I'm hosting a number of workshops to help small business owners make the most of the web. A "Blogs and websites for small businesses" workshop will be held on Thursday 25 March from 9.00am - 12.00pm. The session is aimed at small business owners and will show them the practicalities of setting up a blog or website and how to obtain maximum business benefits from them.
On Thursday 22 April from 9.00am-12.00pm "Grow your business with social media" will show small business owners how to maximise the benefit of free social media tools like Facebook and Twitter. For example, increasing sales and improving communication with your customers.
If you require more information or would like to attend please email me.
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Monday, 15 February 2010
Enterprise Social Media: How your business can benefit
On the Tuesday 30 March at 2.00pm GMT I'll be hosting a webinar entitled 'Enterprise Social Media: How your business can benefit'.
In this webinar I'll be showing how a business can introduce enterprise social media tools and demonstrating the benefits.
You can sign up for this free webinar by selecting the button below. Please note that spaces are limited.
In this webinar I'll be showing how a business can introduce enterprise social media tools and demonstrating the benefits.
You can sign up for this free webinar by selecting the button below. Please note that spaces are limited.
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Top ten tools for small businesses
Following a talk I gave at Cheltenham Connect on Tuesday 9 February, the slide deck is now available on the right. The tools have made the top ten as they are free and easy to use and help businesses save time. All bar one of the tools are hosted online so can be accessed from any internet connection.
For help on how to use any of the tools please get in touch.
For help on how to use any of the tools please get in touch.
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Give productivity and sales a boost with enterprise social media
The biggest complaint from employees about intranets and other information storage areas like file shares, is poor quality search and navigation. They struggle to find what they are looking for. Enterprise social media can help the flow of information around a company and keep employees up to speed with best practice and company news. Better informed and more knowledgeable employees work smarter and generate more revenue.
For example, a sales consultant who can quickly find relevant case studies and has easy access to subject matter experts on his proposition can have a real edge. In organisations where employees recreate the wheel and such collateral is repeatedly produced from scratch, even more time can be saved. Good search technology, feeds and social bookmarking/tagging can all make appropriate information accessible.
Tools like Yammer enable efficient communication and collaboration amongst team and project members. This saves time and enable projects to be completed faster which aids productivity. For example, if a new product or service can be developed faster, then the time it takes to get to market is reduced and more can be sold.
Social media tools hosted on the web can help the business continue to operate when internally hosted systems are unavailable. For example, during the ‘big freeze' in the UK in January 2010, tools like instant messaging and webinars enabled communications to continue while email was less useful.
Within most companies email is the principal form of communication but email is not as 'light' as some social media tools and can be slow. Furthermore, useful information is hidden away in individual email accounts. Enterprise social media tools enable faster and more efficient communication. For example, instant messaging allows for rapid answering of questions by the IT Help Desk. The open nature of social media helps foster an increased awareness of what activities are going on both locally on projects and across teams. Due to this increased awareness less questions have to be asked as knowledge is acquired on an ongoing basis.
Many companies have an employee directory but this information is often maintained by the IT department. It’s more efficient for employees to edit and keep their personal details up to date and this approach allows them to add additional useful information.
For example, social media style profiles enable employees to list their areas of expertise so they can be easily located by others throughout the company and not just their immediate colleagues and team members. People can be grouped together in lists according to their areas of expertise thus forming a searchable database of subject matter experts. Employees can gain information from experts quickly and easily and this helps them do their job more productively.
Furthermore, the personal data from a profile can used to pre-populate online forms to save employees time when they use online self service systems. So employees don't have to continually fill out their personal details when for example; claiming expenses, buying software and viewing payslips. This results in a more efficient process and removes a repeated chore for employees.
Feed readers can be an efficient alternative to email subscription lists. Expertise from outside the business can be obtained as it's released. Feeds are easy to maintain and content is obtained quickly. Feeds can also be used to subscribe to an employee’s interests within the organisation. A significant issue with email is that many of the messages received are not directly relevant to the recipient and feeds help alleviate this issue of 'internal spam'.
