Knowledge Sharing by means of Microblogging at Siemens, Building Technologies Division

Page 1 September 21st, 2011 Building Technologies DivisionReferences@BT, Johannes Müller

© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2011

Knowledge Sharing by means of Microblogging

at Siemens, Building Technologies Division

Johannes Müller

Siemens Switzerland Ltd.

Building Technologies Division

Zug, Switzerland

Professional Learning Europe 2011

Cologne, Germany

September 21st, 2011



Corporate, Siemens-Wide and

Cross-Sector Departments

Healthcare Sector

Energy Sector

Industry Sector

Siemens Sectors and Divisions (in fiscal year 2011)

Building Technologies Division as Target Audience

Building

Technologies

Industry

Automation

Industry

Solutions

Drive

TechnologiesMobility

Lighting

(OSRAM)

Renewable

EnergyOil & Gas

Energy

Service

Power

Transmission

Power

Distribution

Fossil Power

Generation

Clinical

ProductsDiagnostics

Imaging &

Therapy

Systems* as of September 2010



References@BT – Power of the Community

approx. 7,800 registered community members

in more than 70 countries across the globe

sharing knowledge and supporting each other



The Application: References@BT ...

is a Web 2.0 platform for the global

exchange of business-related knowledge,

experiences and best-practices,

is a 'Social Networking' tool, which

networks colleagues and animates them

to communicate to each other,

is intended for internal use (by Siemens

members) only and thus available within

the Siemens intranet,

contains knowledge references (customer

projects, solution/service concepts, etc.)

and suitable documents,

contains several discussion forums (Urgent

Requests, etc.) and a microblog section,

considers its users as global community

(~ 7,800 members located in more than 70

countries) supporting each other.



Content in References@BT

Knowledge References

Customer Projects

Solution/Service Concepts

Technology Information

Market Information

External Awards

Business Excellence Cases

Lessons Learned

Forum Postings

Urgent Requests

Solution Talk

News, Trends, Innovations

Fairs and Conferences

BT Academy International

Quality Management

etc.

Content in References@BT

Networking both Knowledge and People

knowledge and information sharing

people networking

Microblog

Postings

structured

by free

tagging

("Folksonomy")

Member Pages

Name

Portrait Picture

'About me' Text

Phone Numbers

e-Mail Address

Availability Status

Personal Network



Where do we want to go?

previous and current situation: the intention:

References@BT

Knowledge Sharing Platform

for all BT business units

for all countries

potential reader:

any Siemens employee

potential contributor:

any Siemens employee*direct contact

Social Networking Tool

* knowledge references and forum postings related

to BT, microblog postings not domain-limited

Knowledge

Database

of Country us Knowledge

Database of

business unit SES

Knowledge

Database of

business unit LV

Knowledge

Database

of Country de

Knowledge

Database of

business Unit FS

Knowledge

Database

of Team B

(group drive) Knowledge

Database

of Employee Y

(personal C drive)

Knowledge

Database

of Country ch

Knowledge

Database

of Employee X

(personal C drive)

Knowledge

Database

of Team A

(group drive)

Knowledge

Database of

business unit CPS

Knowledge

Database of

business unit BAU



What's Interesting for a Reader of a

Customer Project (Knowledge Reference)

Who can give me further

information about the

implemented solution?

Can I offer the implemented

solution (in an adapted way)

to my customer as well?

Which similar projects did

we already execute in this

particular market or country?

. . . .

How were the several

products and components

connected together?

Which re-usable

documents do exist?

Project

Planning

Technical

ExecutionAcquisition

Why did the customer

opt for Siemens?

Was the customer

satisfied with our work?

Which special customer require-

ments have been realized in

this project? In which way?



Several Ways to Access the Content

References@BT

Google Maps

(AJAX web page)

Feed Subscription

(via RSS feed)

References@BT

(web pages)

Notification Alert

(via e-mail)

Powerpoint & Excel

(via file download)

Google Earth

(via KML file)

"Widgets" on other

Intranet Pages

(content export)



How to Find a Knowledge Reference (1)



How to Find a Knowledge Reference (2)



Example for 'Member Page':

More than just Displaying Contact Data



Example for Geographic Display in Google Maps:

Customer Projects in the United States



Example for Geographic Display in Google Earth:

Customer Projects in Switzerland



Example for an 'Urgent Request'

6 postings (question and 5 replies)

from 6 colleagues in 5 countries



Microblog Examples:

Personal Blog and Blog Topic



Mircroblogging: Examples for

Open or Closed Internet Platforms

Twitter

Yammer

Socialcast

Chatterscreenshot found on

www.salesforce.com/chatter

... and of course even more ...

