Tata Steel Ideation Challenge

Improving Communication, Collaboration and Information dissemination through Social

Media.

S Kamal Kannan 1st Year MBAAbhinav Gupta 1st Year MBA

IntroductionTata Steel – One of the largest steel

manufacturers in the worldTata Steel has its presence in the social

media like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter etc.There is a lot of opportunity to leverage the

power of social media for the benefit of the steel conglomerate.

ObjectiveTo identify the possibilities of using social

media as a medium of communication that lies beyond the normal channels offered by traditional IT systems like ERP, CRM, SCM or mail, phone, fax.

Exploring the possibilities of leveraging the cloud computing model.

Identifying company ObjectivesImprovement of internal communication or working

processes.E-learningSelling productsAcquiring customer insightRecruitingCSR activitiesThe target audience - what kind of information the

audience is looking to receive.

These issues will play a major role in the selection of the most appropriate and effective social media tools.

ProposalLooking at the Size, employees, Goals, of the

company, Tata Steel can use the power of social media to do the following:Internal Communication – Instant messagingSharing of information – BlogsEmployee Engagement – Internal Blogging

systemLearning and Knowledge Management – WikiCollaboration – Documents on the cloudSocial media as a medium of recruitment Environmental Awareness Campaign

Instant MessagingInstant messaging is real-time text-based

communication between two or more people using personal computers or other devices, along with shared clients.

Voice/Video CallingA good example of all these features would

be the Gtalk/ G-chat application provided by Google.

BloggingBlogging could be a core component of a

company’s social media strategy. There are two ways in which we can look at blogging.Company blogInternal Blogging System

May be utilised for sharing of information and stimulating discussion. Offer an easy channel for publishing and expressing various facts, viewpoints, ideas and thoughts. Offer an opportunity for organisational branding and establishing authority within a certain field of activity.

Learning and Knowledge ManagementWikis can be a great way to enhance learning

and Knowledge management. Wikis are workspaces for creating

collaborative works that serve different purposes like learning and knowledge management.

The software can also be used for personal note taking.

Wikis enable interaction in editing and easy tracking of changes.

The level of access varies from open to closed.

Office on the cloudStorage, versioning and sharing of documents in

an organization as large as Tata steel would be a challenge if not all documents were stored on the cloud.

There are already many cloud based office software available.

Advantage of going for cloud based solution is that: Documents can be easily shared Everyone has access to the current version of the

document.The infrastructure is handled by the hosting

company.

RecruitmentThe brand of Tata Steel as a favourable place to work can

be enhanced by the use of Social media extensively. Attracting and retaining talent is of primary importance

to companies. Through the medium of LinkedIn, Facebook the brand can be built.

Tata steel has its presence in these websites. The challenge though would be to consistently churn out

quality content for these sites. Organizing online competitions can be done through these

sites.

An attractive idea can easily go viral and it has the potential to reach any number of people.

Environment Awareness CampaignTata Steel is doing a lot of work to create

environment awareness campaigns. Such campaigns would be more effective

through the use of creation of innovative content for social media.

Interactive videos like the hunter and the bear video are unique and have quickly gone viral. So, content creation is of paramount importance for a successful campaign. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ba1BqJ4S2M

BenefitsEffective and Knowledge managementEffective and easy communication between

employeesBuilding of brand to attract the best talent

poolSpreading the policies and building the

image of the company(Environmental campaign)

Better collaboration among employees.

ChallengesDefamation Risks:Breach of Confidentiality:

So a simple yet comprehensive social media policy or set of guidelines tuned to the company and its customers should be developed.

Financial modelEnterprise product of Google

Initially Flexible pricing plan based on the number of users. Can also role this out to a limited set of employees and

check for the efficiency. Later the possibility of the annual plan can be explored.

Free software :- Word press, wikispaces etc for the blogging and wiki

solutions which will bring down the costs- Costs associated with the employees who would be

managing and developing contents for the Facebook, LinkedIn and YouTube websites  

- Example Cognizant

Thank You!