Cisco Webex Social

In November 2010, Cisco introduced its own software-based enterprise collaboration platform: Cisco WebEx Social which combines a foundation of video and unified communications with personalization and relevant features, applications, and services on the network, integrating them with business and management systems.  One of the early adopters of WebEx Social is the IT Regional Leadership team that is present in four regions around the world.

As part of Cisco’s globaI region IT model, IT shares important information such as roadmaps and global content from IT service owners, infrastructure owners, and other corporate stakeholders with the IT Regional Leadership team and its members. Therefore, consistent communications are critical for its success.

Traditionally, communication between these groups has been relationship-based and most often done through email.  But there was a necessity of improving the outbound communications and the flow of information and the solution needed to be operationally and technically feasible to implement and maintain.

In January 2012, they launched the IT Regional Leadership (ITRL) community on Cisco's internal enterprise collaboration platform, the Integrated Workforce Experience (IWE) which gave them a new way to manage information flow offline that would provide all IT stakeholders globally with consistent, predictable communications.

IWE Solution and Benefits

• It consolidates relevant, cross-regional information and makes it accessible to IT service owners, regional IT leaders, and their teams providing an intelligent source of information out to the regions and back to corporate IT.
• The information flow helps to ensure timely, consistent communications and alignment among the corporate and regional IT teams and facilitates stakeholder collaboration and questions, ideas, and issue resolution within the community.
• It has helped with streamlined, more effective communication flow between the IT groups, service owners, corporate teams, and leadership and clients in region.
• It helps to save time since service owners do not get multiple isolated requests for the same information. Regional IT users do not have to spend time looking up contacts and initiating requests via email.
• It provides a common environment to share information relevant to each region via posts, with functionality for contributors to collaborate and provide their input collectively.
• It helps project teams to share ideas, collect feedback and lessons learned, and brainstorm on solutions to ease the pain points through the use of posts and discussion forums.
• It gives users an instant, unified environment for collaboration and knowledge sharing. Multiple emails (with cumbersome attachments) to multiple recipients on the same project are eliminated.

As we can see, IWE allows employees to more effectively connect, communicate, and collaborate with subject matter experts, colleagues, and communities, as well as share information to help accelerate growth, encourage innovation, and create sustainable productivity.

To read additional information about Cisco’s implementation of IWE powered by Cisco WebEx Social, visit: http://www.cisco.com/web/about/ciscoitatwork/collaboration/iwe_powered_by_cisco_webex_social.html 

How Collaborating Moustaches are Generating Millions of Dollars for Men’s Health

In 2003 Adam Garone was having a beer with his friends talking about the peculiarity of many things consistently moving in cycles - In and out of fashion. Except for one thing. The moustache. That never seemed to achieve revival.

That became a challenge to bring the moustache back. The rules were easy and simple. Each Movember one should:

• Start the month clean-shaving
• Rock a mustache
• Come together at the end of the month and celebrate the best and worst moustache 

This quickly became a big success between Adam and his participating friends. However, little recognition for their “stupid” game was shown from their families, friends and employers not least.

This facilitated an obvious need to legitimize this activity so the fun could continue. The solution was found in using proceeds from the moustache-movement to support men’s health in terms of prostate cancer. The tagline became “Changing the face of men’s health”

Despite little initial support from formal prostate organizations they managed to gather 450 men who collaboratively grew moustaches and donated $54,000 to the Australian Prostate Cancer Foundation - The single biggest donation ever received by the foundation at this time.

After almost running out of funds in 2006 the moustache movement managed to bring together 450,000 men in 2010 raising an impressive amount of $77 million!

Below is an example of the Movember website. You basically set up a profile, upload your moustache and then you are ready to share with your friends and receive donations!

Let's Collaborate and grow some moustaches!

Watch Adam tell his story of the Movember movement in this TED video.

How Yokohama Tire Canada Improved Profitability Through Solutions Facilitating Increased Collaboration

Yokohama Tire Canada is a major distributing company that sells and distributes 2,000 different tire products in Canada through 3,800 dealers.

Challenges

Despite the success of its business model in terms of size and growth, Yokohama was facing challenges in improving its operational efficiency in certain areas:

•         Manual processes when quoting prices in dealer agreements
•         Slow information flow and decision-making
•         Many different and non-consolidated information systems
•         Relevant information trapped in siloes and not shared
•         Existing IT systems not leverage to their full potential

These challenges eventually led Yokohama to hire Spot Solutions in an attempt to improve their quote development and approval process. This was done through Microsoft SharePoint 2010, which was already in place, but not exploited.

Solution

Spot Solutions developed SharePoint integration consisting of a sophisticated workflow with a highly integrated quote form. Editing and adjustments to the quote process was now real-time and interactive thereby allowing multiple users to assess and change quote information continuously. The previous (inefficient) manual flow of information was thereby irrevocably buried.

Results

The results of this improved system setup were substantial and led to significant improvements in connection, communication and information exchange across credit, sales, service staff and executive management.

