Executive Summary

In today’s socially driven digital landscape, the enterprise must adapt to leverage the social capitol and knowledge of its employees. Change is not instant and companies will need to deploy various solutions to meet its employees’ businesses needs. The true power of social media lies within unifying the various communication platforms to create and grow their knowledge base.

Leveraging social media across the organization

[Contents]

1 [Introduction]

2 [Topics not addressed]

3 [Value to Enterprise]

4 [Short Term Objectives]

5 [Available Solutions]

6 [Long Term Objectives]

7 [Case Studies]

8 [Tips]

9 [References]

DNA learns (accumulates information) very slowly through a series of random errors that just so happen to work. DNA was able to create a faster method of learning by producing organisms with brains that could learn in real time. Early brains allowed for the accumulation and recollection of information to facilitate with daily interactions, but knowledge remained trapped and died with the individual.

Social media is the interaction among people in which they create, share, or exchange information and ideas in virtual communities and networks.

1 [Introduction]

Humans are different because of language. Using a system of communication that affords the individual the ability to share what they learn so precisely it can accumulate in the collective memory, knowledge is able to grow across generations.

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The sum of the resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or a group by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition

1 [Introduction]

Historically higher education has allowed for the formation of new platforms that allow collaborators to work faster and transcend physical distances that would normally separate them. Students use collaborative tools and social media to share and engage in meaningful ways that facilitates the learning experience.

Social Capital

Businesses that don’t incorporate social media tools are evolving at the rate of early organisms with brains that trap knowledge individual, with every employee wasting precious time relearning information. Social media tools allow businesses to harness the power of collective learning through their ability to make communicate information across the organization. The sharing of data enables learning which helps the business grow faster and smarter over time.

Student teams within higher education are important because they often faced with the same issues as workgroups within an organization; members have to be able to work remotely while still communicating in real time. Tools that were once considered workarounds for face-to-face interactions, are now allowing for multiple individuals to remotely work together. As new forms of communications and collaboration emerge the rate of knowledge transfer continues to grow exponentially.

Social media tools allow businesses to

harness their social capital by providing

an alternative way for employees to

connect, form/manage weak social ties

and bridge the departmental divides by

facilitating interactions that span across

the business. Employees are able to

build connections creating new

resources within the organization with

which they can discuss and collaborate

on business initiatives.

3 4

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2 [Topics Not Addressed] Well.. maybe just briefly

Ownership Collaboration and information sharing across the organization may have managers questioning ownership and feel like they are losing control of their share of the business. The counter argument can be made that a the increased visibility will help solidify the boundaries or that new roles and responsibilities will emerge. Ownership in the digital age is a conversation that needs to take place amongst upper management, in order to prepare for the shift in business as a result of unified communication.

Security In a digital world security is always a concern. Security concerns and issues that arise with unified communication are very specific to the business/organization implementing the tools. In order for UC to work and provide value to the business and its employee’s, users must be able to access network tools and files locally and remotely.

Moderation The increased ease of communication and visibility of information, comments, interactions can raise questions with regard to moderation of content. For users to feel comfortable sharing we recommend a self moderated community. Allow groups to govern and moderate themselves, by implementing a code of user conduct (with a focus on keeping communication positive) and utilizing existing team structures (assigning executive manager/ team leaders as group moderators). Constraining users through social norms is more effective and simpler to implement than any elaborate moderating system.

Cost The cost of UC systems will vary greatly between implementations. There are many factors that dictate the costs, all of which need to be assessed on a per case basis. Companies must conduct their own research to understand the costs relative to their business needs.

3 [Value to Enterprise]

Break barriers Socially

networked tools bridge social, physical and culture gaps by lowering the barriers for interaction and allowing for the sharing of knowledge that may not have otherwise occurred.

Communication and collaboration enabled business processes (CEBP)

Improve Efficiency Employees can discover the best ideas and apply them to their own teams growing the transfer of knowledge.

Smarter Decisions Communication and collaboration enabled business processes through the use of social media tools support faster decision-making, efficiency, and profitability.

Increased productivity Social media tools facilitate easier sharing of information across greater distances. Distributed teams can collaborate more easily than ever. Employees can discover the best ideas and apply them to their own teams, which opens potential for more standardized business processes.

Table by Forster 7

4 [Short Term Objectives] As the saying goes, “you have to walk before you can run.” Walking in this case refers to deploying the proper tools that will create the foundations for long term initiatives. Just as every physical structure needs a proper foundation, so does your company’s long term objectives. The first steps to creating a socially empowered workforce is to build socially enabled teams using cloud tools that facilitate communication and collaboration.

