The 1980s and 1990s were tough times for British Airways. The new millennium was not kind either when in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, some analysts began to wonder if BA would survive at all and talked openly about bankruptcy for more than one airline.

Since 2002, the company has re-engineered an impressive turnaround with an aggressive focus on cost-cutting and productivity. In late 2002 its share price had slumped to below £100; today BA’s share price is hovering around £500.

One catalyst for change during the impressive turnaround, in a hugely challenging business and environment, is the BA intranet. In 2001, BA put in place an ambitious plan for a low-tech intranet with lofty targets. Building on what some would call an antiquated platform, Lotus Notes and Domino, BA built an intranet that is delivering a measured value of £55 (more than US$100 million) per year.

“I have to admit I do get envious when I hear about all the technology that others (companies) are using,” confesses Alan Huish, BA’s manager of employee self-service when asked about using Lotus Notes. “But you cannot argue with our results.”

Read my complete case study feature Low-tech, high-value intraneton Communitelligence.com

The police in West Yorkshire, England, are using a simple intranet site to help catch bad guys (see West Yorkshire Police intranet helps solve crimes across the region):

"A new section of West Yorkshire Police’s own internal intranet site is proving to be a great success in solving crimes across the region.

Called ‘Caught on Camera’, the internal web page provides a central place for all photographs of unidentified people wanted for questioning in relation to particular crimes.

Officers across the Force are encouraged to undertake regular checks of the site, feeding any information they have back to a supervisor.

If an image remains on the site for over 4 weeks, it is also picked up by Crimestoppers who will then consider it for media appeals.

Since the site was set up almost 12 months ago, close to 350 people have been identified, with many leading to prosecutions.

Only last week, the site recorded 100,000 hits from visitors within the Force.

Andrew McDonnell of the Force’s Imaging Unit says it has gone from strength to strength.

"This is another example of how we can use simple technology in the fight against crime. Every officer in the Force has access to these images, so if an offender is known to officers in one area, and commits crime in a different area, they will not escape detection"

"Being able to access these images on hand held terminals while on the beat also means we are not taking officers away from front-line duties"

"In addition to exposing unidentified offenders to every officer in the Force, we can also use the images on our Facial Recognition system, which matches the face to known offenders on our database"

"The proliferation of CCTV in the UK is widespread, and many offences are captured on camera. This internal system allows us to make best use of these images and bring offenders to justice"

• The rise and importance of intranets in Denmark and Europe
• SimCorp intranet case study (focus on document management - link is to Danish only)
• Ericcson intranet case study (focus on governance and single platform)
• The future of intranets in Europe

(COPENHAGEN, DK) Can some intranets be evil?!?! I may be in Europe but I could hardly miss this insidious story from the Courant (thanks Tom): Best Buy Confirms It Has Secret Website

“Under pressure from state investigators, Best Buy is now confirming my reporting that its stores have a secret intranet site that has been used to block some consumers from getting cheaper prices advertised on BestBuy.com.

Company spokesman Justin Barber, who in early February denied the existence of the internal website that could be accessed only by employees, says his company is "cooperating fully" with the state attorney general's investigation.

Barber insists that the company never intended to mislead customers.

State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ordered the investigation into Best Buy's practices on Feb. 9 after my column disclosed the website and showed how employees at two Connecticut stores used it to deny customers a $150 discount on a computer advertised on BestBuy.com.

Blumenthal said Wednesday that Best Buy has also confirmed to his office the existence of the intranet site, but has so far failed to give clear answers about its purpose and use.

"Their responses seem to raise as many questions as they answer," Blumenthal said in an interview. "Their answers are less than crystal clear."

Based on what his office has learned, Blumenthal said, it appears the consumer has the burden of informing Best Buy sales people of the cheaper price listed on its Internet site, which he said "is troubling."

Somebody call Batman... evil is afoot!

  Digg this         Post to del.icio.us       Post to Slashdot   

  Add to Technorati Faves

Persistent and innovative communications by Nokia has failed to lessen the damage of a poor business decision.

In the wake of employee howls of injustice and protest, Finish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat reports that Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo has decided to give up his personal bonus for the second half of 2006 (see Nokia employees walked out). Kallasvuo announced his decision in a blog entry on the company intranet on the heals of employee outcries over a cancelled bonus program.

Despite reporting record profit and revenue in January, Nokia announced that it would not be paying out special employee bonuses because the company failed to meet the board's goals (see Nokia's bad business is good communications). Employees were not to be paid, but under the plan executives were still to reap handsome bonuses. The outrage was predictable.

Read more of my article Nokia protest heats-up despite best communications efforts on Communitelligence.com.

The Intranet Report podcast, by Toby Ward, for the week of February 28, 2007 (16 minutes). 

On this week’s podcast: everything intranet – from best practices to case studies. Specifically:

-          How to talk to IT

-          Enterprise Instant Messaging

-          Intranet Case Study: Lowe & Partners

-          Selling An Intranet to Senior Management

The Intranet Report Podcast can be downloaded and heard at http://intranetreport.libsyn.com.

  Digg this         Post to del.icio.us       Post to Slashdot   

  Add to Technorati Faves

Technorati Profile