Yokohama thus managed to bring its quote process down from around 7 days to 48 hours – and the following year further down to 18.5 hours. In addition, Yokohama quoted increased visibility, optimization and automation as well as better customer service as key benefits achieved. Yokohama was able to handle a 25% increase in number of quotes without hiring any additional staff. Impressive!

This post is based on a Microsoft Case Study. Read the full article on Yokohama Tire here or visit Yokohama Tire Canada here: www.yokohama.ca.

How the ‘Big Four’ Consulting Firms are Using Collaboration

The Big Four use online collaboration tools both internally and externally to the organisation. While external usage aims to foster closer and more efficient working relationships with clients, internally the use of these tools is a way to nurture improved knowledge management practices, collaborative decision-making and employee retention.

The client-consultant relationship: what is the problem?

A typical practical challenge facing Big Four consulting teams is how to assimilate and analyse large volumes of data in a short amount of time, and from there generate the value-adding insights that the client is paying for. Even if the consultant’s initial data request is well conceived, the absence of a dedicated collaboration platform can leave both consultants and clients reliant on a host of manual formats to transfer information (i.e. memory stick, CD, or hard copy printouts). 

Similarly, despite their growing personal usage, public cloud-based document-sharing solutions such as DropBox are generally not considered appropriate for use in professional circles. Particularly during an intense engagement, the potential for data loss is high across all of these formats. In some cases, the efforts and risks involved in information sharing due to the absence of a collaboration platform can lead to a less productive client-consultant relationship, and sub-optimal project outcomes.

How collaboration helps

Problems of efficiency and security can be overcome through the use of an online collaboration platform, such as those supported by Windows and IBM. User access is controlled by a nominated project administrator, who can grant different levels of permission across engagement teams. Information siloes are overcome because both the client and consultant teams have access to the same single platform, and have complete visibility of the information that has been provided. Consultants are more able to work across multiple locations because they have real-time, secure access to the required information.

More advanced collaborative platforms in use across the Big Four move beyond a pure information management function and, through live discussion forums for example, can be used to enable real-time feedback-sharing between the consultant and client. This can be especially valuable when working in large, possibly geographically dispersed teams, where opportunities for face-to-face contact time are more limited and there is a pressing need to offset the impact that busy schedules and travel time can have on productivity. In addition, consulting firms are increasingly using collaboration as a means to support their traditional networking efforts. For example, a consulting firm might establishing an online discussion forums to stimulate interest in a recent thought leadership article published by the firm, in advance of a physical client networking event.

Additional internal value

In addition to their client-facing role, collaborative platforms are used within the Big Four consulting firms to improve knowledge management, transition to a more collaborative decision-making style and improve employee retention. On the knowledge management front, a single platform can assist with the secure and organised storage of project information, once an engagement has been concluded. Considering the traditional predominance of informal, point-to-point knowledge sharing between individual consultants, this can be important, both in term of providing continuity between projects, and transferring knowledge and sharing lessons learned between different consulting teams and divisions. This benefits the organisation by building the internal capability it needs to succeed in the market, and deliver successful consulting projects in the future.

Collaborative platforms have also impacted the way Big Four consulting firms manage themselves. Senior leadership is making increasing use of online forums within the firm’s intranet to pre-position and gain employee feedback on organisational decisions (e.g. changes to organisational structure, roles and policies). The increased transparency and involvement that collaboration is enabling may also help the Big Four consulting firms with employee retention. Considering that the ability of the Big Four to deliver value to their clients is closely linked to the quality of its people, and hence the ability to retain them, this last benefit of collaboration should not be underestimated.

Garage Gamers

A bunch of entrepreneurs working in a garage to start a firm of their dreams. Sounds familiar??? Well in this blog, we are going to introduce you to one similar yet exciting story – Duxter. Duxter is a social network for gamers. It is a small company (8 employees) with a network of contractors on the west coast of the USA and in the UK. It has recently started working with a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) collaboration platform – Teambox. In this blog we will explore why Duxter chose Teambox and how SMEs can reap the benefits of SaaS-based collaboration for consolidating project management and collaboration.

Why collaboration???

Duxter started as a group of four entrepreneurs in a garage. Initially it was a little bit easier with everybody in charge of their own staff. But as the team grown, things started to get complex as lot of work was outsourced to freelancers, so some team members were working remotely as well as most of them were working on very small part of the project not knowing the complete details of the project. Adding the extra layer of process, in terms of Teambox collaboration framework, has been helpful to keep track of all the details for these entrepreneurs. That level of process has made them more efficient as a team because there's less time spent communicating. For companies of Duxter's size, having one tool that everybody can be on is very valuable. It's a better workflow, and better synergy, for the entire company now that everybody is on one system.

Why Teambox???

Teambox was easy to use and easy to understand. Other tools they looked at might have been more powerful and robust, but there would be a huge learning curve, or the product was non-intuitive and not easy to use. Main focus of Teambox is on following areas:

Creating and managing tasks:

It is based on tasks – which was the modus operandi of Duxter on day to day basis dealing with lot of partners and third parties. There were no fundamental changes in Duxter's business when they moved to Teambox, there were process changes. Now when someone reports a bug on the site, a task is created in Teambox, which is assigned to a PM. The task ends up getting resolved and communicated to the user.

