I
recently received a copy of the Intranet
Global Survey from Toby Ward, CEO
of Prescient Digital Media. The
headlight quote was encouraging, “Employees want to work for progressive and
innovative organizations, and expect 2.0 environments from employers of
choice.” The study included input from 561 organizations of all sizes from
across the globe and the results reveal rapid adoption of social media on the
corporate intranet in the past year.
The
breakdown of specific types of social media on intranets include:
47% have wikis (10% have no
plans or interest)
45% have blogs (11% have no
plans or interest)
46% have discussion forums
(9% have no plans or interest)
37% have RSS (12% have no
plans or interest)
23% have podcasts (30% have
no plans or interest)
9% have social networking
(20% with no plans or interest)
I am not
sure which is better the high numbers who have already adopted or the low
numbers with no plans or interests. The study concluded that an organization
without Intranet 2.0 tools, or plans to use them, risks being out-flanked by
their competition.
Employee
engagement is the top priority and the organizational coup de grace for many HR
practitioners in both the private and public sectors. However, corporate
communications plays one of the most important catalytic roles in determining
employee engagement, and the intranet is increasingly the most important
catalyst in heightening engagement levels, which in-turn improves HR metrics
such as employee recruitment and retention (even customer service).
Like
anything, you get what you pay for. However, that doesn't mean a
social media or Intranet 2.0 solution can't be an inexpensive
solution, but it does require proper planning & governance, and
usually some customization.
According
to the results of the
Intranet
2.0 Global Survey
(561 organizations of all sizes from across the planet), 46% of those
with 2.0 tools have spent nothing or very little on the solution:
46%
have spent $10,000 or less
35%
have spent between $10,000 and $100,00; 19% have spent $100,000 or
more
It
should probably come as no surprise then that satisfaction levels
with 2.0 tools is also quite low:
Satisfaction
rates with executives is dangerously poor: 38% of executives rate
the 2.0 tools as poor or very poor; a lowly 23% rate them as good or
very good
Employee
satisfaction is almost poor: 35% of organizations say employee
satisfaction with the 2.0 tools is poor or very poor; only 27% rate
the tools as good or very good
Only
29% of organizations rate the tool functionality as good or very
good; 24% rate them as poor or very poor
In
short, organizations are spending very little on their 2.0
initiatives, and the satisfaction levels are correspondingly low.
Investment doesn't necessarily deliver satisfaction, but a look into
the technologies used reveals some further insight. The vast majority
of organizations with 2.0 tools use free, open source solutions or
those bundled with a platform solution like SharePoint:
48%
of organizations use SharePoint
20%
of organizations use Facebook
17%
of organizations use MediaWiki
16%
of organizations use WordPress
There
isn't a single, dedicated 2.0 licensed solution used by more than 13%
of organizations. The vast majority use free, open source with the
exception of SharePoint which sports 2.0 tools that leave very little
to be desired (although the social media components in SharePoint
2010 are supposed to be spectacular, and represent a heavy portion of
the investment in the SharePoint upgrade).
Two
lessons are worth noting:
1
- Vanilla solutions will deliver vanilla results (without
customization tailored to the target audience.
2 -
Change management is tantamount to success. These tools require
promotion, education, and communications. If you build it they will
not come necessarily, employees need to be instructed accordingly.
The
findings of the Intranet 2.0 Global Survey are highlighted in the
report "Intranet 2.0: social media becomes mainstream on the
corporate intranet."
To
download a free, summarized version of the Intranet 2.0 report please
visit:
If you're not innovating, you're dying. Death may be slow, and take a few years, but it will come.
Don't take my word for it, or the findings of the Intranet 2.0 Global study, take management guru Peter Drucker's word, or any of the leading business gurus of the last century. Those that don't take innovation seriously, are cast aside or merged into others. Most of the S&P 500 in 1970 don't exist anymore (they're assets & intellectual property gobbled up long ago by another, bigger, faster competitor).
About 90% of adults under the age of 40 are on Facebook (higher in Canada & Northern Europe, a little lower in the US)
39% of employees under the age of 25 would consider leaving their job if their company banned tools such as Facebook
How can a company survive without attracting and keeping the next generation of employees? How can a company ignore the 2.0 revolution -- a revolution that has permanently changed the Internet, which permanently changed business as we know it -- while the competition embraces it? According to the Intranet 2.0 Global study about 50% of organizations have deployed social media (blogs, wikis, social networking) on the corporate intranet. Those that have not, are missing out on the party.
The biggest catalyst for innovation is the c-level suite. And the biggest barrier to innovation is the c-level suite. The Intranet 2.0 Global Study found that the biggest barrier blocking the adoption of social media for employees is the "lack of executive support." The arms of executives are needed to fully embrace the 2.0 revolution.There's no better way to get an executive's attention by saying "the competition is doing it and if we don't we risk losing out." Point to some of the case study examples I've documented on this site (e.g. Sabre, BT, Placemaking, Janssen-Cilag and others) as proof, and cross-reference those against the adoption rates and findings in the study.
