Corporate social network. Corporate social networks (KSS) What to publish in the corporate community

Corporate social network- more and more often you can hear about this new product in the market of business tools. Whereas before, colleagues mainly conducted business correspondence on e-mail, in the corporate portal or in messengers for teamwork, but now they do it with the help of a corporate social network (KSS). How to understand that this is a useful tool for your company and what results to expect from the implementation of KCC? Dmitry Benz, the founder of the corporate social network, told us about this. LOQUI BUSINESS .

There is no need to chew on the need for social networks: if we want to contact a classmate, friend or new colleague, we will find him on VKontakte or on Facebook. Social networks store contacts that we have accumulated throughout our lives, as well as all virtual activity: events attended, reviews left, important points in life. It would seem like an ideal environment for communication and networking - take it and use it! But not everything is so simple. The aforementioned popular social networks are not intended for use within companies for a number of reasons. Instead, organizations are adopting closed counterparts - social networking for business. What for?

Firstly, for convenience: there are no random people in the KCC, the contacts of all current employees are collected there. If a person leaves the company, then he loses access to corporate social network and placed inside the information. This is a reasonable step, because the most different topics and mostly confidential.
Secondly, for safety. This point logically follows from the first, since the organization always has questions that make up trade secret: organizational structure, planned revenue, customer information. It is possible to place such data in the web space only if the security and control of the company are guaranteed.

Many organizations have corporate portals, solutions for joint control and accounting of tasks, mail after all. Nevertheless, KCC has become a popular product. Why?

This is primarily due to the fact that there are two types of tools: designed to solve exclusively work issues (time tracking, setting tasks, tracking the sales funnel) and helping to build communications between employees. Needless to say, a motivated and cohesive team is more effective. The corporate social network solves exactly the problem of uniting the organization, serves as an information center and allows each employee to feel their importance and usefulness for the company.

How to understand that a company needs KCC?

Communications are "ragged" in nature: important information does not reach the right employees or is completely lost;
There is no motivation and cohesion within the team. Each individual is a good specialist, but he works on his own, not seeing the big picture;
Employees are afraid to take the initiative, so management believes that employees have no ideas;
Employees are mistrustful of management decisions and are wary of the events offered by top management, as they think that they are of a "protocol" nature;
The best employees leave, the organization has a high turnover, the staff changes frequently. Employees have low loyalty to the company;
Branches are in information isolation and do not know about what is happening in the central office;
Employees learn most of the news from rumors or from groups on social networks;
The negative finds no way out and spills over into social networks;
Employees treat corporate values with disdain, for them it is “ beautiful phrases”That mean nothing.

All of these problems are related to internal communications. Why do some companies look at corporate social media with a grain of salt? To some, KCC seems like a utopian idea. How is it that employees will communicate with each other on a social network in work time! Of course, an internal social network is a fairly progressive business tool, and not all organizations take an open approach to building communications within the firm. But it is wrong to think that KCC can turn into a “virtual smoking room” or damage work processes. World experience shows that corporate social networks can not only strengthen ties between colleagues, but also establish communication on industrial topics. For example, according to the calculations of the large medical company Humana, the implementation of KCC resulted in an increase in the efficiency of communication: 70% of the time employees spend on solving work issues, and not on personal discussions.

Step 1: Decide on the purpose of implementation.

Here are some of the tasks that a corporate social network solves, and how it can be useful for management:

Growth and development of personnel

Employees come to the company because they share its values and ideas, and also because they see opportunities for personal and professional growth. In this case, KCC serves as a tool for advanced training: colleagues communicate with each other informally, can directly ask a question to an expert within the company, or learn from a more experienced colleague. As a result, the professionalism of employees grows, which directly affects financial results firm, and also has a positive effect on employee loyalty.

Reduced fluidity

Alas, a common situation: a new specialist got a job, but left during the period probationary period or shortly after. In a large company, the HR manager does not always cope with helping to adapt to all "newcomers", and this task falls on the shoulders of line managers, who are usually busy enough to take over the mentoring activities. Often people do not stay in place simply because they could not fully immerse themselves in work processes, feel their value for the company and join the team. KCC helps to establish the process of adaptation of employees and frees up the time of the HR director so that he can direct all his efforts to solve other problems.

Reducing the risk of data breaches

Here we are talking about the risk of getting confidential information on the Internet just out of stupidity (for example, an employee posted something wrong on Facebook), and about the situation when colleagues have nowhere to discuss corporate news. There is a list of information that can potentially harm the company and cause losses if it turns out to be known to suppliers or customers. These are the stages of transactions, and information about the amounts of contact or internal conflicts and the negative associated with this.