With the right implementation, enterprise social media can make a real improvement to productivity and sales.
For example, a sales consultant who can quickly find relevant case studies and has easy access to subject matter experts on his proposition can have a real edge. In organisations where employees recreate the wheel and such collateral is repeatedly produced from scratch, even more time can be saved. Good search technology, feeds and social bookmarking/tagging can all make appropriate information accessible.
Tools like Yammer enable efficient communication and collaboration amongst team and project members. This saves time and enable projects to be completed faster which aids productivity. For example, if a new product or service can be developed faster, then the time it takes to get to market is reduced and more can be sold.
Social media tools hosted on the web can help the business continue to operate when internally hosted systems are unavailable. For example, during the ‘big freeze' in the UK in January 2010, tools like instant messaging and webinars enabled communications to continue while email was less useful.
Within most companies email is the principal form of communication but email is not as 'light' as some social media tools and can be slow. Furthermore, useful information is hidden away in individual email accounts. Enterprise social media tools enable faster and more efficient communication. For example, instant messaging allows for rapid answering of questions by the IT Help Desk. The open nature of social media helps foster an increased awareness of what activities are going on both locally on projects and across teams. Due to this increased awareness less questions have to be asked as knowledge is acquired on an ongoing basis.
Many companies have an employee directory but this information is often maintained by the IT department. It’s more efficient for employees to edit and keep their personal details up to date and this approach allows them to add additional useful information.
For example, social media style profiles enable employees to list their areas of expertise so they can be easily located by others throughout the company and not just their immediate colleagues and team members. People can be grouped together in lists according to their areas of expertise thus forming a searchable database of subject matter experts. Employees can gain information from experts quickly and easily and this helps them do their job more productively.
Furthermore, the personal data from a profile can used to pre-populate online forms to save employees time when they use online self service systems. So employees don't have to continually fill out their personal details when for example; claiming expenses, buying software and viewing payslips. This results in a more efficient process and removes a repeated chore for employees.
Feed readers can be an efficient alternative to email subscription lists. Expertise from outside the business can be obtained as it's released. Feeds are easy to maintain and content is obtained quickly. Feeds can also be used to subscribe to an employee’s interests within the organisation. A significant issue with email is that many of the messages received are not directly relevant to the recipient and feeds help alleviate this issue of 'internal spam'.
With the right implementation, enterprise social media can make a real improvement to productivity and sales.
Monday, 4 January 2010
Improve your profit margins - how enterprise social media tools can engage employees
As well as direct benefits of improving communication and collaboration use of enterprise social media tools can increase levels of employee engagement. It's generally accepted amongst HR professionals and business leaders that employee engagement can dramatically influence the bottom line.
Watson Wyatt’s (now Towers Watson) 2008/2009 WorkUSA report found that when employees are highly engaged, their companies enjoy 26 percent higher employee productivity, have lower turnover risk and are more likely to attract top talent. These companies have also earned 13 percent greater total returns to shareholders over the last five years. In a global survey in 2007 by Melcrum, 71% of internal communicators selected employee engagement as a perceived benefit of enterprise social media.
Cutting edge intranets are now incorporating social features. In today's announcement of the 2010 Ten Best Intranets from Nielsen Norman Group, the winning intranets provided the opportunity for employees to get to know one another as individuals and offered workgroup support that encourages work-related connections. Users on winning sites could create profiles, share content and share bookmarks to their favorite sites.
Specifically then, how do enterprise social media tools engage employees?
Open not closed - communications on a social network are open giving employees and managers more opportunity to interact with one another and to discuss the company's aims and objectives. The open nature of communication creates not only greater awareness of a company's goals but also ambient awareness - an understanding of what is going on in the company even if it is not directly relevant. This leads to feeling part of whole team.
Connections - Twitter, Facebook, Yammer, webinars, instant messaging. There are now lots of ways of making new connections and getting to know people within an organisation. A connected company working together as a team is an engaged one.
