Enterprise Social: Building the Business Case and Getting Started

Transcription

1 VIRTUALIZATION CLOUD APPLICATION DEVELOPMENT NETWORKING STORAGE ARCHITECTURE DATA CENTER MANAGEMENT BUSINESS INTELLEGENCE/APPLICATIONS DISASTER RECOVERY/COMPLIANCE SECURITY Enterprise Social: Building the Business Case and Getting Started A social media strategy works best when organizations consider their business needs before success factors and review the common pitfalls in social business implementations. BY PAMELA DELOATCH EDITOR S NOTE FIVE QUESTIONS TO ASK BEFORE INVESTING IN AN ENTERPRISE SOCIAL NETWORK SUCCESSFUL SOCIAL COLLABO- RATION EFFORTS HAVE A LOT IN COMMON MISTAKES NOT TO MAKE FOR ENTERPRISE COLLABORATION SUCCESS

2 1 EDITOR S NOTE Proper Prep Is a Must on Projects As more and more organizations learn about the benefits of enterprise social media, purchases of the technology are expected to accelerate quickly. For example, IDC forecasts that worldwide revenue for enterprise social software will grow from less than $800 million in 2011 to $4.5 billion by But while widespread use of such tools can improve corporate collaboration and innovation, it s important to understand the need for careful planning. enterprise social implementations are typically carefully scripted, beginning with initial strategy planning and continuing through management. In this guide, Pamela DeLoatch looks at the key aspects of getting started with enterprise social deployments and catalogs some practical advice for organizations interested in creating and implementing a strategy of their own. First, DeLoatch details five essential questions that industry analysts say all organizations should ask themselves before considering an enterprise social networking investment. Answering them will help focus planning efforts and offer companies a path toward developing a solid business case. Next, readers will get real-world examples of how some enterprises have managed their successful social collaboration programs. Taken together, the initiatives DeLoatch examined offer insight into the planning and preparation that should take place before anything is implemented. Finally, DeLoatch outlines easy-to-make mistakes organizations should steer clear of to make sure their enterprise collaboration initiatives proceed as planned and help them achieve success. Jonathan Gourlay Site and News Editor, SearchContentManagement.com 2 ENTERPRISE SOCIAL: BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE AND GETTING STARTED

3 2STRATEGY Investing in Your organization already values collaboration and communication, but with locations spread across the globe and no consolidated system for achieving enterprisewide collaboration, some changes are needed. Management is ready to deploy collaboration tools, perhaps using an enterprise social media platform to help employees share knowledge and work more quickly, efficiently and productively. Is an enterprise social network (ESN) the way to go? To answer that, consultants, analysts and users agree that organizations should first ask themselves other questions. According to interviews with collaboration experts, the following five key queries need to be addressed before taking the plunge and purchasing an enterprise social network: 1. WHAT PROBLEMS ARE YOU TRYING TO SOLVE? That is the first question you should ask, said Carol Rozwell, an analyst at Gartner Inc. Organizations often think that just deploying the technology means employees will collaborate, Rozwell said. She pointed to research she has done that shows companies must already have internal processes for working collaboratively and a corporate culture that encourages collaboration. Electronic Arts Inc. (EA), a game maker based in Redwood City, Calif., but with offices spread across nine countries, implemented an enterprisewide collaboration system based on social networking technology almost four years ago. Now, EA s global marketing team is working together and sharing best practices in a way that wasn t possible before the system was deployed, said Bert Sandie, an operations director in the company s corporate learning and development group. 3 ENTERPRISE SOCIAL: BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE AND GETTING STARTED

4 2STRATEGY Sandie s team works to make sure that EA s far-flung workforce knows how to use the collaboration system and what it can do for them. We do workshops where we share best practices, said Sandie, who is based outside of company headquarters at an office in Burnaby, British Columbia. The trick, however, is keeping people collaborating once they go back to their desks. Half of the 80% of employees who use the system have filled out professional profiles. That s not a bad number, but EA wants it to increase. Sandie said that when rolling out the system, EA used incentive programs such as an iphone giveaway to encourage employees to complete their profiles. New employees are urged to complete profiles as soon as they walk in the door, he said. 2. HOW WILL AN ESN BENEFIT BUSINESS USERS? To get employees to invest the time required to learn and adopt new business processes, they have to feel those processes will make their lives easier, said Charlene Li, founder of IT research firm Altimeter Group in San Mateo, Calif. Users are interested in tools that will save them steps, Li added. Why would I use it? How would it help me get my work done? She said those are typical questions that prospective users of an ESN want answered. Companies need to have the answers and know how to communicate exactly how this new technology provides employees with the capabilities to get their work done in better, easier or faster ways, according to Li. 3. WILL THE ESN SERVE ENOUGH OF YOUR EMPLOYEES NEEDS? How your sales department will use an ESN might differ from your marketing or production department s needs for collaboration capabilities, Rozwell said. Make sure what you deploy has the flexibility to address the specific issues and needs in each department, she added. Li agreed. In any organization you have different worker constituents, and they all work a little different, she said. They often need the same knowledge base but on an individual basis, so you need to allow for variability. 4 ENTERPRISE SOCIAL: BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE AND GETTING STARTED

