- 4chan hell raisers finding fame brings heat?
- The 10 dumbest mistakes network managers make
- NetApp quits bidding war in face of EMC opposition
- CompuServe closes after 30 years
- Google to launch open-source Chrome OS this year
Having trouble justifying to your company's top brass why you should make investments in internal Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, wikis and social networks? If so, take notes from Pete Fields, senior vice president of the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank's e-commerce division.
This morning at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference, he unveiled the business case he made to Wachovia's top executives on Enterprise 2.0 technologies' value. His major selling points included enterprise 2.0 tools' ability to connect a geographically disparate workforce, increase employee collaboration, capture critical knowledge from retiring Baby Boomers, and promote Generation Y's engagement.
1. More Effective Work Across Times and Distances
While the majority of Wachovia's operations and banks are in the southeastern part of the United States, Fields says the company has been building out branches (and accompanying operations) to other parts of the country. According to the bank's website, that build out now includes a workforce of nearly 120,000 employees. And with that workforce becoming more distributed, Fields told Wachovia executives that technologies such as social networks would be a great way to connect employees and also reduce travel budgets for collaboration.
According to a conference moderator, Fields used SharePoint to implement blogs, wikis and social networking (CIO did a feature on the social aspects of SharePoint here).
2. Better Engagement and Connection Between Employees
Wachovia's distributed workforce has had another effect: There are fewer places where employees can gather socially and make meaningful connections. "You used to have softball games and bowling leagues," he says. "As your companies grow, it's impossible for them to gather at the company picnic or softball game. What we have learned [in the consumer space] is that Facebook and LinkedIn relationships can be just as real."
3. A Way to Capture Baby Boomers' Deep Smarts
As Baby Boomers begin their exodus from the workforce, it's important to get their knowledge transcribed into a transparent, searchable portal. Wikis and blogs serve as a perfect medium for this because they are centrally located and open, as opposed to storing information in more obscure locations. "In a legacy environment, only 1000 people could [edit] the corporate intranet or it's tucked away on some shared drive," Fields says.
Partner Content
Explore the Ultrium Edge
The powerful tape technology can address data security with tape encryption as well as long term data protection.
Find Out More
Disk and Tape Square Off
Discover what disk and tape really cost and which solution provides lower total cost of ownership and optimizes energy use for your organization
Download this White Paper
Don't Fall for the Myths
The Clipper Group explores the truth behind the myths of tape, digging into the misconceptions in the disk vs. tape debate.
Review this information
information examination
An examination of information security issues, methods and securing data with LTO-4 tape drive encryption
Read this analysis
Comment