Teamwork/collaboration - communicating on a project or within a team using a tool like Yammer is more engaging than email as the working style is more collaborative and communications are more open. There are many tools that can be used to make project work more engaging including Twitter.
Level playing field - social media tools place everyone within an organisation on an equal footing. They create a 'side by side' as opposed to a 'top down' communication environment. A CEO of an 8000 person multi-national I worked summed it up with following quote about Yammer. "I like Yammer as it allows me to discuss topics with you guys like an equal not the boss." Status barriers are broken down and employees become more engaged with management and the company. Employees are more likely to communicate with a board member using a tool like Yammer than send them an email.
Trust - whether being able to communicate through an internal social network, their own blog, a wiki, Twitter or Facebook, employees will feel trusted that their employer has empowered them with a voice. Trust creates an improved employee/employer relationship and helps foster engagement.
Tone - Whilst there is a place for corporate announcements from the Employee Communications team it can be refreshing to read citizen journalism with a more personal tone from employees. For example, blogging about a conference they have attended or a new product they are developing.
Video - As stated in my Ten Enterprise Social Media Predictions for 2010 video will play a bigger role in the enterprise this year. Video is an appealing channel that can help leaders communicate more effectively and help employees become engaged with oompany goals and activities. Collaborative video where employees work together to film and edit a production is highly engaging. (please get in touch for more info on collaborative video)
Fun - last but not least employees are engaged with a company if they are happy. Frustration with poor IT and technology leads to disengagement. Properly implemented social media tools are enjoyable and fun to use.
In summary, engagement between employees and the company is prevented for two main reasons; barriers and passivity. Barriers prevent the company working as a unified engaged team. Whether they are barriers due to status, communication, generation gaps, organisational structure or geography, enterprise social media tools can help break them down. In working practices and internal communications employees can now be active rather than passive. They have the tools to seek out expertise and share knowledge and platforms to create content and communicate openly with colleagues and management.
The outcome is engaged employees combining and connecting for a competitive advantage and improved bottom line.
Watson Wyatt’s (now Towers Watson) 2008/2009 WorkUSA report found that when employees are highly engaged, their companies enjoy 26 percent higher employee productivity, have lower turnover risk and are more likely to attract top talent. These companies have also earned 13 percent greater total returns to shareholders over the last five years. In a global survey in 2007 by Melcrum, 71% of internal communicators selected employee engagement as a perceived benefit of enterprise social media.
Cutting edge intranets are now incorporating social features. In today's announcement of the 2010 Ten Best Intranets from Nielsen Norman Group, the winning intranets provided the opportunity for employees to get to know one another as individuals and offered workgroup support that encourages work-related connections. Users on winning sites could create profiles, share content and share bookmarks to their favorite sites.
Specifically then, how do enterprise social media tools engage employees?
Open not closed - communications on a social network are open giving employees and managers more opportunity to interact with one another and to discuss the company's aims and objectives. The open nature of communication creates not only greater awareness of a company's goals but also ambient awareness - an understanding of what is going on in the company even if it is not directly relevant. This leads to feeling part of whole team.
Connections - Twitter, Facebook, Yammer, webinars, instant messaging. There are now lots of ways of making new connections and getting to know people within an organisation. A connected company working together as a team is an engaged one.
Teamwork/collaboration - communicating on a project or within a team using a tool like Yammer is more engaging than email as the working style is more collaborative and communications are more open. There are many tools that can be used to make project work more engaging including Twitter.
Level playing field - social media tools place everyone within an organisation on an equal footing. They create a 'side by side' as opposed to a 'top down' communication environment. A CEO of an 8000 person multi-national I worked summed it up with following quote about Yammer. "I like Yammer as it allows me to discuss topics with you guys like an equal not the boss." Status barriers are broken down and employees become more engaged with management and the company. Employees are more likely to communicate with a board member using a tool like Yammer than send them an email.