Another point: in internal communications, it is very important that top management can speak openly and confidentially with employees - on an equal footing. And for this, only the communication channel that is closed from prying eyes and ears is suitable. For example, anti-crisis measures (explanation of mass layoffs, scandals in the press) should be carried out in an isolated, protected site.

Step 2: Justify for employees practical relevance implementation.

Every HR director or internal communications specialist has encountered a situation when management requires, when launching a project, to calculate the planned indicators and the result from the implementation. But for some reason, few people think about the fact that employees also need to explain the significance and benefits of the new tool. Otherwise, the situation will turn out when the "top" made a decision, reported, but the goals remained on paper, since the "bottom" do not understand what is the point of using another business decision. What are the benefits of KCC for ordinary employees?

Quick solution of issues

Protracted approvals, bureaucracy, difficulties in finding a key employee - all this harms the work. In KCC, an employee finds a colleague's contact in a couple of clicks and thereby greatly simplifies the process of resolving issues. In addition, within the corporate network, you can conduct group discussions on projects, express constructive criticism, provide advice and gain experience.

Convenient data access

Of course, for storing official documentation - samples of applications and forms, orders, forms - are more suitable corporate portal... However, in any organization there is a layer of information that is informal and is often much more useful in work: successful cases, experience of colleagues and predecessors, useful contacts. The corporate social network LOQUI BUSINESS even has the ability to store georeferenced databases so that you can open a map at any time and look from your phone where a company's branch, a verified printing house, an exhibition venue, a cross-marketing event or a client's address are located. Based personal experience, I will say that it is much more convenient than searching for the necessary data among the files and exсel plates of other employees.

Reduced stress levels

Low efficiency is a problem not only for a specific person, but for the company as a whole. Everyone needs to switch from time to time, and KCC is the best fit for this purpose: on the one hand, each employee has the opportunity to discuss a personal issue, read the news about the company's success, buy goods from a colleague or find a like-minded person to go to football, and with on the other hand, employees are becoming more and more involved in the corporate environment.

Outcome

A corporate social network is a technological solution that helps a business in solving everyday problems, as well as works to strengthen connections within a team. The benefits of implementing KSS can be judged from the experience of companies where this solution is already in use. It is also worth considering market trends: business solutions are becoming easier to use, more mobile, which in better side influences the workflow and makes communication within the company stronger, transparent and more effective.

Dmitry Benz Founder of the corporate social network Loqui Businessr

Corporate social networks, based in general on the same principles as the classical ones, have appeared recently, but have already become a trend. This is not difficult to explain. Progressive leaders realized that going down the path of banning social media in a company is a thankless task and often does not bring expected results. But to adopt this mega-popular tool, providing it with useful functionality for business, is a solution with great prospects. Among the obvious advantages are the growth of employee loyalty, savings in working time for official correspondence, and the status of a progressive company. As a result, an increase in the efficiency of business processes and an increase in profits.

The conceptual foundation of corporate networks was laid back in the middle of the last century by the Japanese - the founders of the quality management system. It was in this country that they came to the reasonable conclusion that an effective company is one in which satisfied and happy specialists work. This problem was solved by very interesting methods. For example, at one of the country's major concerns, a punching bag was installed at the checkpoint, imitating the head of the company. Each employee at the entrance had to "weigh" the dummy the number of slaps in the face, which, in his opinion, the manager deserved for this moment... What did it do? First, managers were able to assess the emotional background in the company, the popularity of certain decisions, which means they were able to take the necessary measures to stabilize the situation. Secondly, employees gained the right to vote and the ability to relieve emotional stress, albeit in such a non-standard way. As a result, labor productivity increased significantly, as did the quality of the products manufactured by the enterprise.

There are many examples - the conclusion is one: the concept created by the Japanese and known as kaizen has proven its viability. It is not for nothing that Japan has one of the lowest employee turnover rates. People often work in the same enterprise all their lives. And they are being replaced by their own children and grandchildren.

Social networking for business is basically a virtualization of kaizen ideas. It's transformed for modern society, its needs and technological capabilities, a way to create an effective team in the company. A team, each member of which can fully realize their abilities in the workplace.

Corporate social network: what's in my name for you ...

A social network for business allows you to form an information community within a company with well-developed vertical and horizontal connections. This means that company employees can interact online not only with each other, but also with management, and regardless of where they are at the moment. Corporate social networks are especially relevant for large companies, whose offices are located in different cities or even around the world. At the same time, their presence is perceived by employees as part of corporate culture, same as team building events or free gym as evidence that the company's management is interested in its subordinates and seeks to create comfortable working conditions for them.

