The enterprise social network project
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2025 6:08 am
Many companies are busy introducing enterprise social networks. Enthusiastic vendors of enterprise social network software have convinced companies that they can no longer do without them.
' Burning platforms ' are created by 'shocking' graphs, like the one below. The graph shows that the average company lifespan of the Standard & Poor index (the 500 largest American companies, measured by their market capitalization) has been reduced from about 60 to 20 years in just over 50 years. The pace of change must therefore increase drastically and enterprise social networks are the panacea. This makes the organization more transparent, employees share knowledge and experiences, this is better recorded and employee satisfaction increases.
At least, in theory. To facilitate all this, you need an enterprise social network solution as an organization. So the Gartner's and Forrester's of this world are called in, to see which software supplier can help with this adventure. Of course, international champions such as Microsoft ( Yammer ), Jive Software , IBM Connections , Salesforce Chatter are ready to sell you an enterprise social network platform.
sp-index-lifespan
That's where the trouble begins
And that's where the trouble starts. Before you know it, instead of experimenting with this technology, you're busy with an RFI/RFP process, guided by your sourcing department. And the IT department also starts to get involved in this selection process. The finance department starts asking what the business case for this investment actually is, whether it's financed from the 'internal communications budget' and if not, how it's arranged.
In the meantime, as an organization, you learn nothing in practice and waste time and energy on vendor presentations, gathering requirements, analyzing and prioritizing. Then you have to conclude a package selection process, so that you can make a choice and start negotiating the price.
After modeling the paper business case based on benefits from consultancy reports from belize mobile phone number list Mckinsey , you can finally start the project after a lead time of six months. You set it up on a grand scale. The IT department provides it with the 'necessary' integrations, for example with the single sign on system. The department also fills the profiles with HR data from the HRM systems. After the necessary standard discussions about time, budget and more or less functionalities, your enterprise social network goes live.
The CEO has freed up time and cuts the virtual ribbon, giving the entire company access to the enterprise social network. The first few days are positive. Every day, new colleagues log in, fill out their profiles and look around. Top management, guided by corporate communications, faithfully posts their pieces for the first few weeks, and even receives a few reactions.
What was the actual goal?
And then? After the first weeks full of enthusiasm, the growth of the key metrics that were reported on until now is decreasing: the number of new members, the number of logins per member per month and the number of posts per member per month. Questions are starting to arise. What was the goal? Don't we already have an enterprise social network, called the corporate intranet? What do I get out of it as an employee in my daily practice? How does it help us to increase sales, asks the commercial director?
How does our enterprise social network help me as an employee in my daily work, where I am held accountable at the end of the year? And over time, all the energy disappears from the enterprise social network and it threatens to join the 80% of social business projects that Gartner says do not deliver the promised benefits.
' Burning platforms ' are created by 'shocking' graphs, like the one below. The graph shows that the average company lifespan of the Standard & Poor index (the 500 largest American companies, measured by their market capitalization) has been reduced from about 60 to 20 years in just over 50 years. The pace of change must therefore increase drastically and enterprise social networks are the panacea. This makes the organization more transparent, employees share knowledge and experiences, this is better recorded and employee satisfaction increases.
At least, in theory. To facilitate all this, you need an enterprise social network solution as an organization. So the Gartner's and Forrester's of this world are called in, to see which software supplier can help with this adventure. Of course, international champions such as Microsoft ( Yammer ), Jive Software , IBM Connections , Salesforce Chatter are ready to sell you an enterprise social network platform.
sp-index-lifespan
That's where the trouble begins
And that's where the trouble starts. Before you know it, instead of experimenting with this technology, you're busy with an RFI/RFP process, guided by your sourcing department. And the IT department also starts to get involved in this selection process. The finance department starts asking what the business case for this investment actually is, whether it's financed from the 'internal communications budget' and if not, how it's arranged.
In the meantime, as an organization, you learn nothing in practice and waste time and energy on vendor presentations, gathering requirements, analyzing and prioritizing. Then you have to conclude a package selection process, so that you can make a choice and start negotiating the price.
After modeling the paper business case based on benefits from consultancy reports from belize mobile phone number list Mckinsey , you can finally start the project after a lead time of six months. You set it up on a grand scale. The IT department provides it with the 'necessary' integrations, for example with the single sign on system. The department also fills the profiles with HR data from the HRM systems. After the necessary standard discussions about time, budget and more or less functionalities, your enterprise social network goes live.
The CEO has freed up time and cuts the virtual ribbon, giving the entire company access to the enterprise social network. The first few days are positive. Every day, new colleagues log in, fill out their profiles and look around. Top management, guided by corporate communications, faithfully posts their pieces for the first few weeks, and even receives a few reactions.
What was the actual goal?
And then? After the first weeks full of enthusiasm, the growth of the key metrics that were reported on until now is decreasing: the number of new members, the number of logins per member per month and the number of posts per member per month. Questions are starting to arise. What was the goal? Don't we already have an enterprise social network, called the corporate intranet? What do I get out of it as an employee in my daily practice? How does it help us to increase sales, asks the commercial director?
How does our enterprise social network help me as an employee in my daily work, where I am held accountable at the end of the year? And over time, all the energy disappears from the enterprise social network and it threatens to join the 80% of social business projects that Gartner says do not deliver the promised benefits.