Articals

There's a seismic shift going on. Whether it's the way we are communicating or the new faces and shifting roles of the C-suite, change is afoot.

This week our contributors took a look at where we're changing and where things remain the same and offered a glimpse into what the future intranets might look like. Experiments took place in both the B2B communications front and with SharePoint. They kicked tires, built dreams and herded sheep.

Read on.

Building the Future Workplace

Optimizing Organizational Effectiveness Through Social Business

Ed Brill (@edbrill): Many organizations today are seeking opportunities to be more responsive and effective. Typical goals are to improve sales efficiency, accelerate innovation and increase responsiveness to customers. As companies have leveraged the benefits of external communication using social networking, leading organizations have recognized the potential for similar impact through full transformation into a social business.

Intranets: Your Not-So-New Collaboration Frontier

Kimberly Samuelson (@ecmchick): It’s been about a billion years (1994 says Wikipedia) since intranets were invented. So by now you would think that organizations would have figured out how to best leverage their information+data+processes+users using the intranet as a focal point.

You would be wrong.

Increasing Complexity Requires Increasing Agility

Gerry McGovern (@gerrymcgovern): The need to be agile and the need to collaborate in a cross-disciplinary fashion will be crucial to your future career.

Finding the Cure to the IT Requirements Fallacy

Stephen Fishman (@trivoca): A man walks into a doctors office and says "Doctor, I have this dull pain in my back and can't get to sleep. I think I have a kidney stone." The visibly frustrated doctor says, "Stop telling me about your diagnosis and tell me your symptoms!"

Four Highlights of the BoxWorks 'Wonder Woman' Panel #BoxWorks

Blake Landau (@blakelandau): Knowledge sharing is the single most important act that has to happen for women in Silicon Valley.

The New Box Experience: Building a Dream in a Box #BoxWorks

Virginia Backaitis: Aaron Levie is on a mission. The Box co-founder and CEO has a dream: he wants workers everywhere to have hassle-free access to the documents and other content they need to do great work from anywhere, at any time, using any computer or mobile device.

Is There a Future for Enterprise Search?

Martin White (@intranetfocus):In September I was taking part in a European Commission conference on search computing at which a senior executive of a major search technology vendor proclaimed that enterprise search is dead, and that the focus should be on data analytics. Without doubt there are some significant benefits in enabling managers to look for trends and outliers in the mass of data that is now being collected by many companies, but that does not mean to say that "enterprise search is dead."

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Source : cmswire[dot]com

Today's businesses face the challenge of ensuring customers can access their services and products through whatever means they choose. Channel shift moves customer transactions to the most effective and efficient channel of engagement, creating satisfying customer experiences while delivering savings and increasing revenue.

In times of reduced budget and more savvy shoppers, channel shift is seen as an essential method of delivering better services and increasing sales to people looking to buy or seek information.

Channel shift, or web transformation as some people call it, is applicable across all industries. In this post I have highlighted the challenges and successes some businesses in the Financial Services, Travel and Transportation and Public sectors are experiencing.

Web transformation technology is not just about slick looking websites. Digital channels can:

Deliver more sales
Reduce the cost of sale
Reduce customer service cost
Increase customer conversion
Increase intelligence about customers.

The good news is that many vendors have proven success in this area. When selecting partner agencies, be sure to check that they can deliver at least 250 percent ROI. In other words for every £1/US$ 1 spent, you should aim to see a cash return or benefit of £2.50/US$ 2.50.

Channel Shift in Travel and Transportation

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French ferry operator Brittany Ferries, prides itself on a commitment to provide an excellent online customer experience which has delivered increased bookings, outstanding levels of customer satisfaction and a reduction in contact center costs for this quality-focused cross-channel ferry operator. To date, the firm has moved 75 percent of ferry bookings online with a 275 percent ROI and have recently launched a mobile website to further assist travelers.

National train operator Virgin Trains faced a specific challenge — a significant increase in demand over the recent Olympic Games held in the UK. They quickly deployed a LiveChat facility before the games to enable customer service operators to chat online with up to 6 customers concurrently. This allowed them to help customers with quick questions they had about Virgin Trains’ operations and services whilst increasing conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

Channel Shift in Public Sector

Within the public sector many organizations are facing very clear budget cuts. In the UK there are clearly defined channel costs. According to Socitm, a face-to-face meeting costs £8.62/US$ 14.00, phone contacts are £2.83/US$ 4.59 whereas web transactions can be as little as £0.15/US$ 0.24. This clarity has ensured that channel shift is now widely adopted, but sadly still remains under invested.

An example of an organization that understands the need to invest to save, and have a clear eye for tracking ROI is Basildon Borough Council, located just outside London. They are targeting over £1m/US$ 1.6m channel shift savings.

Like every local authority in Britain, Basildon Borough Council is under pressure to reduce its operating costs without effecting the quality of service delivery. For the council, that has meant exploring ways in which its website can work harder to reduce the administrative burden on council staff, whilst protecting front line service to the borough’s 172,000 residents. This channel shift project is achieving improved service delivery and has seen ROI well in excess of expectations.