What are corporate networks for? They can play a significant role in speeding up business processes, sharing experience, discussing and making decisions on any work issues. At the same time, the process of involving employees in a corporate social network is much faster than, for example, working with a corporate portal. This is because most business social networks are tailored for social media users and have a similar interface.

According to research by the McKinsey Global Institute, the use of corporate networks can increase productivity by 20-25%. The main areas where intranets are increasing employee productivity are:

Search and collection of information... Thanks to the ability to create a "knowledge base" where employees can add various regulatory and other important documents, the time to search for information is reduced.
Collaboration and communication... The presence and functioning of the corporate network in the company allows you to save working time on communication. Using the internal social network, company employees can directly contact the desired colleague and get an answer almost instantly, bypassing the mailbox and not wasting time waiting.

Humana, one of the world's largest health insurance companies, has 26,000 employees on a corporate social network. There are about 1200 groups in the network of a wide variety of topics - from music to motherhood problems. Nevertheless, 70% of employees' communication with each other concerns work issues.

Despite the clear benefits from the introduction of corporate social networks, some companies actively oppose this innovation. This happens not even because managers consider networks to be a waste of time, but because many of them do not see the difference between networks and, for example, a corporate portal. And since most serious companies have such portals, then, in the opinion of the management, it is not worth spending time and money on duplicating what already exists.

This is a serious misconception. Let's try to figure it out what is an intranet, corporate portal and corporate social network of a company and how they differ from each other.

There are three main technologies:

intranet;
corporate portal, or social intranet;
corporate social network.

Intranet- a tool that solves only business tasks, but does not perform social functions. This decision is gradually losing its popularity.

Corporate portal, or social intranet- in addition to the fact that the tool implies the presence of a knowledge base, it integrates information systems and systems accounting, project management, file resources, the portal partially solves social functions.

Concerning corporate social network, then this is a project for employees created by them. In the network, any specialist in a couple of minutes will be able to create, for example, a working group to develop and discuss a new project or idea. Each employee has round-the-clock access to a knowledge base formed on the basis of personal experience - his and his colleagues. It's enough just to ask a question on the network or score it in a search. At the same time, the search in the social network has more flexible algorithms compared to the portal. But the main thing is that this is not just a working tool and workspace, it is, first of all, a place where you can relax a little, discuss with colleagues in an informal atmosphere a new project, regulation or document, or maybe a new dress for the chief accountant.

Users are also attracted by the familiar network interface, the simplicity and availability of services.

Overview of intranets, corporate portals and social networks for business

According to forecasts of analysts and software developers, the corporate social networks market will develop intensively in the next two to three years, and this will happen both in the field of solutions and in the field of use. Developments entered the market Western companies, they are translated and partially adapted for the domestic user. In the near future, we should expect activity from Russian vendors.

As for the process of organizing a corporate social network in companies, according to experts, it is still at an early stage in Russia. This is explained by the fact that many managers, not seeing instant returns from networks, simply do not want to spend money on, in their opinion, unprofitable innovation. The situation may change in the next two to three years. The leaders in the use of social networks in Russia, which over time will be followed by the most conservative companies, are enterprises from the banking industry and retail.

Currently on Russian market only about a dozen products are most in demand.

Bitrix24

This tool belongs to the category of intranets with a separate social module. The module provides for the functions of microblogging, messenger, photo gallery creation and a number of others. The interface and functionality of the application is a bit like social networks in the 2005 variation. The social application itself is free, but it will not work until the basic Bitrix24 package is purchased. The cost depends on the chosen tariff and the number of employees, as well as the implementation option: the version with installation on its own server will cost more than the cloud one.

DaOffice

The first Russian corporate social network. The main attention, unlike Bitrix24, is paid specifically to social tools. Microblogs on this network support #tags and @names like on Twitter, it is possible to put “likes” on posts you like, see a list of recommended friends, like on Facebook. Another distinguishing feature of the service is the elements of gamification: employees receive points for adding messages on relevant and useful topics.

DaOffice can be accessed from mobile devices using Android and iOS applications. The installation cost is determined specifically for each company and depends on the number of users (can be any), the implementation option (your own server or cloud), the need for integration with other systems and the development of additional options. As for the free version, it is available only for large companies with more than 250 employees.

One of the disadvantages of the free version is that when you install it on your server, there are restrictions on the administration tools.

Jive

This solution belongs to the category of intranets with social functions. Jive users can customize their individual workspace. The application contains tools for managing tasks, corporate content and projects.