5 2STRATEGY 4. HOW USABLE WILL THE ESN BE? Make sure the social network includes the applications that employees use the most, Li said. If it doesn t, she warned, they ll end up going outside the ESN so they can use what they are most comfortable with. End users are savvy about social networks such as Facebook and LinkedIn, Sandie said. As a result, they expect that social media designed for business will match the quality and ease of use of those more familiar consumer technologies. Plus, he added, employees expect an enterprise social network to offer new features and be adjustable as organizational needs change. 5. HOW WILL YOU MEASURE SUCCESS? Many companies are still just beginning to analyze the outcomes of enterprise social media use, said T.J. Keitt, an analyst with Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. Nevertheless, he said, it s important to measure how well the system is helping an organization resolve the business problems at the center of the initiative. Oftentimes, companies measure the percent of people posting three times a week, Li said. But are they doing things of value? Organizations should instead measure success by determining whether an ESN helps employees form working relationships that bridge geographical or hierarchical gaps. Metrics should also determine whether the quality of the relationships improves and leads to an exchange of ideas that produce operational improvements and other business benefits, she said. Ultimately, deciding whether you should invest in an ESN depends on your organization s needs, culture and readiness. If those factors support deploying an enterprise social network, the next step is finding the right technology. That isn t necessarily a matter of selecting a particular vendor, Li said, but of figuring out which system can best help the organization achieve its goals and objectives. It s less about features, Li summarized, than about the functionality the technology allows. n 5 ENTERPRISE SOCIAL: BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE AND GETTING STARTED

6 3 MANAGEMENT Efforts Have a Lot It s not enough to encourage employees to use enterprise social networking tools. Making it an integral part of your company s everyday culture requires planning, commitment and reinforcement. But as any organization that has found success as a result of enhanced social collaboration can attest, the benefits are worth the effort. Increased collaboration makes good business sense, said Jacob Morgan, principal and founder of San Francisco-based Chess Media Group, a management consulting firm that advises organizations on how to use social media technology. Done effectively, enabling employees to better connect and engage with one another improves innovation and productivity while decreasing the cost and time spent traveling, Morgan said. It also helps open up siloed business structures. And yet, analysts say, many companies still struggle to implement social collaboration tools throughout the enterprise, while others have succeeded at embedding enterprise social networking in the corporate culture to the point where it has become an intrinsic part of regular work activities for business users. To understand why that is, it is instructive to look at three examples of companies that have taken very different approaches to implementing an effective enterprise social media strategy. Despite that, and that they operate in diverse industries, they share several similarities that might explain why each approach resulted in collaborative success. Many companies still struggle to implement social collaboration tools throughout the enterprise. 6 ENTERPRISE SOCIAL: BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE AND GETTING STARTED

7 3 MANAGEMENT UNISYS GOES FOR SPEED OF COMMUNICATION Two years ago, Unisys, a provider of IT services, software and high-end computer systems in Blue Bell, Pa., realized it needed to speed communication among its nearly 23,000 workers. We wanted to enable employees to more quickly identify and connect with subject matter experts so they could get real-time answers at the time of need, said Gloria Burke, the company s director of collaboration strategy and governance. As a technology service provider, Burke added, it was important that Unisys be an early adopter of an enterprise social media strategy. By doing that, Unisys would then be able to help its clients leapfrog the learning curve when they went through the same process, she said. With a three-year rollout plan, Unisys started an enterprise social networking implementation using Microsoft SharePoint. Once deployed, managers and rank-and-file employees began using the social collaboration platform as part of their daily activities. To date, more than 78% of the company s global workforce and 100% of its executive leadership team are active users, Burke said. It helped that the company s new CEO was supportive of an internal collaboration program and encouraged senior managers to use it. He would tell users he had read their blogs, and that message found its way throughout the organization. Additionally, Burke said, the company built in a little friendly competition by posting metrics by business unit, organization and region for platform use, and the human resources department developed a set of knowledge and collaboration objectives and goals that could be used in performance planning. TELUS TURNS OUTWARD FOCUS INWARD At Telus, a telecommunications company in Vancouver, British Columbia, the culture of interacting with customers already provided a competitive advantage, said Dan Pontefract, its senior director of learning and collaboration. The company provides its customers with multiple access points for 7 ENTERPRISE SOCIAL: BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE AND GETTING STARTED

