Context
COVID slammed the supply chain really hard for Windows and Mac machines. Along with the IT Manager, I helped roll out and support a new operating system for our users.
What we did
- We procured devices from various vendors across the globe and stocked up on ChromeOS devices. There were several options we assessed between the Google Pixelbook, Samsung Galaxy, and Dell 7410.
- We configured Token Enrollment and remote management policies for our Chromebook fleet.
- We’d push Chromebooks as a default for most users that only leverage Web Apps as part of their day-to-day workflows. We’d even involve our management to use Chromebooks as their main computing platform.
Difficult problems we encountered
Problem | Solution |
People see chromebooks as just a web-browser. | This one took a lot of convincing - we’d explain to users how they can install PWAs for offline access to apps, how they can load a linux subsystem for better access to tooling, and we’d talk about how far the OS has come since it’s creation. |
Chromebooks didn’t support the MSFT suite well. | We’d push users to leverage the google suite as much as possible. In general, this is still a problem for ChromeOS adoption. We’d push folks to use the webapp version of O365 products, but ultimately it was a fight to change behaviors. |
Lessons Learned
- Chromebooks are great devices for people that use webapps as a default - since we were a Google shop, that was most users. But Chromebooks fell on their face when it came to accommodating users that needed a high degree of articulation with their machines.
- They’re wildly easy to manage and deploy - but they require a lot of enablement with users to help them adjust their workflows to leverage web-first tooling.