Tag Archives: collaboration

I am not sure that we will be talking about Social Business in as little as five years

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

My wife is a primary school teacher and she has been pioneering a “digital classroom”.  While a lot of this has been experimental, she has seen amazing results.  Take for example, children with learning difficulties who are able to substantially advance their potential through the use of an iPad.  Not only are the kids using the latest technologies and cloud based solutions but they are also facilitating their learning through the use of social media.  This has taken their learning from being an individual experience to a collaborative experience.

We struggle to dream of what the next 5 years will hold with technology, but one thing I am sure about, is that we will no longer talk about Social Business.  The reason for this is that it will just be the way we work.  Businesses all around the world, will adopt Social Business strategies as they go through business transformation.  They funny thing is that the children of today are using these tools as part of their everyday like.

Who knows what/who will be the technology leaders in the next 5 years.  It may well be that today there is a trend which is quietly leading to the explosion of another era in technology.  Today, children are being taught and prepared for jobs which don’t even exist today.  I am starting to hear of a number of new top level (c-level) roles.  One of the main being the role of the CLO (Chief Listening Officer).  This is a person who is strategically engaged in listening to and interpreting what sentiment there is for a particular brand or group of brands.  The interpretation of this social capital will lead to better services, new products and the flex required to react to rapidly changing markets.

For readers who are interested, here is a link to my wife’s blog

 

Lotus Notes becomes social with Lotus Notes Social Edition

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

That’s right, Lotus Notes has gone through a makeover and the next release will be shipping with a social media look and feel.  The software will present users with an active activity stream which will alert them to what is happening within their business.  Alerts will be feed in from other applications and also the activity of people.

Email is quickly becoming a thing of the past.  People want to get away from using email and prefer the likes of Facebook to communicate openly with friends.  IBM has taken note of these user trends and have applied it to the way we do business.

In this video, Ed Brill talks about the growth of the Lotus Notes and Domino platforms.  He also talks about new features which will be available in Lotus Notes Social Edition which should be released soon.

Click on this link to watch the video

If I was to own my own business again, my focus would be on customer intimacy

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

Over the years I have run a number of businesses, I know what it is like to go through the ups and downs with a need to be agile enough to change with markets and customer demands.  As I reflect on all the lessons I have learnt, there is one thing that I would focus most of my attention on, if there is ever a next time round – Customer intimacy.

Here in New Zealand, I would consider there to be a lack of high level customer service.  Customer facing staff either lack the skills to offer a high level of service, or they lack the drive to offer such service.  I can think of two competing companies whom I use to use as suppliers.  One of them often offered me a cheaper price, while the other offered me great customer service and a higher price.  Interestingly enough, I would more often than not, pay the higher price for the better customer service.

When I use the term “Customer Intimacy” I’m referring to becoming both “sticky” and “attached” to my customer.   The following points outline what this might look like:

  • Be recognized as a trusted advisor
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the customer and their business
  • Add value to the customer’s business

Wikipedia describes customer intimacy as being:

Customer intimacy is a concept from marketing, which describes the ability of a supplier to become accepted and known as the regular partner with its customer. Customer intimacy creates a virtuous circle: the better the supplier knows the customer company with its objectives and difficulties, the better able he is to provide an optimal solution.

All this is easy to talk about, but really it sounds like a lot of work.  Maybe even idealistic.  I often hear parents of new born children, make comments about no instruction manual being included as part of the delivery. Just like every child is different, so are your customers.  Businesses don’t deal with businesses, they deal with people.

By nature, people are social.  Not only do they like to share what they’re thinking, but they also like to know that they’re being listened to.  To deliver evidence (for example, meeting minutes) that you understand what has been said, is only 30% proof that you were listening, the rest is proving that you can deliver tangible benefits over a sustained period.

Just like in any relationship, good communication is absolutely paramount.  With a customer, it may not just be about understanding how they do business, but it may also be about the customer understanding how you do business.  For instance, if a customer engages your company in a services contract, does the customer know and understand your processes and methodologies?  How do you share this with customers while keeping them abreast of changes as they occur?

