Facing poor user adoption of its patchwork of collaboration solutions, Nationwide Insurance created an entirely new collaboration platform called Spot, built on a SharePoint platform with Yammer adding social enterprise capabilities. The system now has 30,000 users and has resulted in reduced software licensing costs and improved internal support, among other positive results described in an article from CITEworld.
Nationwide saved $1.5 million a year just in software licensing costs after replacing a variety of unpopular and expensive tools with Spot. In terms of softer ROI, the organization is actually saving even more in productivity increases that haven’t been measured in hard dollars. Consider that its internal help desk used to field thousands of calls a day compared to about 50 each day with the new system in place. That’s a big difference, and it means that those help desk employees can be reallocated to more valuable IT functions.
The article highlights how existing collaboration applications aren’t catching on at many organizations because they’re too difficult to use. That’s a huge differentiator for Yammer in this market. Yammer is changing the paradigm with which collaboration tools in the enterprise are designed. The fact that it’s cloud-based and has a simple user interface is a big reason that it’s taking off at organizations like Nationwide. It’s simply easier to use than many of the traditional tools in the enterprise space.
It’s worth pointing out that Spot is accessible via mobile devices in addition to desktops and laptops. Making the platform easy for users to access with their device of choice is an important factor in spurring user adoption. Leadership support and a serious training program for users are also important for the success of a collaboration platform. Also consider using pilot programs and rolling out new tools first to individual units or user groups instead of companywide. Nationwide started with a test group of about 500 people to identify and address weaknesses in the system before making the system available to everyone.
We don’t often hear organizations equating enterprise tools to Facebook or LinkedIn, although Chris Plescia, Nationwide’s head of enterprise collaboration, told CITEworld that Nationwide wanted a system with some elements of those consumer products. However, we commonly see companies seeking technology that helps bring people who are functionally or geographically disparate together into the same conversation about work-related topics, and social enterprise tools can be a great way to do that.
Source: CITEworld, October 2013