Jive is available for mobile devices and can be integrated with Office365 and Google products. The price of the application depends on the selected package: Select, Premier or Premier +. A serious drawback of the application is the lack of a Russian version. In addition, according to customer reviews, navigation in Jive is very different from the usual navigation on social networks.

Yammer

It is currently the most popular social intranet in the world. Available to users as part of Office365. It is similar in structure to Twitter, allowing employees to exchange short messages, form work groups, and monitor the “status” of subordinates. Other features of the service include exchanging files and images, supporting tags in messages, viewing online contacts, searching for people, groups and texts, creating and using a knowledge base. Thanks to the support of 25 languages, there is no language barrier when using the application.

After Yammer became part of the Office365 online office, it was no longer possible to install it separately. Another significant disadvantage is the lack of an organization option on the consumer's servers (on premise). Only a cloud solution with servers abroad (off premise) is available.

"Gingerbread"

Domestic corporate social network. Its distinguishing characteristic is gamification - for certain achievements in the network, users receive prizes and bonuses, in this case in the form of virtual gingerbread. Among the possibilities of "Gingerbread" - viewing the general feed of events and their discussion in groups, quickly conducting polls on any topic, exchanging files of all types, engaging in discussions stakeholders and experts, compilation of a knowledge base according to the wiki principle, quick access to contact information employees, viewing their publications, competencies and merit.

"Gingerbread" has an application for smartphones and tablets on Android and iOS. The network can be integrated with 1C-Bitrix and Microsoft SharePoint. The cost of the solution depends on the type of package. "Gingerbread" offers three types of tariffs: "For prospective ones" - free of charge (15 people), "For those who have learned the power" - about 16,000 rubles per month (cloud solution, 100 people), "All and forever" with installation on the customer's server - about 230,000 rubles a month. Using the network is advisable if the company employs more than 30 people.

IBM Connections

This is a corporate social network. The solution allows you to customize a personalized home page, create own documents and blogs, participate in discussions and exchange messages. Within the framework of the application, it is possible to form an information base, create forums and polls. Integration with Microsoft Office allows you to edit documents directly from the web. Works on Android, WindowsPhone, iOS, Blackberry devices.

The price of the application depends on the type of package and the options included in it. Thanks to the ability to organize forums, blogs and information bases, the application is suitable for large companies. Among the shortcomings of IBM Connections, users note the dull color palette of the interface. The app is available on premise and off premise.

Facebook Workplace

This is a corporate social network in its purest form. It is almost an exact copy of the classic Facebook. At the same time, user profiles are not connected in any way with their Facebook accounts. For the rest, the same tools are available on the network - a news feed, the ability to create a personal profile, groups, chats, presentations, and make video calls. The main advantage of Facebook Workplace is its familiar interface, which does not require retraining and getting used to from the user. A product for large companies, which even affected the payment method for its installation. If the number of employees in the company does not exceed 1000 people, then the cost will be about $ 3 per employee, and if the number of employees is from 1000 to 10,000 people, the price will drop to two. A free three-month period is provided to test the program.

The main disadvantages are the lack of the possibility of customization and the option of organizing on your own server. Only cloud version with overseas servers is available.

Salesforce Chatter

So far, a little-known platform in Russia for organizing a corporate social network based on Force.com. Allows you to create personal pages of users, groups, microblogs with the addition of status, exchange messages, images, documents. In the new version of the application, you can see the online status of users, chat with them in real time and even do screen-sharing. The latter function is also available for group mode. By the way, the platform was one of the first to introduce the ability to communicate with external users, creating groups and inviting partners and customers there. Chatter Connect easily integrates with external systems, primarily MS Sharepoint. Another advantage of Chatter is its mobile interface designed for any mobile device with a touchscreen.

The app has free version, however, in a somewhat truncated version. Moreover, Salesforce Chatter does not offer hosting on servers, the paid version also offers only Internet access.

The disadvantages of the platform include the lack of customization and Russification (even the "User's Guide" is written in English).

Podio

An intranet application that can also be used to create a social network is owned by Citrix. Its main difference from other corporate networks is that it is literally a constructor. If most networks only provide standard set functions for communication, creating groups, sharing files, and adding a specific function requires integration with other applications, then in Podio these applications can be created in the visual constructor using the drag'n'drop method. The created application can be connected to workspaces within the network. By default, the designer already has 200 apps. Another advantage of Podio is the ability to work in it and invited contractors: partners, clients, job candidates. The application has a Russian-language interface, which greatly facilitates the work of domestic users.

The free version of the application is designed for 5 employees, 5 contractors and 1 GB of memory. The paid version will cost the company $ 9 per user, the plus version - $ 14, and the premium - $ 24.