There are a lot of questions which are raised while one considers this topic.  As business managers, we often know what needs to happen, yet we lack the bandwidth to execute a plan.  We often become reactive when we need to repair a relationship which has unnoticeably decayed.

Earlier I mentioned, that by nature, people are social.  That is the reason that we have seen social computing attract masses of people.  The number of people using the social networking site, Facebook, are often compared to the population of the largest countries on our planet.  Why? Because, it gives people the ability to say what they want to say, while also being heard.

I often talk to companies about becoming a social business.  The first thing that they think of is setting up a twitter account, or a Facebook page.  However, that is social marketing, not social business.  Social Business is about using similar tools in such a way as to develop deepened and sustained customer relationships.

Working at IBM I have the ability to gain valuable insight into the use of modern-day collaboration tools.  IBM LotusLive is a cloud based social collaboration platform which has been built with business in mind.  Without hesitation, this would be my preferred way of  building customer intimacy and a clearer path to transparent communication.

The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing – ever heard that before?

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

I have worked with a lot of different organisations over the years, I’ve always found it really interesting how easy it is to pick up on the culture of the company within minutes.  It only takes a few comments from one or two staff to gain some significant insight.

One day, I was working on a computer in a room with two other people.  My back was toward them as I worked to solve a problem.  A conversation started to gain some momentum with the lady (let’s call her Sally) and her colleague (we’ll call him Tom).  Tom was talking about how he had asked his boss for some extended leave, and that he was now awaiting for his approval to come through.  Sally, who usually had a thing or two to complain about, then told Tom that she had asked the same boss for a pay rise 5 years ago.  Sally was upset because she had not had an increase.

As their conversation drew to an end, I too had finished what I was doing.  I turned around to leave the office and could not help but notice that Sally was playing a card game (solitaire) on her computer.  I thought to myself “and you wonder why you have not had a pay increase”?

Unfortunately, we all know people like this.  The sad thing is that the problem usually lies with the management of the organisation.  Yes, as a manager there have been times when I have unintentionally bought about similar situations.  The sad thing is that when Sally started that job, she would have been really happy to have had a new job and most likely would have wanted it to have been a success.  But something changed and she became disengaged.  I would hazard a guess and suggest that she felt undervalued.

By nature people are social.  The conversation being had by Sally and Tom was in fact a social conversation, but one which could have had great value to the business.  Have you ever considered what it would take the reengage people like Sally?  It often takes time, but it is often as simple as giving them a voice. A voice which they know will be heard.

In a Social Business, the culture is driven by people having the ability to share their thoughts and views in a non-structured manner.  The key is that there are people to listen.  We have all heard the quote “The left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing” .  However, in a Social Business, the left and the right hands are always talking.

To get people to collaborate and to work together, they need to know that there is more value in sharing their ideas rather than keeping them to themselves in an effort to become indispensable. They need to understand that job security comes from being able to contribute to the rest of the team.

What barriers are there within your organisation which prevent people from being able to collaborate effectively?  What is it that prevents the left hand from knowing what the right hand is doing?

Common barriers may include:

  • Multiple offices spread over geographical locations
  • Different lines of business or departments
  • Individual email accounts
  • etc

The result being that information easily ends up in silos and becomes either hard to get to or is easily forgotten about.

For a long time I have worked with organisations where these barriers have suppressed productivity and profitability due to ill-effective collaboration tools.   This is why we have seen people adopt social media (the likes of facebook, wikis and blogs) as their preferred tools of communication.  So much so, some people consider themselves to be addicted to facebook and twitter.  They even seem to share thoughts and ideas that they wouldn’t otherwise share.

In a business context.  It is important to be implementing social business tools.  These tools are typically in-house tools which are only available to the business or those they wish to share with.  I’m not talking about using Facebook, Linkedin or twitter.  I’m talking about using business grade tools for internal use, such as IBM Connections.

Globally, 57% of stand-out companies are now running Social Business tools to collaborate more effectively.  Want to be a “Stand-out” company?