Communotescreenshot found on

www.communote.com



Typical Mircroblogging Characteristics

Short messages (in Twitter max. 140 characters) with limited layout support

possibility to add hyperlinks

possibility to upload attachments

reply to any posting

citation of any other posting ("RT")

reference to other members ("@")

using tags or keywords ("#")

direct or private message to any member ("DM")

'following' other members

'following' certain tags

subscription of any certain piece of content via e-mail

RSS Feed(s) of any certain piece of content

access from mobile devices with dedicated application

Please note: Not every microblog platform offers every feature.



Features of the References@BT Mircroblog:

Content Structure and Display

Postings are not limited to a specific amount of characters.

File attachments are not possible.

Any specific layout apart from hyperlinks is not supported.

Hyperlinks (URL and text) can be easily coded, e.g.:[[http://www.siemens.com/ Siemens Homepage]]

Replying to any posting is possible.

The initial posting and all replies are hierarchically displayed as 'topic'.

The author's name and portrait are displayed along with each posting.

Tags or keywords:

Tagging is mandatory for initial postings and optional for replies.

Tags are not pre-defined and can be freely chosen ("Folksonomy").

The most frequently used tags are visualized with a tag cloud.

Postings can be imported from other microblogging sites.



Features of the References@BT Mircroblog:

Subscription and Networking

'Following' other members is possible.

Postings of all 'followed' authors can be received via e-mail once

a day or once a week.

It's possible to receive all new postings once a day.

In case of a new reply, the author is informed via e-mail

immediately (independent of any alert settings).

Several RSS Feeds are provided:

postings from a certain author

postings from all authors, whom anybody is following

postings having a certain tag



Topics Discussed in the Microblog

This screenshot shows the

most frequently used tags in the

References@BT Microblog:

taken on September 7th, 2011



Benefits* of Enterprise Mircroblogging (1):

Perceived Usefulness

easy way of sharing information (5 statements)

the additional channel of promoting events (2 statements)

new means of networking with others (2 statements)

suitable tool to improve writing skills (2 statements)

possibility to follow experts (1 statement)

way of identifying current trends (1 statement)

new awareness of latest happenings (1 statement)

"The microblogging tool helps to understand or be aware of the latest happenings

in terms of product releases, features, market enhancements, etc. in the BT

Division. (...) This will help to benefit in terms of knowledge, understand some of

the best-practices used in BT, and to network with others."

* as examined by Alexander Stocker, Johannes Müller: "Enterprise Micro-

blogging for Advanced Knowledge Sharing: The References@BT Case Study".

Journal of Universal Computer Science, vol. 17, no. 4 (2011), pp. 532-547.




Perceived Ease of Use

grouping of blogs with certain tags

possibility of adding HTML links to blog posts

possibility of importing blog posts from externally hosted

microblogging services

possibility of forwarding blog topics or profile pages

"We need to look at Web 2.0 aspects and try to improve this tool to be inclined

towards Web 2.0 standards. Since the number of blog entries is increasing, it is

good to group all the blogs to their respective blog group name."







Perceived Individual Benefits

getting the right contacts (5 statements)

assistance on getting the right information/knowledge (4 statements)

enlarging the personal network (1 statement)

learning from followers (1 statement)

gaining an edge on information (1 statement)

"(...) The microblogging tool helped me in getting the right contacts

working on a specific protocol and to receive more information

about this protocol that helped me with my documentation work."







Perceived Organizational Benefits

better flow of information caused by the microblogging service

(4 statements)

enabling of worldwide networking (4 statements)

drive on knowledge management practices and learning (1 statement)

reduced overall workload (1 statement)

diffusion of rich experiences which lead to more innovative thinking and

better products (1 statement)

"Finding other people in the organization that might have the skills or knowledge

you require for a particular problem is often very hard. Microblogging provides

the ability to find and exchange knowledge with other people in the organization

and thus enables very quickly best-practice sharing and avoids 'reinventing the

wheel'. It also reduces the workload compared to e-mail communication. (...)"