Each department within your organization is its own community, with processes and needs unique to their responsibilities. To foster social interaction and collaboration the type of tool to deploy with be dictated by the distinct needs of the group using it.

A socially enabled issue-tracking tool would be essential for software engineering teams, but has no application for marketing teams.

Solutions must fulfill the individual group’s business needs and increases user productivity. Occasionally multiple solutions may need to be implemented to meet all the businesses needs, with each tool meeting a distinct set of needs with an emphasis on minimizing further data fragmentation. Established out-of-the-box solutions offer the ability to implement viable tools that will form a solid foundation that will support your long term accessibility goals.

Shift from static documents to wikis to develop group resources; move email discussions into group chats or forums; migrate email list-serves to blog/microblog platforms that allow for commenting and discussion. Graphic by Forster

5 [Available Solutions]

Before researching new tools, that may not integrate well into your company established workflow, look at solutions offered by vendors your company already works with.

Types of social media tools collaborative projects

blogs and microblogs

social networking sites

shared storage

Social Media is a group of Internet-based applications that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content.

Company name Product name

Box Box

Cisco WebEx/Jabber/WebEx Connect

Citrix GoTo Meeting/GoTo Webinar/ShareFile/Podio

Google Google Apps for Business IBM SmartCloud for Social Business salesforce.com Chatter Microsoft Office 365 Yammer Yammer

Solutions from Top Vendors

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6 [Long Term Objectives]

In order to increase the collective knowledge, the overall objective is unification of information. Beyond centralizing the storage of information, data stored within the centralized locations must be properly indexed and accessible. The users access to the data determines the flow of knowledge across the community.

Just as each department required its own set of tools, each business needs to develop its own custom platform that bridges the gaps creating a growing knowledge base for the

Custom solutions can range from simple (yet efficient) search tools, to advanced dashboards that link together multiple cloud tools.

Google offers a customized platform that implements their search algorithms into any corporate intranet, providing an efficient search solution that can be used across the business.

Salesforce offers chatter which integrates into Salesforce platform.

Small steps add up to giant strides...

7 [Case Studies] W.K. Kellogg Foundation (WKKF) & The Vine

The vine social collaboration capabilities focus person-to-person, person-to-team, and person-to-company interactions including:

Common and integrated taxonomy

Enabled social conversation

Personal social space

"Like" and commenting

Organizational news page

Team pages

People Directory

Unified search experience

Key Contacts

Single task interface

Multi-platform Vine became go-to resource for WKKF’s employees to: Learn about what is happening across the foundation; Stay better connected and engaged with staff/teams; Access news, information and resources needed to be productive.

Ernst and Young & Yammer Enable employees to quickly connect and collaborate across 150 countries. EY’s Yammer roll-out emphasized a focused strategy, comprehensive group management and insightful measurement techniques. Established “Verified Groups” groups act as official hubs of conversation and dialogue. groups are sustained and nurtured by trained community managers and dedicated mentors. Established “health” scorecards Scorecards provided key insights concerning group performance and maturity, and identified opportunities for continual improvement.

NORC & InSite

Provides a one-stop shop to learn, share, and conduct its research through an innovative com-bination of collaborative workspaces and social tools. InSite allows NORC’s 700+ professional research and administrative staff throughout the US to work more efficiently and “think in the open.” It encourages sharing and helps dismantle the departmental and project-oriented silos, increasing efficient reuse of existing ideas, practices, and tools. Accomplishes:

Collaborative, uniform workspaces for each group and project team.

Improved discussion and document visibility through advanced, open security scheme.

User-customized information flows (subscriptions, following, and feeds).

Workflow and business process improvement.

Social engagement, tools, and games.

8 [Tips]

Shift the way business thinks...

Efficient search capabilities are essential to user adoption, with lower usage reported within systems that have poor search abilities. In order for tool to be relevant and integrated into their workflow, users must be able to efficiently search for the information they need.

To ensure user adoption... Start with a select group of “early adopters” to build foundation, and help keep users active as social applications open up to entire company.

Communication coupled with an effective search tool that will allow for more easily finding information relevant to their task at hand.

Adoption of social media tools by upper level management is essential to organic adaptation. Some companies use reverse mentoring, pairing younger (college hires) employees with senior management .

Organic adoption refers to usage not through pressure to do so, but natural tendency to share and communicate.

9 [References] [cover graphic] unknown. (Designer). 757913ac9efccba3c21197be09ac509c.jpg [Web

Graphic]. Retrieved from http://postgradproblems.com/new-study-says-social-media-is-

making-you-crazy/

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