Trust - whether being able to communicate through an internal social network, their own blog, a wiki, Twitter or Facebook, employees will feel trusted that their employer has empowered them with a voice. Trust creates an improved employee/employer relationship and helps foster engagement.
Tone - Whilst there is a place for corporate announcements from the Employee Communications team it can be refreshing to read citizen journalism with a more personal tone from employees. For example, blogging about a conference they have attended or a new product they are developing.
Video - As stated in my Ten Enterprise Social Media Predictions for 2010 video will play a bigger role in the enterprise this year. Video is an appealing channel that can help leaders communicate more effectively and help employees become engaged with oompany goals and activities. Collaborative video where employees work together to film and edit a production is highly engaging. (please get in touch for more info on collaborative video)
Fun - last but not least employees are engaged with a company if they are happy. Frustration with poor IT and technology leads to disengagement. Properly implemented social media tools are enjoyable and fun to use.
In summary, engagement between employees and the company is prevented for two main reasons; barriers and passivity. Barriers prevent the company working as a unified engaged team. Whether they are barriers due to status, communication, generation gaps, organisational structure or geography, enterprise social media tools can help break them down. In working practices and internal communications employees can now be active rather than passive. They have the tools to seek out expertise and share knowledge and platforms to create content and communicate openly with colleagues and management.
The outcome is engaged employees combining and connecting for a competitive advantage and improved bottom line.
Thursday, 17 December 2009
Ten enterprise social media predictions for 2010
It's a good time to look to the future and make some predictions on how technology and social media will influence the way we work in 2010 and into the new decade. In general terms, use of social media within the firewall will expand hugely in 2010 and begin to catch up with the huge growth that we've seen externally in the past two years. Social media is now an intrinsic part of marketing, PR and is seen increasingly in CRM with the focus very much on the consumer. 2010 will see more emphasis on the employee, who after all performs the external functions listed plus all the others in the enterprise, so there is plenty of scope for value to be created.
1) Whilst there is currently a split between traditional intranet platforms and social networks like Yammer and Socialtext, functions from both will merge to create social intranets. The majority of 'off the shelf' intranets will come complete with intelligent search, social networking, instant messaging, ratings, polls, blogs and wikis. Companies such as Odyssey and Intranet Connections are setting the pace and other platform providers will follow. Intranets will be more about 'the way of working' - collaboration and workflow, and less about communication from management to employees. In the same way that social networks are connecting outside the workplace, eg LinkedIn's recent tie up with Twitter, there will be increased integration amongst enterprise social networks and between enterprise social networks, intranets and other applications. An example of this is Yammer's integration with Microsoft Outlook. Integration will be aided by Salesforce release of the API for Chatter which will lead to many hooks ups with other vendors. The ready made market of around 70,000 Salesforce customers will also help spur the growth of enterprise social media throughout 2010.
2) They'll be a increase in mobile devices being used to access enterprise applications and the company intranet. There has been huge growth this year in mobile phone sales and in particular smartphones. This will continue into 2010 with IDC predicting that the number of mobile phones in circulation will reach 1 billion which will be close to the number of internet connected PCs at 1.3 billion. In the workplace the ratio of PCs to mobiles is big but in 2010 the gap will narrow. We are now at a stage - promised around 5 years ago in UK TV ads for WAP - where browsing the web is an enjoyable and worthwhile experience. We'll see intranet browsing, instant messaging and corporate apps for iPhone and Android, such as Yammer and meeting room booking apps. Mobile devices will become larger with popularity driven by Apple's new tablet PC. Gazing further into the crystal ball, e-readers will also make an appearance within the firewall.
3) Browser based working will become the norm with cloud computing taking over from internal server hosted applications. 2009 saw a renaissance for cloud computing with better security and improved usability and hosted services such as Taleo becoming more popular. Many of the new social intranets will be based on the web enabling people to work from anywhere there's an internet connection or via their smartphone. Employees will use their personal area on the intranet to store documents and files which will lead to a reduction in the use of shared drives and memory sticks.