8 3 MANAGEMENT customer-to-customer and customer-to-employee contact, including a portal so customers can follow up on unresolved service issues. Why wouldn t we be pioneering the use of social collaboration inside the organization to connect people to people and people to content? he said. Though Telus wanted to connect its employees, the company didn t want to be limited to using just one vendor s product. We deploy technology as we see fit, Pontefract said. As a result, Telus uses a variety of tools from different vendors for activities such as microblogging, creating and sharing documents and other information on its intranet, holding virtual meetings and seminars and encouraging employees to network with one another. It added each piece to address a specific need and embedded the technologies directly into business processes, he said. It s not shiny-object syndrome, Pontefract said. It s not for the vanity of having social tools. It s for real-time improvement of people s performance. ZAPPOS MIXES WORK WITH PLAY Unlike Unisys and Telus, Zappos Inc., a popular online shoe and clothing retailer in Henderson, Nev., uses the same tools it employs to reach out to customers to connect its nearly 2,000 employees. In the Zappos culture, there s no line between work and personal life, said Graham Kahr, Zappos social commerce manager. Employees use Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to communicate in and out of work. , Cisco s Jabber which integrates instant messaging with other applications and wikis enhance internal communication. We have a culture of service people naturally help each other, Kahr said. There are so many inroads for people to communicate at Zappos, it s easy for us to talk to each other. DIFFERENT ROUTES, SIMILAR ESSENTIALS Unisys, Telus and Zappos use different methods to enable employees to communicate and work together more efficiently, yet the three companies have important similarities that Morgan indicated are essential to successful internal social networking. 8 ENTERPRISE SOCIAL: BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE AND GETTING STARTED

9 3 MANAGEMENT All three already had a culture that firmly embraced sharing information and working together before any social collaboration tools were deployed. They are all open, even eager, to embrace changes to their processes and work habits, and this flexibility is reflected throughout their organizations. Each company identified which areas could benefit from increased collaboration and then picked software that met its specific needs. They ensure that collaboration is used to enhance their work processes in demonstrable ways. They understand that enterprise social collaboration requires a long-term commitment and a dedication to continually seek employee feedback and to monitor and measure the process and make adjustments to improve it as needed. Taken together, the social collaboration initiatives at Unisys, Telus and Zappos offer insight into how other organizations can plan for their own forays into enterprise social networking. The fundamental similarities between the three efforts provide a blueprint, Morgan said, for the beginning stages of an enterprise social media strategy. n 9 ENTERPRISE SOCIAL: BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE AND GETTING STARTED

10 4TACTICS Communication in a company used to be simple: You walked down the hallway to talk to a co-worker, picked up the phone or banged out an . But those methods become less effective as companies grow and employees spread out around the country and the globe. In addition, the amount of information that workers must sift through has increased exponentially, while the amount of time allotted to digest and formulate it has shriveled. For a growing number of organizations, the answer to those issues is implementing an enterprise collaboration software initiative. But a collaboration system must work the first time employees use it. Make a significant mistake when putting together an enterprise collaboration initiative and it can fail, despite your best intentions. For example, when media giant Gannett Co. Inc. rolled out an enterprise social media system for its USA Today business, it ran into some serious issues. Susan Murphy, national account director at the newspaper, said that although Gannett had successfully implemented a social media collaboration initiative for itself, the corporate parent, things didn t work as well at USA Today. As a result, the system often isn t used by workers there, she said. We were never really involved in the decision to deploy the collaboration technology, Murphy said. And without an explanation of the system s potential benefits, she added, employees never understood why or how they should use it. That s not unusual, said T.J. Keitt, a senior analyst at Forrester Research Inc. in Cambridge, Mass. According to Keitt and other industry insiders, when companies decide to implement an enterprise collaboration initiative, they often make a handful of mistakes: 10 ENTERPRISE SOCIAL: BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE AND GETTING STARTED

