Five Ways to Utilize Collaborative and Social Software
Monday: August 20, 2007 2:14 PM
No one can say for sure that Social Software or Collaborative technologies are going to take off inside your company at this point in time. We can say, with great certainty, that the company will eventually embrace these technologies. The one question that will continue to come up over and over again is how can I use these tools in my business model? Here are five ideas that might help you think about where and how.
Locate New Customers for My Products and Services
We all have customers in our job. I can’t imagine a single information worker job that doesn’t serve someone. If you believe the only way to survive is to expand then you are very interested in getting new customers. We are constantly looking to people with problems. People with problems are willing to try new things. People with problems are willing to dump tradition and look for real solutions. For example, if someone complains about not being able to find what they need on the Human Resources web site then that should signal opportunity for many. The search folks should hit them with a proposal on how they can come in and integrate the content into the corporate search engine. Information architects should provide a proposal for reviewing the web classification of content. Usability professionals should see this as an opportunity for providing ROI for their services. This new technology allows you to monitor the pulse of the organization and that will present plenty of opportunities.
Enhance your Customer Service
How many customer complaints do you handle? No one is complaining about the PMO or budgeting process? No one has complained about the training opportunities? No one has complained about your infrastructure? If you haven’t handled a complaint in the last 36 hours then you’re not connected to your customer. Customers complain when they care about what you do. Customers will complain when they find work worth paying for. Social software allows you customers to complain and you to respond and more importantly improve your offering. Yes, improve the product or service offering. Remember what Peter Drucker said about organizations: only three things happen naturally in organizations: friction, confusion, and underperformance.
Use Collaborative Tools for Knowledge Management
Maybe this is obvious but you can use these tools to manage the data, information, and knowledge within your group. Why not move that 250 page manual to a wiki? Embrace the reality that some enterprising person will shrink it to less than 10 pages. How about frequently asked questions? Imagine the productivity when the friction is removed from the process you currently use to deliver your offering. Yes, it will expose you and that’s what happens in a transparent organization. As Don Tapscott said, if you are going to be transparent (naked), you had better be buff.
Allowing Customers to Self-Support
General Electric made challenge to its employees; move 90% of internal business online in three years. How much of your business have you moved online? Utilizing tools like Sharepoint, you should be able to move the majority of your environment online. Keep in mind, this does not mean you that lower the service levels but you are simply enhancing it. More and more people are buying products on the Internet and using Web 2.0 technologies. We are getting to the point where this is expected. Customers expect great service both inside and outside the corporation. When you hear people talk about Web 2.0 they consistently use terms like my or mine. People don’t ask you go jump on LinkedIn, they ask if you have seen their LinkedIn profile. It’s more like “My Blog”, “My Facebook”, or “My Flikr”. Give your customers the ownership by allowing self service.
Restore Your Vision
If we are honest with ourselves, we know that politics, management, friction, and policy hinder our progress. In many cases, we want that protection from Security or Intellectual Property but in other cases, we want progression. Wal-Mart introduced a program where that gave out rewards for getting rid of the “Stupidest Thing We Do”. What made sense back in 2004 may not today. Just today, I was reviewing a process to order a product and it takes 2-3 months to work the internal system. Clearly something is broken where the process has become more important than productivity. These new tools allow you to go beyond all of this friction and get back on track to your original vision. When you took over your area, you wanted the best product and service offering possible. These tools can help you get there as the bar continues to rise. Remember what Ann Livermore of HP said about today’s competitive environment: These days, "building the best server isn't enough, that's the price of entry."
No one can say for sure that Social Software or Collaborative technologies are going to take off inside your company at this point in time. We can say, with great certainty, that the company will eventually embrace these technologies. The one question that will continue to come up over and over again is how can I use these tools in my business model? Here are five ideas that might help you think about where and how.
Locate New Customers for My Products and Services
We all have customers in our job. I can’t imagine a single information worker job that doesn’t serve someone. If you believe the only way to survive is to expand then you are very interested in getting new customers. We are constantly looking to people with problems. People with problems are willing to try new things. People with problems are willing to dump tradition and look for real solutions. For example, if someone complains about not being able to find what they need on the Human Resources web site then that should signal opportunity for many. The search folks should hit them with a proposal on how they can come in and integrate the content into the corporate search engine. Information architects should provide a proposal for reviewing the web classification of content. Usability professionals should see this as an opportunity for providing ROI for their services. This new technology allows you to monitor the pulse of the organization and that will present plenty of opportunities.
Enhance your Customer Service
How many customer complaints do you handle? No one is complaining about the PMO or budgeting process? No one has complained about the training opportunities? No one has complained about your infrastructure? If you haven’t handled a complaint in the last 36 hours then you’re not connected to your customer. Customers complain when they care about what you do. Customers will complain when they find work worth paying for. Social software allows you customers to complain and you to respond and more importantly improve your offering. Yes, improve the product or service offering. Remember what Peter Drucker said about organizations: only three things happen naturally in organizations: friction, confusion, and underperformance.
Use Collaborative Tools for Knowledge Management
Maybe this is obvious but you can use these tools to manage the data, information, and knowledge within your group. Why not move that 250 page manual to a wiki? Embrace the reality that some enterprising person will shrink it to less than 10 pages. How about frequently asked questions? Imagine the productivity when the friction is removed from the process you currently use to deliver your offering. Yes, it will expose you and that’s what happens in a transparent organization. As Don Tapscott said, if you are going to be transparent (naked), you had better be buff.
Allowing Customers to Self-Support
General Electric made challenge to its employees; move 90% of internal business online in three years. How much of your business have you moved online? Utilizing tools like Sharepoint, you should be able to move the majority of your environment online. Keep in mind, this does not mean you that lower the service levels but you are simply enhancing it. More and more people are buying products on the Internet and using Web 2.0 technologies. We are getting to the point where this is expected. Customers expect great service both inside and outside the corporation. When you hear people talk about Web 2.0 they consistently use terms like my or mine. People don’t ask you go jump on LinkedIn, they ask if you have seen their LinkedIn profile. It’s more like “My Blog”, “My Facebook”, or “My Flikr”. Give your customers the ownership by allowing self service.
Restore Your Vision
If we are honest with ourselves, we know that politics, management, friction, and policy hinder our progress. In many cases, we want that protection from Security or Intellectual Property but in other cases, we want progression. Wal-Mart introduced a program where that gave out rewards for getting rid of the “Stupidest Thing We Do”. What made sense back in 2004 may not today. Just today, I was reviewing a process to order a product and it takes 2-3 months to work the internal system. Clearly something is broken where the process has become more important than productivity. These new tools allow you to go beyond all of this friction and get back on track to your original vision. When you took over your area, you wanted the best product and service offering possible. These tools can help you get there as the bar continues to rise. Remember what Ann Livermore of HP said about today’s competitive environment: These days, "building the best server isn't enough, that's the price of entry."