Task reporting

It is very simple to track the progress of the task and view the status of various milestones with the help of calendars, workload views and Gantt charts.

File and content management

Today’s start-ups extensively use free cloud solutions (like Google Docs and Dropbox) and many of Duxter's corporate documents were already in the cloud, which made migration to Teambox rather simpler. Teambox integrates with both, so it didn't require them to on board documents. In fact, the biggest things they had to migrate over were tasks and projects from previous project management tools. To resolve this, Duxter team used Teambox API for migration. After that they just built a bridge from Duxter’s site and Teambox using the Teambox API. Then they were able to transfer all the bugs from their custom system to the Teambox system and all in a single day’s work only.

Team communication & Mobility

The most simple aspect of Teambox is that one can convert discussion items into tasks directly. Also all its tools are available on mobile as well providing instant access almost anywhere.

To sum up, simple collaborative tools are now transforming the way SMEs approach their work. Also these tools are not very capital intensive which also makes them attractive to deploy in early phase of the company’s life. We will see more and more adoption of such simple and innovative tools in our upcoming blog posts!!!



References

Kelly, W. 2013. Case study: Duxter uses Teambox to streamline collaboration and project management | ZDNet. [online] Available at: http://www.zdnet.com/case-study-duxter-uses-teambox-to-streamline-collaboration-and-project-management-7000017408/ [Accessed: 21 Aug 2013].

IBM Sametime - Unified Communication and Collaboration

IBM Sametime

IBM shared the same issue as many other companies, how to best communicate, collaborate and share knowledge across the organization in a cost and time efficient manner. To solve this issue IBM released a solution called IBM Sametime in 2007, which is also licensed out to other enterprises.

IBM Sametime is an award-winning middleware platform and also utilizes client-server architecture for unified communication and collaboration. It provides real-time social communication with features like instant messages, online presence indicators and community collaboration. It additionally supports online meetings with voice and videos, and is available for mobile phones. IBM is constantly improving and developing Sametime, and the features available depends on the version chosen. To support the needs of the enterprises IBM have three versions available,entry software, standard software and advanced software.

Features and benefits of the advanced software

Instant message (IM)

Waiting for the response of a mail or a phone call often takes time. IM is often the first point of contact when contacting colleagues, specially if its regarding minor questions, need of immediate help, or just to check if a person is available for a phone call. It is also used for more complex questions and longer conversations, especially with colleagues that are not in the same location or country. Through IM, knowledge gets shared quickly and easy across the organization, and doubts get solved immediately. Files can be shared, chats can be saved and it is possible to create a contact list with the most frequent contacts and easily search for new contacts. Connection through IM can significantly reduce the ongoing conversations that typically occur through email, helping to reduce the amount of emails.

Mobile

The mobile features that are available for Apple iOS, Google Android, BlackBerry®, Nokia Symbian and Microsoft Windows Mobile handheld devices, extends many of the capabilities from the desktop Sametime to the mobile device. This helps the people to stay connected and informed wherever they are working from, making availability even better. This helps improving the commitment and engagement and encourage ownership of the projects.

Online meetings

It is possible to easily move from a text chat to a voice/video chat and online meeting. Screens can be shared, as well as files and applications. Meeting material can be uploaded in advance, and no meeting room with space to a large group is needed to be reserved. Expensive travels are avoided to bring people together despite geographical distances.

Telephony

Telephone expenses can be reduced substantially as the feature is integrated into the unified communication and collaboration platform, and calls can be made directly from the computer via integrated VoIP systems.

Voice and video

By using videos and voice communications a lot of confusions can be avoided. It can also provide a richer communication experience, as tone and emotions are transmitted, which can help to engage, create a relationship and trust among the colleagues.  

Rich presence awareness

The presence awareness is the cornerstone of any unified communication solution as it allows you to see who’s logged on and available, so you spend less time searching to find a professional who can clarify questions or help speed up the business process. You can choose the status yourself like for example  “available”, “in a meeting”, or “do not disturb” if you are very busy. You can even customize the status message to what you are doing exactly in that moment. It is also possible to get alerts when people become available, if there is someone you really need to speak to urgently, but are logged off or have a status of “do not disturb”.

Community collaboration

This feature helps to get organizational knowledge and connect the people. It allows you to have group chats and to contact people you don't know and build a substantial network with clients, business partners and suppliers.

Platform

Sametime supports multiple servers, e-mail platforms and directories like Microsoft office productivity software, Lotus collaboration products, portal and web applications. It is not needed to rip and replace. It is also possible to start small and then upgrade gradually, adjusting to the company’s need. It has extensive security features and constant available support. It can be integrated as an IBM Sametime plug-in or through a third-party application.

There is no doubt that this kind of collaboration tools benefits the companies, making collaboration easier across geographically dispersed locations, however it is important that companies educate the users, and create a code of conduct of usage otherwise it might serve against its purpose. 




Source: IBM.com