11 4TACTICS Using technology to initiate collaboration. Before a system is put into place, a company needs to have a culture that encourages communication and collaboration. The technology in and of itself doesn t make anyone collaborative, Keitt said. Social business systems such as Jive and Yammer enable employees to have conversations, post project status updates, form groups, share documents and even establish networks with external partners. But these platforms are only the conduits for communication that should already be occurring. If it s not, a shiny new tool won t make it happen. Implementing technology too soon. Companies might be tempted to buy a new flavor-of-the-month technology, fearing that they ll fall behind the competition if they don t. But not all organizations are ready to roll out and use enterprise social media in an effective way. According to Maturity Model and Social Software, a report released last year by Stamford, Conn., research group Gartner Inc., businesses might not be ready to take full advantage of the technology if they restrict communication, do not encourage enterprise collaboration across organizational lines or view social collaboration as more of a community undertaking than a business advantage. Instead of rushing out to buy software, a company should first examine its existing culture. If that culture does not already encourage collaboration, executives should explore strategies that could help transform it into one that does. Not tying collaboration and social media to strategic business goals. Before deciding to use enterprise social media in a collaboration initiative, you need to know what business problems you re trying to solve, advised Sam Loveland, vice president of worldwide customer engagement for software vendor Yammer Inc. in San Francisco. Without that clear understanding of how an enterprise collaboration platform will be aligned with the organization s strategic goals at the corporate and business-unit levels, it will not be viewed as useful, he said. 11 ENTERPRISE SOCIAL: BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE AND GETTING STARTED

12 4TACTICS Not getting executive or mid-level buy-in. Creating a corporate culture that embraces social collaboration starts at the top, according to Keitt and Loveland. Senior-level managers need to do more than give employees permission to use social business networking; they need to be active on it themselves, Loveland said. Mid-level managers are also essential to the success of a social collaboration initiative, Keitt said. They re the ones who tactically carry out the visions of the executives, he said. They must be encouraging and incenting. If managers do not see the benefits of the initiative, all efforts could be blocked. Making adoption mandatory. can t be ordered, Loveland said; if you tried, it wouldn t work. Instead, he said, business leaders and IT and collaboration managers trying to instill a more collaborative culture in their companies need to show employees at all levels how such changes and new capabilities will benefit them and make their jobs easier. Employees want to know what they stand to gain by taking the time to learn and use new technology. By aligning the potential benefits of an enterprise collaboration initiative with individual needs and objectives as well as corporate and departmental ones, the program has a better chance of resonating with each employee, Loveland said. The benefits that enterprise social collaboration can provide are becoming increasingly clear, and as companies become more skilled at measuring their successes, it s likely more organizations will want to implement such systems. By understanding potential pitfalls, IT and collaboration managers can avoid them and better determine whether, when and how becoming a social enterprise can help their organizations achieve business objectives. n 12 ENTERPRISE SOCIAL: BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE AND GETTING STARTED

13 ABOUT THE AUTHOR PAMELA DELOATCH is a freelance writer who covers B2B and technology issues. She has written articles, profiles and case studies for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. and the Contemporary Science Center as well as numerous organizations and digital businesses. her at pamela@b2bstorytelling. com. Enterprise Social: Building the Business Case and Getting Started is a SearchContentManagement.com e-publication. Barney Beal Senior Executive Editor Jason Sparapani Managing Editor, E-Publications Jonathan Gourlay Site and News Editor Craig Stedman Executive Editor Linda Koury Director of Online Design Mike Bolduc Publisher mbolduc@techtarget.com Ed Laplante Director of Sales elaplante@techtarget.com TechTarget 275 Grove Street, Newton, MA TechTarget Inc. No part of this publication may be transmitted or reproduced in any form or by any means without written permission from the publisher. TechTarget reprints are available through The YGS Group. About TechTarget: TechTarget publishes media for information technology professionals. More than 100 focused websites enable quick access to a deep store of news, advice and analysis about the technologies, products and processes crucial to your job. Our live and virtual events give you direct access to independent expert commentary and advice. At IT Knowledge Exchange, our social community, you can get advice and share solutions with peers and experts. 13 ENTERPRISE SOCIAL: BUILDING THE BUSINESS CASE AND GETTING STARTED