The disadvantages of this platform, like the previous one, include the lack of Russification. In addition, the developers only offer a cloud version of the system.

CyberCloud

This service allows you to create a full-fledged corporate social network with complex functionality: news, private messages, shared files, a shared knowledge base, forums, polls, tasks for yourself and your employees, a user directory, an idea collector, blogs. A distinctive feature of the service is gamification. There is a board of honor on the network, which is formed automatically based on various criteria - from useful advice to brilliant ideas and publications that are important for the company.

The social network can be accessed from any device - computer, smartphone or tablet. The developers offer two versions of the system - cloud and box. The service is designed for large companies, its cost starts from 2999 rubles per month for 100 users.

The main disadvantages are that this platform has only a web version (a convenient mobile application has not been developed), as well as an outdated design of the late 90s.

Not all existing solutions perform all the functions of corporate networks, and not all of them are equally convenient. Some are overloaded with functionality, others are not adapted for Russian-speaking users. The latter concerns imported developments. Therefore, the problem of developing a universal domestic product is very urgent.

The corporate portal should be, firstly, useful for work, and secondly, it should be interesting for employees. Meanwhile, having deployed the necessary functionality to provide the first, many companies underestimate the need for the second component. With the introduction of social networking technologies for corporate needs, organizations have fundamentally new opportunities for development.

Development modern technologies led to a real revolution in the field of working with corporate information. As you know, Professor Andrew McAfee from Harvard Business School, the author of the concept and concept of Enterprise 2.0, originally defined the concept as “the use of new platforms of social software within companies or between companies and their partners and customers ”. McAfee noted that such tools create numerous, often new connections between employees and various workgroups in a company. These connections foster the dissemination of corporate knowledge and expertise through “cross-pollination” that creates real business benefits for the wave.

Today, the trend of transition from a “community of readers” to a “community of writers” is clearly and clearly manifested not only on the Internet (in blogs, forums and networks), but also in the corporate environment. Therefore, the role of the portal is growing as a point of attraction for socially and business-active employees. Those companies that, on the one hand, create a convenient platform for communication on the portal, and on the other hand, stimulate employees there to communicate on professional themes can get very interesting and useful results for themselves.

However, the structuring of information on the portal is often organized in the form of a multi-tiered "cabinet" with "boxes" -sections, where certain documents are stacked and where it is not so easy to find them. It is very difficult to exchange information in this form: it can be found, but it will not be possible to pass it on to colleagues, discuss it, change it.

“As soon as we start thinking about how to increase the utilization rate of corporate information, we come to the technologies of social networks: users not only consume information, but can also comment on it, get feedback,” says Viktor Komar, Director of Integration Solutions Department at IBS. “This is how we can make information work. For those companies that have been using the standard functionality of the corporate portal for a long time and successfully, it makes sense to take a closer look at the new opportunities for organizing employee interaction. "

Instant messaging and constant presence in the virtual information corporate environment is the most important tool for operational communications, - confirms 1C-Bitrix CEO Sergei Ryzhikov. - Intracorporate social network (personal blogs, live feed, microblogging) is a mirror of the company, where people and their relationships are reflected with precision to the smallest detail, the structure of the company with all its efficiency and suboptimality.

Solutions for the organization of corporate social networks are becoming more and more in demand for purely practical reasons of management. Companies are becoming increasingly aware that the most significant competencies of employees lie in the field of "tacit knowledge". Implicit knowledge is in the heads of employees, as opposed to explicit - documented on paper, in the form of files or data in various information systems. Analysts estimate that typically the ratio of tacit to explicit knowledge in an organization is about 80 to 20.

“An organization that strives for successful development needs to encourage employees to put on the corporate portal or any other resource of the company at least some part of the knowledge that is only in their heads,” says Irina Maksimets, Head of the Software Department of SITRONICS Information Technology" in Russia. “Corporate social networks with the support of internal informal technologies for working with information is one of the most effective tools for achieving this goal.”

“Thanks to the activity of our employees,” Viktor Komar continues the topic, “the portal creates the so-called UGC (user-generated content), which is the main element for both the corporate social network and the knowledge management system. It is clear that the sites within the portal will mainly be grouped according to professionalism - similar to how communities of interest are created on the Internet: lawyers will communicate with lawyers, and technologists - with technologists. For example, one of the largest holdings is implementing a global program for the transformation of accounting. And the accountants of several dozen enterprises of the holding, scattered throughout the country, really need a platform to discuss their problems, exchange experience, and generate solutions. Where can they do it? Naturally, on the portal - and best of all on a site specially designated for these purposes inside it. "

In particular, portal technologies make it possible to create an educational social network based on a corporate portal, where specialists discuss important topics, give advice and train newcomers, create documents and suggest ideas. In fact, employees create and form a community of like-minded people and professionals. Solving this problem allows them to create value for the company, "charge" newcomers and pull less active employees to participate in corporate team events. In addition, according to Irina Maksimets, the portal can become an indispensable tool for implementing the strategy of the entire corporation or its transition to a new branding program.