4) Employees will increasingly resort to using their own gadgets and technology where companies don't provide them with what they need to work and communicate efficiently. Mobile devices and use of instant messaging tools are examples of this. With employers struggling to keep in house technology at the same level as consumer gadgets, we could see companies outsource some of their desktop and IT procurement to their employees.
5) Presence technology will become more widespread. The technology provides information on whether a person you might want to call or message is actually 'present' and ready to answer. For example, Office Communicator provides online, offline, busy and away indicators and Facebook Chat provides online, offline and idle status. Such indicators will be incorporated into the intranet and employee directory/social network applications and in company smartphone apps.
6) It's amazing how many internal applications still require separate sign on which is a real turn off for employees and a time waster. 2010 will be the year when you only have to login to your PC or through a web portal to gain full access to all network applications and systems. This one is not about new technology just the planning and effort to implement it.
7) 2010 will be the year of video in the enterprise driven by falling prices, increased availability of web friendly cameras and the increasing popularity of youtube. The Flip
(affiliate link), plus recent entrants such as Samsung
(affiliate link) to the market will drive corporate sales. There are several ways in which employees can make valuable and engaging use of video; eg for training, to record an event, to demonstrate the company culture and to solve problems.
8) Ask most employees what they dislike most about their intranet and the answer in most cases is, 'I can't find what I want' or variations on this. 2010 should see improvements in location of information for a number of reasons. Firstly, Google is regularly improving its search offering for the enterprise (Google Search Appliance). Secondly, intranet platform providers are including better quality search facilities in their products. Thirdly, the open nature of the social intranet will make people and information easier to locate. Fourthly, developments in intelligent search techniques will see most popular and context related documents automatically displayed for the user without the need for active searching. So for example, if you working on a bid document past case studies of the same and similar product or service will be displayed. Odyssey are offering this now and offers will follow. Fifthly, although perhaps this will be 2011 rather than 2010, similar enterprise applications to Goggles will see picture search being used to scan business cards, bar codes of stock and assets and perhaps eventually documents and people. Looking even further ahead, augmented reality combined with GPS could be used in a similar way to provide real time business information. Just run out of a component for a product? You could scan a supplier's business card and immediately view his current stock list, location and availability.
9) Existing employee directories as they exist now will disappear. Either they will morph into social networks complete with expanded profiles and status updates through in house development or they will be replaced with social network type applications that are built into 'off the shelf' intranet products.
10) Finally, most of the changes predicted above need a framework so that employees have guidance or what they should and shouldn't do with social media, new tools and technology. Therefore, we'll see an increasing number of companies producing social media policies or guidelines or incorporating them into existing HR and information security documentation. A US survey in July by Russell Herder and law firm Ethos Business Law showed that only a third of companies had such policies in place.
That's my take on the future of intranets, enterprise social media and related technology in 2010. Please comment below or get in touch and tell me what you think.
1) Whilst there is currently a split between traditional intranet platforms and social networks like Yammer and Socialtext, functions from both will merge to create social intranets. The majority of 'off the shelf' intranets will come complete with intelligent search, social networking, instant messaging, ratings, polls, blogs and wikis. Companies such as Odyssey and Intranet Connections are setting the pace and other platform providers will follow. Intranets will be more about 'the way of working' - collaboration and workflow, and less about communication from management to employees. In the same way that social networks are connecting outside the workplace, eg LinkedIn's recent tie up with Twitter, there will be increased integration amongst enterprise social networks and between enterprise social networks, intranets and other applications. An example of this is Yammer's integration with Microsoft Outlook. Integration will be aided by Salesforce release of the API for Chatter which will lead to many hooks ups with other vendors. The ready made market of around 70,000 Salesforce customers will also help spur the growth of enterprise social media throughout 2010.
