UK intranet forum makes telling predictions about future workforce

26 June 2008

Gen Y and Gen Z employees won't even know what "social media tools" are.

Yesterday was day 1 of Melcrum's Intranet 2.0 Forum, London, where a curious audience was given food for thought on everything from Microsoft SharePoint, to governance, to CEO chat sessions.

Key note speaker Jane McConnell from Net Strategy/JMC set the agenda by discussing the hype, reality and future trends of the intranet 2.0 concept. She presented her research findings from the 2007 Global Intranet Strategies Study, with 178 participating organizations, from 5,000-100,000 employees located in North America, Europe and Asia-Pacific.

Blogs and wikis most common
McConnell found that the intranet will be the "way of working" for over half of the organizations in about 1 year. These organizations are also more likely to have an existing 2.0 strategy or to be working on one.

91% of intranet managers say that search and findability are of most relevance to them today.

Blogs and wikis were found as the most common tools used on the intranet, and the primary barrier companies face when it comes to experimenting with social media is the organizational culture, with management reticence a secondary one. Around 91% of intranet managers say that search and findability: user features, resources, satisfaction are of most relevance to them today.

Next generation of employees won't speak the social media language.
Philippe Borremans (pictured, right) managing director of Blackline and former European new media lead at IBM made some interesting statements about the new workforce and their attitudes towards social media. "Future employees will be people who use information from their netvibes page and won't even know the difference between blogs and wikis. They'll be using RSS but won't even know it's called an RSS. These are tools they will have just grown up with – they won't need to know what they're called," said Borremans.

philippe Harmonizing internal and external comms
He also, like many of the presenters, drew attention to the increasingly blurring line between external and internal messages. "These messages need to be synchronized", he said. "Corporate messages are no longer the official emails that you send out or the "values" that you've written up, it's the conversations people are having during cigarette breaks. And external messages are no longer the traditional press release, they're the discussions happening on Facebook that you're totally unaware of."

External corporate messages are the discussions happening on Facebook that you're totally unaware of.

He suggested that companies now need to provide employees with the freedom and opportunity within the organization to "sound out", and speak honestly, which will inevitably encourage a culture of accountability – for both corporate and the employees.

When the CEO "gets it"
Job Van Harmelen, senior communications manager at global delivery company TNT followed Borremans' presentation with examples of how 2.0 tools have made a significant difference to communication and culture at TNT.

The company's CEO Peter Barker has regular chat sessions with the global workforce, many of whom don't have everyday access to computers. Reinforcing the success of the sessions, Van Harmelen said, "The first time we did it, the system crashed because it couldn't handle so many users chatting at one time." His presentation included a short interview with Barker, who said it was the only way he could reach out to employees around the world, many of whom he may never get to meet.

However this is something that may not be for everyone, "You need a CEO that's highly energized by talking to his/her people - those who are out there, on the frontline, doing the daily business." (Listen to Van Harmelen speaking more about this on the Melcrum Podcast)

Critical success factors for using SharePoint
Martin White presented on, Microsoft Office SharePoint Server (MOSS07), how it can support intranet 2.0 applications and the implications of migrating from SharePoint 2003 to SharePoint 2007. White concluded by outlining some critical succss factors of using MOSS07, these included:

Recognize that MOSS07 is a development platform and not a plug-and-pay application.
Develop a three-year strategic view of your intranet 2.0 requirements and place MOSS07 in context.
Realize that a year on MOSS07 is still in its very early stages of development.

Figure 1. Day 1 at the Intranet 2.0 Forum

intranet uk Governance at SAP
Jurgen Zimmerman at SAP described the extensive governance model that is adhered to strictly by intranet "leads" (or governors). The SAP Corporate Portal was a winner of the Norman Neilsen Top Ten Intranets award.

Zimmerman described some of the benefits of having clear governance. These included:

Skilled and efficient publisher group.
Clear accountability, roles and information processes.
Quality Insurance: reliability, actuality, usage.
Enhanced usability & simplicity.
Search improvement.

Day 2 of the conference is taking place today, speakers will include Jackie Trousdale, group web and internal communications manager at Scottish & Newcastle, and Rory Campbell, communications manager at Lloyds TSB.

Have your say
How much of a presence does the intranet hold in your organization? Could you call it a 2.0 intranet? How – if at all –is it governed? What are your experiences of using SharePoint?

Share your thoughts on these issues with other comms practitioners by joining the Internal Comms Hub members' group on the Communicators' Network.

Other recommendations:

Intranet forum showcases innovative portal features

Quick and cost-effective ways to overhaul your intranet

Nielsen names top 10 intranets 2008

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