The correct use of the proposed technologies of the corporate portal helps companies to maintain their uniqueness and not lose their value in the market.

The capabilities of corporate social networks are complemented by the fact that modern platforms have tools for transparent integration of the desktop and user applications with the portal. For example, a person directly from Word can publish a version of a document, and it becomes available to other users. And progress in search technologies (tagging, keywords, typing, voice search), the possibility of end-to-end search across various sources, including taking into account the level of access that the portal provides to users, make it possible to make any content easily accessible.

Well forgotten old

Tools for creating internal social networks and collaboration are included in almost all modern developed technologies, software lines of large ECM vendors, such as, for example, IBM, Documentum or Microsoft. In addition, there are a large number of specialized solutions on the market, tailored specifically for the corporate segment.

Konstantin Zhukov notes: “The Enterprise 2.0 concept and its Wiki, Blogs and mash-up applications continue to gain popularity. I would like to note that a new version SAP NetWeaver Portal 7.3 broadly supports all of these modern trends. "

The organization and operation of internal corporate social networks is similar to open ones. In them, each user also fills out his profile, indicates competencies, interests, goals, blogs, establishes connections with colleagues. At the same time, groups of people who are interested in certain things can form freely, on the basis of self-organization. An important factor in this is the visualization of this entire economy and the quick finding of the necessary information within the corporate network. Ideally than larger company, the more these technologies are in demand in it.

However, it is necessary to understand that the perception by some people of the term "social network" as something supernova and the very last is incorrect, - recalls Dmitry Romanov, director of information management technologies development at IT Co.. - In fact, a social network is a set of interactions / relationships between different people that has existed since the emergence of a person as a biological species. And this topic has been actively studied by sociologists since the 1920s and 1930s. Therefore, we can say with absolute confidence that relationships within a social network exist always and everywhere, in any organization and are an integral part of any social structure... At present, it is only about adding another channel of communication between people to existing and new social networks with the help of modern technologies, which allows all information of interactions to be made visible.

Sergei Ryzhikov advises to develop a corporate social network under the motto "His example is science to others": to popularize a new tool, it is very important that managers be among the first to post messages on their blogs.

It is advisable to define corporate regulations as soon as possible, which determines that company orders, current information that is of interest to employees (for example, about bonuses) are published only on the corporate portal. It is necessary to transfer documents there from the file server as soon as possible.

However, not all developers of portal solutions are supporters of the idea of creating their own corporate social networks in organizations. Global networks like Facebook are already bringing together employees of the same company, providing them with the necessary opportunities for communication and socialization.

“It will be more logical and more efficient to accurately implement and encapsulate these networks in a corporate portal, ensuring, of course, the required level of data confidentiality and security,” advises Artak Oganesyan, Deputy general director EPAM Systems business development and customer service company. - Such "splicing" will allow employees to communicate in the usual social network, will provide an opportunity to increase creativity and team spirit their work - by organizing forums, stimulating discussion of ideas and tasks, supporting joint initiatives, and so on. In fact, it will be another tool for feedback (or, better to say, bi-directional) communication between the company represented by its leaders at various levels and employees. "

Mobile, cloud, innovative

With the development of mobile devices (including tablets), remote access to corporate data will be more and more in demand. From this point of view, it is worth noting the active development of the mobile direction of portal technologies, their support for working with mobile devices of various formats and platforms and the associated high expectations of customers regarding the availability of portal solutions through mobile devices. The portal is becoming a single access window and a convenient tool for the work of remote employees: many portal solutions already have an adapted interface for display on mobile devices.

“I think that portals should develop towards increasing mobility,” says Artak Hovhannisyan. - Already, the availability of corporate mail, instant messaging and social networks on smartphones, netbooks and tablets allows employees to constantly be in the information space of the organization. Having opened access through such mobile devices to the rest of the portal functions (to corporate information systems, knowledge bases), the company will ensure continuous communication with its personnel and their constant involvement in work processes. So theoretically (in terms of technology) an employee will have no obstacles to live all 24 hours a day at work, albeit “virtually”: the opportunity to “work hard” will be limited only by a reasonable time frame that everyone can set for themselves myself".

