Busylight Roll-out Guide

Busylight Support Team

Updated March 26, 2026 17:05

A practical roll-out guide for the person leading the Busylight onboarding in the workplace.

This guide is written for you, who has initiated or owns the Busylight initiative in your workplace. You might be running an initial Pilot test, preparing a department roll-out, or building a business case to scale Busylights across the global organization.

No matter your scope, this is the guide that takes you through the considerations to plan a successful roll-out of Busylights.

Who this guide is designed for

Your job is to:
-Define the purpose, outcome and results of the Busylight initiative.
-Align on simple rules for Busylight signals across your workplace.
-Define a clear scope and hand over to IT so the setup works first time.

Your role is probably within Workplace, Facility Management or Human Resources - with a high focus on employee performance, thrive and retention.

What you will get from this guide

Confidence that your trial is set up for success, not for early skepticism.
A short set of decisions that make Busylight signals consistent and trusted.
A rollout approach that fits your office layout, workstyle, and UC platform.
A clear handover to IT for installation, configuration, and deployment.

Note

This is not a step by step configuration manual.
It is a guided introduction to the practical choices you should make before rolling out Busylight, so your setup fits how your organization works.

The quick introduction

If you are testing with 1 or a few Busylights	If you are rolling out to a team or department
Tell nearby colleagues what the color means before you turn the light on. Use simple, consistent colors. e.g., Red and Green. Decide whether the Busylight should activate sound signals, or stay silent. Plan how you will judge success, based on behavior and experience.	Roll out to everyone in the same area. Partial adoption creates confusion. Ask IT to deploy the software with locked settings for consistency. Use the standard color scheme for your UC platform, unless you have a strong reason not to. Put up a small poster or one-pager with the color signal meanings.

Why projects fail and how to avoid it

We see the same pattern across workplaces.

When a single Busylight is used as an individual device, it rarely proves the value or outcomes of the concept.

What happens is this:

Colleagues get curious about the flashing Busylight.
Questions about the device replace the old pattern of interruptions.
The user and management lose confidence in the concept.

Busylight works best when the people around you understand the purpose and play along.

Instead, do this early:

Explain that the Busylight is a shared tool for better workflow -not a gadget.
Agree that red/purple means "do not interrupt".
Roll out Busylight to a full team area - or run a pilot test with multiple devices.

Onboarding phases

A successful outcome often starts with a structured plan. This is the reason for breaking the Busylight onboarding into three phases: Preparation, Alignment, and Go-live

Phase	Focus	Key outputs
1. Prepare	Ownership and purpose	A clear goal. A defined scope. Involve the right stakeholders.
2. Agree on simple rules	Consistency and trust	- A shared color language - Who can change settings - Define what controls the Busylight?
3. Go live and learn	Adoption and behavior	- Mounting Busylight in the workplace - Communicate benefits to team - Observation and evaluation

P H A S E 1

Prepare

- Clarify ownership
- Define intent and outcomes
- Choose roll out scope
This enables a succesful Busylight roll out.

Busylight only works when people understand the purpose and respect colleagues' availability.

1.1. Clarify ownership

Clear ownership prevents stalled roll-outs and low adoption. As Deployment Lead, you coordinate the purpose, the rules, and the handover to IT.

Typical stakeholders to involve:

HR or People team
Digital Workplace or UC owner
Facilities or Workplace team
Team leaders for the target area
IT administrator or deployment partner

Action!

Share this guide with your project team so you align early.

Share this guide by email

1.2. Define intent and outcomes

This is the section that makes or breaks most trials and roll-outs.
If you cannot describe what problem you are solving, you are not able to identify when the Busylight initiative is a success.

Start with one sentence:

We are using Busylight to improve ___ by reducing ___ during ___ work.

Examples of challenges Busylight helps address:

Frequent walk-up interruptions reduce deep work time and quality.
Missed calls or delayed responses because presence is unclear, especially in open offices.
Collaboration friction occurs because people cannot tell who is available.
Employee experience suffers because focus time is not respected.
Frontline or support teams need fewer missed calls and clearer availability.

