Podcasting has started to crossover to the intranet. Once again, IBM is showing its corporate leadership and innovation by using podcasts for employees using podcasts to further build its internal communications arsenal. As Stacy Cowley of IDG News Service has discovered (IBM employees play with podcasting – thanks to Fredrik Wacka @ CorporateBlogging.com) the technology giant of 325,000 employees is using podcasting to lower their phone bills.

“In August, IBM made its first official foray into podcasting by launching a series of programs called "IBM and the Future of...," featuring its scientists and other staffers discussing topics like driving, shopping, banking and urban planning. Postcasts are audio files designed to be played on PCs or portable music devices like iPods; listeners can use software to subscribe for automatic downloads of new podcasts in series that interest them.

IBM, based in Armonk, New York, had occasionally posted internal podcasts before on its intranet, but its new "Future" series prompted the company to extend its podcasting support. IBM drafted a podcasting policy similar to the corporate blogging policy it adopted last year, and quietly released a tool for uploading audio files and syndicating them via RSS (Really Simple Syndication). Then it sat back to see what IBM staffers would create.

"People have just gone ahead and experimented," said Ben Edwards, IBM's manager of investor communications and the organizer of its "Future" series. "There are some very interesting models emerging."

One of Edwards' favorite creations is a weekly status update from IBM's supply chain organization. The group previously scheduled a weekly conference call with all the employees it needed to coordinate with -- a conference that involved as many as 7,000 people. Now, supply-chain executives upload a weekly podcast, which staffers can listen to when they want. "It's dramatically cheaper," Edwards said. "Plus you don't have thousands of people organizing their schedules around this weekly call."

I am continually amazed by IBM’s progressive leadership in the area of employee communications and technology. No need to tell me that it is easy for IBM being such a big company, with heaps of technology and endless coffers – that is not the reason. Podcasts, blogs, wikis, these are all low cost, easy to use tools. Any company can do it and yet few actually do. It does not matter that all employees are using podcasts or blogs nor does it matter that even a majority of staff pay any attention to these tools. They are being used by some and are delivering value.

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