Developments of special applications and interfaces for portal services appear to work on the most popular mobile devices, in particular on the iPad.

With the help of such solutions, it is possible to display data from decision support systems, corporate management and analytics systems, monitoring systems on a mobile device in real time, - comments Viktor Komar. - The head of the company, regardless of where he is, with one touch receives on the screen of his mobile device operational data on sales, business analytics, configured for him KPI, and all this quickly, in a beautiful and visual form. He can immediately take the necessary management decision... Such solutions at the junction of mobile platforms, portal technologies and corporate applications are more and more in demand, they allow you to always keep your finger on the pulse and manage the company very quickly in any situation.

Since in many companies the corporate portal already implements the capabilities of remote access, for employees to work with it from home or during a business trip, the next step in its development can be the organization of interaction with external partners, counterparties, and contractors. There are no technical obstacles and problems to create a special partner zone on the basis of the portal and provide access to up-to-date reference books, price lists and other necessary information, to implement the services necessary for partners there.

Dmitry Romanov advises paying attention to Social Network Analysis technologies, which allow visualizing and analyzing internal social interactions in company. With their help, you can find informal communities of people, identify formal and informal leaders, see how interactions are arranged within and between communities. Technology also makes it possible to analyze the use of different communication channels. Their use makes it possible to really extract a lot of value from the existing picture.

“The fact is that before all these processes were invisible for a long time,” explains Dmitry Romanov. - People communicated with each other and sent to best case paper documents; this interaction was lost and the big picture was difficult, if not impossible, to trace. Now, almost all types of communication between people leave traces. And software products of the Social Network Analysis class just allow this information to be observed, made visible, analyzed and used to improve work efficiency. "

In the near future, we can expect the use of the portal's capabilities for visualizing data in a spatial dimension, building specialized geoinformation services on its basis, which may be relevant for transport and logistics companies.

Konstantin Zhukov predicts the development of portal technologies in the "clouds". For small and medium-sized companies, this will allow you to use all the advantages of portal solutions without deploying them in your enterprise and without worrying about supporting and maintaining the solution.

Interestingly, according to Sergei Ryzhikov, the segment of video conferencing and IP-telephony is developing: “We expect big changes and an increase in demand in this segment: these technologies allow an organization to do more in less time and increase the efficiency of individual employees and the company as a whole.”

Portal technologies are a "klondike" of new opportunities for a company. Any organization has a lot of interesting data and information. Before the development of portal technologies, there were no interfaces or platforms to find and make available this data. Finding and showing them is the main purpose of the portal. For example, if the company has a document management system, you can do a simple thing - display information on the portal about how many inconsistent documents are "hanging" on which employee, or, for example, publish the performance indicators of departments (you get such kind of online "Boards of honor").

“This information will be of interest to many; there will be an element of competition, maybe labor productivity will increase, - believes Viktor Komar. - There is a lot of such data in any company, just not everyone knows how to use it yet. And to do this, you just need to give people access to them, to enable them to compare this data with others. Then users will go to the corporate portal, write to the corporate forum, participate in discussions, ask questions to the management. And the management can hold online and offline meetings. A two-way communication portal is a good tool for closing the distance between management and employees. The management sees what problems the employees are concerned about, and they, in turn, get the opportunity to communicate directly with the top management, bypassing many hierarchical levels. "

Another trend in the field of portal services is associated with the fact that companies are more likely to place individual functions of their specialized systems on the portal so that they are available to users in a convenient and understandable form. It is clear that all specialized systems have their own characteristics, their own interface, but employees whose work is not directly related to them have neither the time nor the desire to understand these systems. For them, a simple portal service offering adapted functionality is much more convenient.

The portal allows you to build even a complex business process in an understandable way and helps even an inexperienced user to walk through it step by step, - explains Viktor Komar. - This is a very convenient tool for all employees and beneficial for the company, since resources are saved through the use of a self-service scheme. Moreover, the range of integrated applications and, accordingly, tasks solved through the portal is very wide: from ordering passes and a projector to working with SAP and analytical systems. In the latter case, the organization of access through the portal to corporate applications allows you to save on the payment of licenses for workplaces. And the more employees need to be given access to the data of a particular application, the greater the savings will be.

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Each chef has his own signature recipes. And only he knows in what seasoning, mood or melody sounding during the preparation, the secret of an excellent dish lies. It is the same in business - each manager has his own methods of management, each company has its own "kitchen". Can a corporate social network become the main ingredient in a dish, or does it remain a pleasant, but not necessary, decoration? Like a rose on a cake, say ...