If you need measurable signals, consider:

Track the number of missed calls, missed chats, or slower response times in your UC tool.
Employee experience pulse questions:
"I can focus when needed, and interruptions are handled respectfully."
Self-reported deep work time:
"fewer context switches during key work blocks."
Qualitative feedback from team leaders:
"Meetings, coaching, and focus time feel smoother."

1.3. Choose a roll-out scope

Busylight is a proven concept. Your roll-out scope should reflect your workplace culture, timeline, and desired outcomes of the Busylight initiative.

Scope	When it fits	Considerations
Full roll-out, one go	You already believe interruptions matter, and you want the culture shift.	Requires alignment and IT readiness. Highest impact when done per area.
Department or floor	You want impact in a contained area, with shared norms.	Avoid mixing Busylight and non Busylight users in the same team area.
Location or campus	You have consistent workplace standards across a site.	Make sure the rules are identical across zones.
Pilot, small cluster	You need an internal case-story and a safe place to learn.	Do not pilot with one person only. Test with a group in the same area.

Our practical recommendation:

If you want a valid basis for evaluating your pilot test, roll out Busylight to everyone in the same team area, department, or floor.

When adoption is optional, signals become inconsistent, and the concept loses valuable impact.

>>Go to Pilot Program guide for more insights on testing before a full Busylight rollout across the workplace.

P H A S E 2

Define rules

- Who defines rules?
- Color & Sound
- Status & Automation
- Multiple UC tools
This provide you with a specific handover to IT team.

Busylight is easy to understand, when signals are trusted, consistent, and predictable.

2.1. The Busylight configuration overview

Before configuring your Busylights, there are a few decisions you need to make.

These decisions ultimately define the rules that make your Busylight work as intended.

In the table below, you will find an overview of considerations within permissions, color, sound, control automation and UC infrastructure.

At the end of this chapter, you will be able to create a specification of how your Busylights should work. This specification can be handed over to your IT team - or you could use it for your own guidance.

Decision	What it means in plain language	Our recommendation
Who can change settings	Do you want everyone to personalize colors and behavior, or do you want one standard setup for all users in the scope?	For any team or department roll-out, lock and standardize settings. Consistency beats freedom.
Your color language	Which colors should colleagues trust as Do not interrupt, Available, Away, In a meeting, and so on.	Use the standard color scheme for your UC platform. Keep custom schemes as exceptions.
Sound, yes or no	Should the Busylight be silent and visual only, or should it play ringtones for calls.	Decide per area. If people already have speakers, consider using Busylight as the main ringtone source to reduce noise clutter.
How the light gets its status	Should the light follow your UC status automatically, should the user control it manually, or do you combine sources.	Use the driver that matches your primary platform. Add kuandoHUB based setups only if you must support multiple tools.
If you use more than one UC tool	If Teams, Zoom, Webex, or others are used in parallel, you can decide which status should be shown on the light.	Keep one primary source for most users. For mixed setups, use kuandoHUB to define priority rules.

2.2. Who can change settings

When you roll out to more than a handful of people, personal settings quickly create confusion.
If red means do not interrupt for one person, but available for another, colleagues stop trusting the signals.

Recommended approach:

Ask IT to deploy Busylight software centrally and lock key settings.
Use Group Policy or your software deployment tool to roll out a pre-configured standard setup.
Allow only a small set of personal tweaks, if any. For example, brightness, ringtone, or sound volume.

2.3. Your color language

Most customers get the best results by using the standard colors already defined by their UC platform. It matches what people see on screen, and it avoids surprises.

Recommended:

Use the standard Busylight driver setup for your platform, for example, Microsoft Teams.
Share a simple one-pager with the meaning of the key colors.
Optional variants some workplaces choose:
Minimalist scheme. Red, yellow, green only. Simple, but usually requires custom configuration.
Extended focus scheme. Keep platform colors, but introduce one extra color for deep work. Only if you can explain it in one line.

