Enterprise 2.0 tools can improve communication and employee engagement
Easing the flow of information will help your organization 
Web 2.0 tools in the workplace and how they improve the working lives of employees topped the discussion at the Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum in Sydney this week.
With a broad focus on the value and business benefits of Enterprise 2.0 tools such as corporate wikis and blogs, the event included case studies from several Australian organizations. From banking group Westpac, chief technology officer (CTO) David Backley said that Enterprise 2.0 is happening, but it needs to be “harnessed as a a strategic asset” and for a 30,000-strong organization such as Westpac, the challenges in doing this were numerous and substantial.
“One of the most important things for Westpac is to understand who works for us and who our customers are, said Backley. “We have to have the technology and solutions that transcend three generational groups, and each demographic has a different experience with technology and what it can do. What’s important is to have technology that gives more power to the end user to do their jobs.”
Making a wiki-based intranet
One of the event’s standout case studies was presented by Nathan Wallace of Janssen Cilag - an Australian subsidiary of pharmaceutical corporation, Johnson & Johnson. Faced with a static, html-based intranet that few people took notice of, Wallace and his colleagues created a new intranet based on the enterprise wiki software, Confluence. All employees were given the ability to publish intranet news stories at will - regardless of importance, topic or organizational hierarchy. In two years, the company’s 340 employees have created over 25,000 articles on the wiki-intranet, and it’s estimated that e-mail volume over this period has been reduced by some 200,000 e-mails.
Key themes
Several key themes emerged from the day’s presentations, including “participation” being most important aspect of Enterprise 2.0 - not the technology – and there was much discussion on the differences between Generations X & Y, and how new demographics will react to organizations that try to restrict and control intranet behaviors that have rapidly outpaced the capabilities of corporate intranets.
Business value
Business value was also discussed in detail as many presenters reinforced the point that that Enterprise 2.0 tools can mean improved communication, which can bring benefits to businesses in the shape of less frustration for employees, resulting in better productivity, engagement and the creation of a more attractive, open culture, which retains and rewards its employees in an ever-more competitive talent market.
Have your say
Is your organization benefiting from Enterprise 2.0? Discuss these issues with other comms practitioners by joining the Internal Comms Hub members' group on the Communicators' Network.
Related articles and resources:
Quick and effective ways to overhaul your intranet
Cheap ways to roll out social media
Got a news story? Contact the newsdesk