Case Study 1: Yammer at Capgemini
The first example of Enterprise 2.0 in action that I would like to present is the introduction of social messaging tool Yammer to Capgemini, a multinational IT consultancy firm.
The Capgemini example ties in well with the four enterprise 2.0 benefit dimensions outlined by Dawson (2008).
- Productivity & Efficiency
- Knowledge
- Reputation
- Staff Engagement
Whilst it may first come to mind, that the blurring of boundaries between work and play could negatively affect worker productivity and efficiency, the opposite effect has been seen to occur. The self-governing nature of threads on Capgemini's Yammer tool, has proven to effectively prevent or stop threads that are becoming too 'play' oriented. The media attention resulting from the immediate success of Capgemini's Yammer implementation has also boosted the reputation of the firm not only in the eyes of industry partners and competitors, but prospective employees also.
Case Study 2: Ben and Jerry's 'Do the World a Flavor'
In 2006, Tapscott & Williams defined 'prosumers' in their book 'Wikinomics' as companies that engage in the blending of consumers and producers. A prime example of a prosumer is Ben and Jerry's, an American ice cream company that exports globally.
As a global exporter, Ben and Jerry's had great reach when conducting their 2010 'Do the world a flavor' competition. Amy-Mae Elliot from Mashable spoke with Head of PR from Ben and Jerry's Sean Greenwood about this people-powered venture in Crowdsourcing Case Studies. The hugely successful competition that focused on raising awareness of Ben and Jerry's use of fair trade ingredients, garnered 10,000 new flavour ideas from the US alone. When asked why they went to the public with this campaign, Greenwood replied with 'It's always a tremendous opportunity to tap into our fan's passions and creativity'. This statement speaks volumes for wikinomics business methodologies, as in my opinion no staged marketing surveys or focus groups can compete with the telling information derived from the collective conscious of the crowd working together to achieve a common goal.
Case Study 3: iChing at Yum Brands
The implementataion of 'Jive' based social tool iChing at Yum! Brands, the parent company of KFC, Pizza Hut etc., has proven very successful and fits in well with the S.L.A.T.E.S. paradigm outline by McAfee in 2006 Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of Emergent Collaboration.
This stands for:
- Search
- Links
- Authoring
- Tags
- Extensions
- Signals
To ensure that the 6,000 back office workers across 600 different groups could easily retrieve the information they required, a search function was absolutely necessary on Yum! Brand's new social networking tool, especially when you consider the amount of information that has been gathered over the years in such a large organisation. This is where developing a tool that is based on an already existent system, such as 'Jive', becomes so important, as a common search interface tool that has been tried and tested was easily put in place for their custom system.
Likewise, a links option in the navigation menu, was implemented much like in Jive, which allows for users to set links to relevant information in their posts. Much like 'Jive', 'iChing' is based around user-generated blogs, wikis and discussions. This authoring component of iChing, is a key driver in employee participation. The tag functionality embedded in the system enhances the 'search' interface immensely. Through users creating tags on their own posts, the search functionality becomes much more meaningful and powerful, as it does not rely on the centralised setting of keywords.
Also, built into 'iChing' is RSS capability, which is also derived from 'Jive'. This RSS capability improves search capability further as employees do not have to sift through tags and search results to see new posts that are of relevance to them, as it will be signalled to them in a simple 'news feed' format. This RSS feed is yet another good example of why deriving your platform from an already existing tool, such as 'Jive' is so beneficial, as the implementation of effective RSS capability from software would be a challenging and expensive process.
As can be seen, Web 2.0 applications and ideologies are now well embedded in modern organisations and there are multiple existing tools and platforms available to those organisations that do not wish to be left behind. I leave you my readers with a question to consider....
References:
Dawson, R. (2008). Implementing Enterprise 2.0. San Francisco; Sydney: Advanced Human Technologies.
Tapscott, D. & Williams, A. (2006). Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything. New York: Portfolio.
I don't think surveys and focus groups will ever become obsolete, at least not anytime soon. Conducting surveys and focus groups, as opposed to more digital techniques, targets a different audience that may otherwise be left out. It'll still have its uses. Great read.
ReplyDeleteanswering the question, nope it wont , just like mail and email. some people are still prefer to use mail for communication . one of the reason is because there is some people that still not familiar with internet.
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ReplyDeleteI think the traditional marketing techniques and tools still exist because they are the base for marketing. We have an example of newspaper which still exist with a good volume in sales regardless the news websites and blogs. So, my message here is that the traditional marketing will not be affected that much.
ReplyDeleteInteresting thoughts guys. I suppose traditional marketing mediums will never become entirely obsolete. However, much like physical mail and printed newspapers, I feel there will be a marked reduction in the prevalence of these marketing techniques over the coming years.
ReplyDeleteGreat read, Richard! Your writing style is professional - i like it! I believe surveys and focus groups will still be going strong in the coming years. We've had technology for a while and these forms of data collection are still present. Traditional paper surveys are still used, though online surveys are becoming more widely used. However, focus groups, interviews, cultural probes - all these forms of data collection provide an interaction and engagement that digital technology just doesn't have. Currently learning about these now in one of my classes, the information is gathered in this way for a strong purpose, and it was discussed within the lecture that they most likely won't transition out to digital platforms anytime soon. I still prefer a book in my hand over a kindle, and I take my uni notes by writing them down with a pen, rather than typing up on a laptop. I also hand write assessment before typing it up too. Old school, but it works :) For me anyway. But I do still adore technology! :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting perspective Ashley. I agree that a physical book is far more appealing than a kindle ever would be and for this same reason conventional marketing stategies will always have a place in modern society.
DeleteHi Richard,
ReplyDeleteWith that, Many people around the globe are still using the conventional ways of communication, like letter writing, applications and regular posts etc. since it takes a long time to vanish the this traditional system from the world.
great post