I wrote that "an organization without a 2.0 strategy risks being left behind, or outright failure (though death may be slow)." Once consultant responded that I was using "scare tactics" when writing about the necessity of 2.0 and social media. Are Peter Drucker's words "scare tactics"? Warren Buffett has echoed these same sentiments; as do employees who want to work for progressive and innovative organizations, and expect 2.0 environments from employers of choice.
The question is not whether or not an intranet or 2.0 is important to companies, the question is your company part of the revolution or being left behind?
About the Intranet 2.0 Survey
The findings of the Intranet 2.0 Global Survey are highlighted in the report "Intranet 2.0: social media becomes mainstream on the corporate intranet." 561 organizations took part in the survey.To download a free, summarized version of the Intranet 2.0 report and survey findings, please visit:
The latest update of the Worldwide Intranet Challenge (WIC) is now available from the WIC blog site. Since April 1st, over 5200 intranet users from 16 organisations have participated in the WIC.
Some of the findings include:
The overall average perception of intranet value is: 2.77 out of 4 (69.0%)
If we only look at those responses where people:
Complete common work tasks such as applying for leave or booking travel more than once a day, the average valueincreases to 3.06 (76.5%)
Spend less than 1 minute a day on the intranet: 1.54 (38.5%)
Spend between 1-2 hours each day on the intranet: 3.13 (78.3%)
Strongly agree with the statement 'I can find the information I need on the intranet' 3.24 (81.0%)
Use the intranet to publish content more than once a day: 3.07 (76.8%)
Disagree with the statement 'Pages on the intranet load quickly': 2.61 (65.3%)
An
organization without a 2.0 strategy risks being left behind, or
outright failure (though death may be slow). Employees want to work
for progressive and innovative organizations, and expect 2.0
environments from employers of choice.
561
organizations of all sizes from across the planet participated in the
Intranet 2.0 Global Survey
and the results
reveal rapid adoption of social media on the corporate intranet in
the past year.
Once
a nice-to-have or a future wish, Intranet 2.0 tools such as blogs,
wikis and other vehicles have become mainstream, and are present in
nearly 50% of organizations (regardless of size) in the Western
World.
Intranet
blogs, wikis and discussion forums are quite pervasive, while other
less common tools such as podcasts and mashups remain an
after-thought at most organizations:
47%
have intranet wikis (17% enterprise deployment); 10% have no
plans or interest
45%
have intranet blogs (13% enterprise deployment); 11% have no
plans or interest
46%
have intranet discussion forums (19% enterprise use); 9% have
no plans or interest
46%
have intranet instant messaging (29% enterprise use); 21%
have no plans or interest
19%
have intranet social networking (6% enterprise use); 20% have
no plans or interest
Microsoft
dominance
Microsoft
is leading the 2.0 charge and dominating all competition. For those
organizations that have deployed 2.0 tools inside the firewall, about
half of all organizations have SharePoint (in some shape or form):
48%
of organizations use SharePoint
20%
of organizations use Facebook,17% of organizations use MediaWiki,16%
of organizations use WordPress
Cost
of Intranet 2.0
Intranet
2.0 is cheap. Of those organizations that have implemented 2.0 tools,
almost half have spent $10,000 or less on these tools:
46%
have spent $10,000 or less
35%
have spent between $10,000 and $100,000,19% have spent $100,000 or
more
Poor
execution
Sadly
though, despite the low cost of entry and ease of technology,
satisfaction levels with Intranet 2.0 tools are dangerously low:
Only
29% of organizations rate the tool functionality as good or very
good; 24% rate them as poor or very poor
Satisfaction
rates with executives is dangerously low: only 23% of executives
rate the 2.0 tools as good or very good; 38% rate them as poor or
very poor
To
download a free, summarized version of the report please visit:
36%
come from the U.S; 24% from Europe; 11% from Canada; 11% from
Australia / New Zealand; 10% from UK
61%
have more than 1,000 employees; 32% have 6,000 or more employees;
39% have less than 1000 employees
53%
of organizations have had an intranet for 7 or more years; 17% of
organizations have had an intranet for 2 years or less
13%
of the organizations are government; 13% from technology; 12% from
financial services; 6% from healthcare
The
survey was led by Toby Ward, President, Prescient Digital Media
About
Prescient Digital Media
Prescient
Digital Media is a group of senior intranet and Internet consultants
that provide strategic Internet and intranet consulting, planning and
communications services to organizations of all sizes. Our clients
include: Amgen, Covidien, CBC, CIBC, HSBC, Liberty Mutual, Manulife
Financial, Mastercard, Nintendo, Pepsi, RBC Financial Group, TD, and
more than 100 others. Prescient’s focus includes the
assessment, planning, technology selection, content and launch of
intranets, websites, and web-based tools. For more information please
contact Prescient Digital Media through the website at
www.PrescientDigital.com
or phone 416.926.8800.