2) They'll be a increase in mobile devices being used to access enterprise applications and the company intranet. There has been huge growth this year in mobile phone sales and in particular smartphones. This will continue into 2010 with IDC predicting that the number of mobile phones in circulation will reach 1 billion which will be close to the number of internet connected PCs at 1.3 billion. In the workplace the ratio of PCs to mobiles is big but in 2010 the gap will narrow. We are now at a stage - promised around 5 years ago in UK TV ads for WAP - where browsing the web is an enjoyable and worthwhile experience. We'll see intranet browsing, instant messaging and corporate apps for iPhone and Android, such as Yammer and meeting room booking apps. Mobile devices will become larger with popularity driven by Apple's new tablet PC. Gazing further into the crystal ball, e-readers will also make an appearance within the firewall.
3) Browser based working will become the norm with cloud computing taking over from internal server hosted applications. 2009 saw a renaissance for cloud computing with better security and improved usability and hosted services such as Taleo becoming more popular. Many of the new social intranets will be based on the web enabling people to work from anywhere there's an internet connection or via their smartphone. Employees will use their personal area on the intranet to store documents and files which will lead to a reduction in the use of shared drives and memory sticks.
4) Employees will increasingly resort to using their own gadgets and technology where companies don't provide them with what they need to work and communicate efficiently. Mobile devices and use of instant messaging tools are examples of this. With employers struggling to keep in house technology at the same level as consumer gadgets, we could see companies outsource some of their desktop and IT procurement to their employees.
5) Presence technology will become more widespread. The technology provides information on whether a person you might want to call or message is actually 'present' and ready to answer. For example, Office Communicator provides online, offline, busy and away indicators and Facebook Chat provides online, offline and idle status. Such indicators will be incorporated into the intranet and employee directory/social network applications and in company smartphone apps.
6) It's amazing how many internal applications still require separate sign on which is a real turn off for employees and a time waster. 2010 will be the year when you only have to login to your PC or through a web portal to gain full access to all network applications and systems. This one is not about new technology just the planning and effort to implement it.
7) 2010 will be the year of video in the enterprise driven by falling prices, increased availability of web friendly cameras and the increasing popularity of youtube. The Flip
(affiliate link), plus recent entrants such as Samsung(affiliate link) to the market will drive corporate sales. There are several ways in which employees can make valuable and engaging use of video; eg for training, to record an event, to demonstrate the company culture and to solve problems.8) Ask most employees what they dislike most about their intranet and the answer in most cases is, 'I can't find what I want' or variations on this. 2010 should see improvements in location of information for a number of reasons. Firstly, Google is regularly improving its search offering for the enterprise (Google Search Appliance). Secondly, intranet platform providers are including better quality search facilities in their products. Thirdly, the open nature of the social intranet will make people and information easier to locate. Fourthly, developments in intelligent search techniques will see most popular and context related documents automatically displayed for the user without the need for active searching. So for example, if you working on a bid document past case studies of the same and similar product or service will be displayed. Odyssey are offering this now and offers will follow. Fifthly, although perhaps this will be 2011 rather than 2010, similar enterprise applications to Goggles will see picture search being used to scan business cards, bar codes of stock and assets and perhaps eventually documents and people. Looking even further ahead, augmented reality combined with GPS could be used in a similar way to provide real time business information. Just run out of a component for a product? You could scan a supplier's business card and immediately view his current stock list, location and availability.
9) Existing employee directories as they exist now will disappear. Either they will morph into social networks complete with expanded profiles and status updates through in house development or they will be replaced with social network type applications that are built into 'off the shelf' intranet products.
10) Finally, most of the changes predicted above need a framework so that employees have guidance or what they should and shouldn't do with social media, new tools and technology. Therefore, we'll see an increasing number of companies producing social media policies or guidelines or incorporating them into existing HR and information security documentation. A US survey in July by Russell Herder and law firm Ethos Business Law showed that only a third of companies had such policies in place.
That's my take on the future of intranets, enterprise social media and related technology in 2010. Please comment below or get in touch and tell me what you think.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
