Change management case study
Tool Migration: From Zoom to Google Meet
A phased change communications strategy for a 1,300+ person company navigating a tool consolidation with known capability gaps and a hard contract end date.
- Company
- Thumbtack
- Scope
- 1,300+ employees
- My role
- Strategy and full execution
The situation
Thumbtack had been using Zoom for ten years, so moving to Google Meet meant asking employees to change something they used every day. They were familiar with Zoom, and Google Meet didn't offer all the same features. Employees also had to update the links for every recurring meeting on their calendars.
We needed to give employees enough time to make those updates, understand the differences between the platforms, and feel prepared before Zoom was turned off.
The strategic decision
The most important call I made early was to be transparent about the capability gaps up front. Meet fit our tool stack and the tools we were already using every day. I explained that rationale while acknowledging the features employees would miss. I also acknowledged the change fatigue employees were experiencing and planned the timing with that in mind.
The channel plan
- Eight weeks prior: Intranet resource page live. One source of truth before any broader announcement.
- Six weeks prior: Official company-wide rollout. Calendar default switches to Google Meet.
- Three weeks prior: Meet Migration Week. Focused adoption push with manager enablement and IT office hours.
- Go-live: Zoom access turns off. Full adoption required.
- Four weeks post go-live: Zoom contract ends. Migration complete.
What I built
Dedicated intranet pages serve as the single source of truth. Newsletter entries keep the migration visible in the weekly send. Manager-specific guidance gives people leads the talking points they need. The Meet Migration Week activation creates a focused adoption push. I also built a 30-day post-launch sentiment touchpoint into the plan. The company-wide announcement was a scripted two-person segment at all-hands, recorded inside Google Meet so the tool demonstrated itself.
How we measured
Admin Console adoption rate tracked by IT. Intranet page views as a proxy for self-service behavior. Successful migration of company-wide meetings to Meet. 30-day sentiment touchpoint to surface friction not captured in dashboards.
What I'd do differently
With a hard deadline in place, I'd be more intentional about protecting the calendar around this migration. Knowing employees were navigating other changes concurrently, spacing out competing initiatives would have reduced the change fatigue employees felt along the way.
The broader lesson
Employees needed context and time to move their recurring meetings. Planning around the other tooling changes happening across the company was part of helping them make the switch.