Social
media adoption has accelerated on the corporate intranet, led by
blogs, wikis and discussion forums. Despite a low cost of entry—often
below $10,000—adopters are not reporting outstanding satisfaction
with the investment, especially among the executive ranks, driven by
inadequate planning and weak or non-existent business plans.
This
data is contained is contained in the results of the Intranet
2.0 Global Survey,
which included the participation of 561 organizations of all sizes
from across the planet.
Intranet
2.0 Global Survey Results
“Once
a nice-to-have or a future wish, Intranet 2.0 tools such as blogs,
wikis and other vehicles have become mainstream, and are present in
nearly 50% of organizations (regardless of size) in North America,
Europe, and Australia and New Zealand,” says Toby Ward, the study
author, and President, Prescient Digital Media.
How many
organizations are using a CMS for their intranet? What about a portal
solution?
Respondents to the
Intranet
2.0 Global Survey provide
(530+ organizations ranging from small to huge, in all corners of the
globe: 36% come from the U.S.; 24% from Europe; 60% have more than
1,000 employees; 32% have 6,000 or more employees) some very good
insight into the use content management systems (CMSs), as well as
portals and Intranet 2.0 tools.
Key findings:
Less than 2/3s
of organizations use a CMS for their intranet (62%)
24% use a
custom built CMS (home grown CMS)
25% use an
off-the-shelf solution
11% use a
portal solution
There is no
dominant CMS solution – no one vendor has more than 20% market
share
Microsoft
SharePoint is used by 20% of those that use a CMS
Interwoven,
Documentum and Vignette each have 4% market share
No other
solution was cited by more than 8 organizations (2.5% share)
Clearly SharePoint's
dominance in the market is showing here. Though only 20% of the
respondents are using it as a CMS. For those that have implemented
Intranet 2.0 tools, SharePoint (MOSS 2007) is present in 46% of the
organizations (though some organizations are using multiple tools
including SocialText, Confluence and MediaWiki). In other words,
SharePoint is being used as a CMS, but its not its strength which is
collaboration sites, document sharing, and portal functionality /
features. SharePoint is more often being used for collaboration and
portal functionality.
My full presentation
on the Intranet
2.0 Global Survey
findings is next week at J.
Boye – Philadelphia 2009. There are still spots left if you
want to register
now (and some great case study presentations as well).
The full study findings will be sent to survey participants only in
mid-May (TBA) followed by a participant only webinar (yes you have to
take the survey to get the results).
This webinar is free and designed for university professors, instructors, and students. Topics
for discussion include the role of the new media, how the Web is
evolving, and what to expect in the future. Best practices and tips
for how to engage with others and build trust in a virtual world will
also be discussed. Hosted by Plank Center, the one-hour discussion
and presentation is on May 1, at 1:30 CDT.
Moderated
by Keith Burton, President, InsidEdge, presenters include Robert
French, Instructor, PR & Digital Media, Auburn University; Jeff
Beringer, SVP, Dialogue/GolinHarris, and Toby Ward, Founder and CEO
of Prescient Digital Media.
THE SURVEY IS CLOSING & YOUR PARTICIPATION IS REQUIRED -- THE FINDINGS ARE FREE!
500 organizations of all sizes from across the planet have participated and the findings are invaluable - and surprising. If you haven't already done so, please take 8 minutes to take the Intranet 2.0 Global Survey and you’ll get a copy of the full results including the good, bad and learned lessons. Please also direct clients and fellow colleagues. It doesn't cost anything, and I'm not charging anything.
PLEASE TAKE THE SURVEY EVEN IF YOU DO NOT HAVE INTRANET 2.0 TOOLS -- WE REQUIRE BOTH PERSPECTIVES!!
Respondents who complete the survey will be eligible to win $400 (a random email address will be drawn from all responses to the survey). All respondents will also receive a full copy of the results at no cost.
Here's a sneak preview of some of the findings so far:
43%
have intranet blogs (10% enterprise deployment); 11% have no plans
or interest
47%
have intranet wikis (16% enterprise deployment); 10% have no plans
or interest
23%
have intranet podcasts (6% enterprise deployment); 30% have no plans
or interest
17%
have intranet social networking (5% enterprise use); 20% have no
plans or interest
21%
have intranet content tagging (9% enterprise use); 24% have no plans
or interest
37%
have intranet RSS (12% enterprise use); 12% have no plans or
interest
47%
have intranet discussion forums (20% enterprise use); 10% have no
plans or interest
46%
have intranet instant messaging (28% enterprise use); 20% have no
plans or interest
8%
have intranet mashups (3% enterprise use); 46% have no plans or
interest
48%
of organizations using SharePoint for Intranet 2.0 tools
A sneak preview of the findings and some of the case study examples will be showcased at J.Boye 09 in Philadelphia (May 5-7, 2009). Register now & receive a fantastic deal on a technology / communications conference of this quality that includes multiple tracks on intranet, SharePoint, content management, user experience and more. J. Boye also features star speakers including the NY Times' David Pogue.