2.4. Sound, yes or no

Sound can be a feature or a source of annoyance. The right choice depends on your office acoustics, distance, and how people currently handle call alerts.

Consider:

If the PC already plays a ringtone or a desk speaker is used, you may not need extra sound.
Busylight can replace other alert sources and keep sounds tied to your UC platform only.
If you enable sound, align on a default ringtone, volume, and mute rules.

2.5. How the light gets its status

This is the core choice. Do you want the light to follow your UC status automatically, or do you want manual control, or a mix?.

Option	What it looks like	When it fits
Automatic, one platform	The light mirrors presence and calls from one UC tool.	Most deployments. Lowest friction.
Manual only	User sets the light by button or app, independent of UC.	Special roles or environments. Requires discipline.
Hybrid	Automatic status plus a simple manual override for focus blocks.	Good for knowledge work. Keep rules simple.
Multiple tools via hub	The light can reflect several tools, with a defined priority.	Mixed UC environments. Use kuandoHUB to manage it.

2.6. If you use more than one UC tool

Some workplaces use more than one calling or meeting tool. In that case, you can choose which tool should drive the light, or you can combine them with clear priority settings.

Keep it lightweight:
Choose a primary tool for most users, then standardize around it.
If some teams need multiple tools, use kuandoHUB to decide which status takes priority.
Run the Priority Assistant to ensure an accurate setup.

2.7. IT handover checklist

Once you have made the decisions in Phase 2, hand over the specifications and configuration criteria to your IT deployment team.

Copy the checklist below into an email
Fill out your configuration decisions
Send the email to your IT team

Item	Your decision
Target scope	Which teams, floors, or locations are included in this deployment
Primary platform	Teams, or other UC tool that should drive the light
Standard color setup	Use standard platform colors, or a defined custom scheme
Sound policy	Silent, or ringtone enabled with default settings
Settings governance	Locked standard settings, plus any allowed user changes
Deployment method	Central deployment, for example via Group Policy or your endpoint tool
Exceptions	Any teams that need a different setup, and why

P H A S E 3

Go live and learn

- Communicate
- Mounting and placement
- Launch and observe
- Evaluate
This is where the Busylight comes alive.

Now it is time to enjoy the seamless Busylight experience and increased focus

3.1. Communication and enablement

Your first week matters. If colleagues do not understand the concept, the trial turns into noise. A two-minute explanation prevents two weeks of skepticism.

Before launch, invest time in the internal communication. You can find templates and materials designed for internal communication in the Busylight Enablement Pack.

Short team intro.

Why we are doing this and what success looks like.

One-page poster or slide.

The key colors and what colleagues should do.

A simple rule.

Respect "red" unless urgent.
Define when something is urgent
Ask before you interrupt.

Where to get help.

Who to contact and where to find instructions.

3.2. Mounting and placement

Place Busylights where they are easy to see at a glance, and from a distance. If people cannot see the signal, they cannot respect it.

Common placements:

On the monitor edge or on top of the screen
On a partition wall, desk divider, or door frame
At the entrance to a small office (requires extension cable)

Tip

Use magnetic or adhesive mounting depending on the surface.

>> Go to Placing and Mounting Guide for more tips

3.3. Launch and observe

In the first days, focus on behavior, not spreadsheets.

Observe:

Do colleagues notice the light and adapt their behavior?
Do people trust the colors, or are signals inconsistent?
Do users feel more in control of interruptions?
Are ringtones helpful, or annoying?

3.4. Evaluate and decide next steps

Review with your stakeholders after one to three weeks:

Adoption and consistency.
Are the color signal rules followed?

Perceived impact.
Do people feel fewer interruptions and smoother collaboration?

Signal clarity.
Can colleagues understand the meaning without asking?

Set up fit.
Does the configuration match your UC and workstyle?

Scale readiness.
Are you ready to extend to the next team area, floor, or site?

Other resources

Depending on your setup, you may want to look into these supporting materials:

If you need help defining your rollout approach, we can share examples from large deployments and help you avoid common pitfalls.

Feel free to reach out to a Busylight Specialist through our Support Center

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