Many companies block access to social networks during working hours. Others, on the contrary, launch their own networks, encouraging communication between employees on professional and personal issues. Opinions about the need for implementation may also differ: someone sees only advantages in the fact that employees always stay in touch and are involved in the process at any time, someone, on the contrary, believes that social networks distract employees from performing their main duties and you can do fine without them. However, both of them recognize that social networks are a powerful trend in communication, not only in private life, but also in corporate life.

According to Andrey Dankevich, Marketing Director of DaOffice, a Russian corporate social network, this is a full-fledged business tool, but even before its implementation in the company, it is very important to clearly understand what the result should be in the end. For example, the task is to quickly adapt new employees. In this case, a corporate social network perfectly complements traditional training systems (distance or face-to-face trainings, courses, seminars, etc.) with the emergence of social connections... For example, mentoring is developing - more experienced employees help newcomers by answering their questions on social networks, an adaptation program begins to work, and this applies not only to skills, product knowledge or the ability to serve a customer, but also adaptation within the team. A person immediately becomes a participant and a member of the team, while it is quite easy to understand how much he has joined the team and whether he is ready to interact with colleagues.

Innovation management

The corporate network is good tool for socialization, however, according to experts, it is important that this does not become an end in itself. Elements of social networks can be integrated into other IT systems so that users are involved in existing business processes.

Take the innovation management system as an example. In many modern companies the collection of ideas from employees is somehow present. In this case, a corporate social network can be used as a tool for the initial collection of ideas from employees and further transfer of data to a "large" system for managing ideas and innovations. The benefit of such integration is that each of the systems does its own thing. An easy-to-use KSS generates a large flow of ideas through greater employee engagement, and complex expertise is done through a full-fledged innovation management system. In addition, the corporate social network makes the process of submitting and voting for ideas open and transparent. Thus, the company becomes more innovative, involves employees in business change processes. This, on the one hand, gives a great advantage for the business, since it becomes possible to implement those changes that are useful and important for employees, and on the other hand, it is an additional motivation for them. "My idea has been implemented, I have contributed to the development of the company" - this is a very strong motivator.

This point of view is supported by Alexandra Popova, Leading Specialist of the Internal Communications Department of CJSC JSCB "Russlavbank" . In her opinion, the value of a corporate social network is that the involvement of employees in solving important issues motivates everyone to reveal their own potential. “It can also be noted that employees have a sense of responsibility for the business, which allows them to look at the company through the eyes of the owner and learn how to make important decisions based on the benefits to the organization,” she sums up.

Communication problem

In general, there are a lot of systems with which KCC can be integrated. However, here it is very important to choose exactly those with which integration will be really in demand, turning KSS from just an environment for communications into an environment for increasing the efficiency of employees.

The social network letobook, introduced in OJSC "Leto Bank", has become such an environment for increasing the efficiency of employees. The social network here is the main and main carrier of all information that is generated within the bank, and is used, first of all, to optimize and improve work processes - all internal processes, from issuing new uniforms to employees to calculating interest on a loan, are discussed in the public domain in networks. All ideas are accepted for consideration, those that are really worth to be implemented are implemented, the authors of ideas receive gratitude from the first persons, and this is a powerful stimulating and motivational program.

“For us, letobook has become an excellent platform for communication in all directions, both horizontally between colleagues from different departments and regions, and vertically between employees and bank management. Thanks to this, we not only know what is happening in all corners of our network, but also can promptly signal about our problems, respond to these signals, discuss possible options for the development of a particular situation and make optimal decisions.We were able to avoid the isolation of the head office and top management of the bank from the real aspirations and problems of employees of our regional points of sale - that is, to get away from a common communication problem of all large federal-scale companies. In the social network, the entire inner life of the bank is visible at a glance, any event, any difficulty immediately becomes public knowledge, and this is a huge power and great opportunities for development and improvement, "- says Alina Morozova , leader in internal com communications and Internet projects of OJSC "Leto Bank".

87% of the bank's employees are registered in the letobook network. From 27 to 50% of them use the network every day.

Overall efficiency

Sofya Semenova, head of internal communications and brand of Volvo Group, believes that corporate social network is an excellent tool for managing and motivating personnel, as well as for organizing joint work on projects, storing and sharing information, and managing knowledge within an organization. "The corporate social network brings all the advantages of social networks to the business environment: speed of information exchange, intuitive simplicity and accessibility, user-friendly interface, support for mobile devices, flexible subscription tool, the ability to ask for advice, ease of creating new contacts, using the knowledge base in public access and collective intelligence for solving problems ", - notes Sofya Semenova.