Use and Benefits of References@BT

according to the User Survey 2009

36% frequent users

64% occasional users

more or less

helpful for 88%

3 days

1 day

½ day

714 saved days per year

for 1070 responders

(Ø 0.67 days per person per year)

several days

one day

several hours

no time savings

very helpful

predominantly h'ful

partially helpful

not helpful

one day

Period: 3 weeks in September/October 2009

Participation: 1070 Responders



User Survey 2009: Quantitative Benefit

Correlates to Usage Frequency!

Usage Frequency

(# responders)

sporadic

(401)

monthly

(289)

weekly

(280)

daily

(100)

Ø all

(1070)

Availability* 2.51 2.66 2.71 2.79 2.63

Usability* 1.72 1.99 2.12 2.34 1.96

Functions / Features* 1.62 1.96 2.08 2.31 1.89

Content Quality* 1.65 1.91 1.98 2.17 1.86

Helpfulness** 0.92 1.38 1.55 1.94 1.31

# days saved per year*** 0.32 0.60 0.97 1.40 0.67

Selectable Options:

* very good (3), good (2), average (1), insufficient (0)

** very helpful (3), predominantly helpful (2), partially helpful (1), not helpful (0)

*** several days (3), one day (1), several hours (0.5), nothing (0)

higher benefit for higher usage frequency



Lessons Learned

Always focus on the user community (not on the application).

Never stop to address, moderate and motivate the user community.

Ensure continuous attention and support of the top-management.

Provide a self-explanatory application with an intuitive usability and a state-of-

the-art look-and-feel. Avoid bulky manuals and time-consuming trainings as

preconditions for successful use.

Provide multiple communication channels, e.g. several web entry points,

discussion forums, RSS feeds, e-mail notification, download to Excel. Allow the

users to interact with the application according to their personal preferences.

Get contributions of colleagues directly involved with first-hand knowledge

(e.g. execution of customer projects, implementation of solutions, carrying

out of services). "Content that matters is king!"

Let the users immediately benefit from the content found in the database.

Make the content easy reusable in the users' daily work.



Selected Publications about References@BT

Siemens auf dem Weg zum Enterprise 2.0 (in German), Authors: Alexander Stocker,

Johannes Müller.

Magazine "Wissensmanagement", issue 7/2010 (October 2010), pp. 10-13.

Download: http://www.mueller24.info/pub/?id=10sto2

Enterprise Microblogging for Advanced Knowledge Sharing: The References@BT Case

Study, Authors: Johannes Müller, Alexander Stocker.


Download: http://www.mueller24.info/pub/?id=11mue1

Wissensaustausch mit Web 2.0 - Ein richtungsweisendes Konzept von Siemens, Buil-

ding Technologies Division (in German), Authors: Johannes Müller, Alexander Stocker.

Armin Trost, Thomas Jenewein (editors): "Personalentwicklung 2.0 - Lernen, Wissens-

austausch und Talentförderung der nächsten Generation". Luchterhand, pp. 183-196.

Download: http://www.mueller24.info/pub/?id=11mue2

Microblogging als Baustein im IT-gestützten Wissensmanagement von Siemens BT (in

German), Authors: Alexander Stocker, Johannes Müller.

Journal "HMD - Praxis der Wirtschaftsinformatik", issue 277, Febr. 2011, pp. 38-50.

Download: http://www.mueller24.info/pub/?id=11sto

http://www.mueller24.info/pub/?id=10sto2

http://www.mueller24.info/pub/?id=11mue1

http://www.mueller24.info/pub/?id=11mue2

http://www.mueller24.info/pub/?id=11sto



Contact for Questions and Feedback

Dr. Johannes Müller

Siemens Switzerland Ltd.

Building Technologies Division

Zug, Switzerland

e-Mail: [email protected]

https://www.xing.com/profile/Johannes_Mueller47

Dr. Alexander Stocker

Institut DIGITAL, Joanneum Research

Graz, Austria

e-Mail: [email protected]

https://www.xing.com/profile/Alexander_Stocker

https://www.xing.com/profile/Johannes_Mueller47

https://www.xing.com/profile/Alexander_Stocker