For organisations trying to deliver multi-language intranets there are a unique set of issues and considerations that must be addressed.

These range from governance and legal considerations; potential design and accessibility issues; the implications for search; through to the cost and logistics of supporting language variations.

Yet for global organisations, delivering content in multiple languages can be critical to facilitating communication, improving engagement and increasing productivity.

Source: www.intranetlife.com Posted by support 391 days, 18 hours, 18 minutes ago

I often hear people talking about the amount of data that is being created as being unprecedented. It isn’t. What is unprecedented is its retention. We are all conditioned to the “growth of data”. This is really lazy language and should be changed to the “growth of the retention of data”. A business process which creates data has probably been always creating it, but until recently it was probably just transient.

Modern business has evolved from the industrial revolution. The problem we face today in navigating the information revolution is that the industrial revolution taught us to use the principles of processes.

Two centuries of business has slavishly adhered to the idea that commercial and government enterprises are nothing more than the aggregate output of thousands of individual business processes.

Because no-one alive today has experienced any other form of business interaction we can be forgiven for thinking that there is no other alternative.

Source: mike2.openmethodology.org Posted by support 428 days, 17 hours, 59 minutes ago

Socialtext is fueling corporate collaboration one tweet at a time.

Most company intranets are little better than corporate newsletters: static, lifeless, boring. "You know what the most visited corporate intranet page is?" asks Eugene Lee, CEO of Socialtext. "The cafeteria lunch menu."

Socialtext, a nine-year-old company based in Palo Alto, California, aims to make the corporate intranet sexy again. In the process it is changing the way silo-bound corporate citizens collaborate.

Source: www.technologyreview.com Posted by support 430 days, 16 hours, 58 minutes ago

The Deloitte Center for the Edge has issued a new paper, “Social Software for Business Performance” that discusses how companies can leverage social software to improve business performance in the short-term and transform it in the long-term.

It states that early adopters of social software have the potential for gaining financial benefits. They can also develop skills and experience that can help build a stronger competitive position over time. It claims that social software has unique capabilities to address current operating challenges and improve operating metrics.

I would agree.

Source: billives.typepad.com Posted by support 434 days, 21 hours, 59 minutes ago

Last week, Ragan.com reran one of my old columns that I wrote for the magazine Corporate Writer and Editor several years ago.

It was about what I called the “fun” page of the employee publication—the place where editor run service anniversaries, silly photos, and soft “employee hobby” stories.

I wrote it at a time when most people had print publications, and many of those people wasted at least one page—and sometimes as many as four—running lists of service anniversaries in tiny, 6-point type, under the theory that they ‘build community,” or are a good form of “employee recognition,” or that they will “pull readers in,” who will then read the serious stuff.

I don’t buy any of those reasons. If you think it’s the communicator’s job to build community, then start hosting pot-luck dinners.

Source: corporatehallucinations.com Posted by support 441 days, 4 hours, 7 minutes ago

In response to my post about making SharePoint not look like SharePoint, Mike asked where the figure I quoted came from. He said:

"I would also like to see you cite your source for the statistic you quoted. The problem with statistics is that anyone can toss them out but unless you fully understand the context they are meaningless. Just because a company does spend extra on SharePoint customizations doesn’t mean that it was needed in order to make the solution work. Many companies find value in small things (such as branding) that others may think was a waste of money. This should not reflect negatively on the tool or be used to scare people away from implementing it."

My Comments

1. Honestly, I didn't know it where it came from - I had read it last year, seen it in a couple of reports, but never followed up on it. Here's what I found.

2. ...

Source: currents.michaelsampson.net Posted by BasZurburg 441 days, 18 hours, 21 minutes ago

When change initiatives fail, the culprit is often a lack of good communication from management. But that's not always the whole story. Communication isn't just about what management says; it's also about how employees listen.

This point was made to me by an executive whose organization had difficulty in getting employees to buy into changes it had proposed. He felt his employees were choosing to tune out as a form of resistance. Such resistance can often sabotage the best efforts of management to drive change throughout the organization.

It even happens when managers are diligent communicators and active in the communication process. Resistance will occur for any number of reasons: perceived loss of autonomy, fear of the unknown, or a dislike for upsetting the status quo.

Source: blogs.hbr.org Posted by support 458 days, 17 hours, 43 minutes ago

Nothing seems to attract attention more these days to a blog post than sticking the words SharePoint and governance in the title … without wishing to jump on the bandwagon – actually, jumping firmly on the bandwagon with a double backwards flip and triple salco thrown in – here are my thoughts to add to the cascade of information on the subject.

[To be honest, what follows is not specific to SharePoint but you've got to grab attention where you can! ]

Source: richarddennison.wordpress.com Posted by support 460 days, 23 hours, 5 minutes ago

Many intranet commentators have noted the importance of accurate employee profiles in building the enterprise human network and fostering a culture of collaboration. People are at the heart of your business and should be at the heart of your intranet.

Identifying the fields that resonate with your business is an art (and will be the subject of a future post), but encouraging your employees to complete their profile is a ubiquitous challenge for all intranet teams. Here are a few ideas that will help.

Source: imjon.com Posted by support 461 days, 2 hours, 6 minutes ago

The “digital workplace” sounds good. People like the way the words resonate. It generates enthusiasm. Yet, when you need to explain to senior management in 2 minutes, it’s a little harder. What does it really mean?

I’ve sketched the diagrams you see here and have tested them in numerous contexts over the last few months. They work well, both in potentially conflictual meetings with internal stakeholders and with 5-minute talks to senior managers. I use them as a build-up, talking through the evolution from the first model to the last.

These diagrams are not about technology platforms. They are about the underlying user perception of the digital workplace. I interviewed someone recently in an enterprise that is advanced in their digital workplace strategy. He said: “Some people think of social media as different from intranet, but most don’t really separate the two when the tools are embedded.”

Source: netjmc.com Posted by support 466 days, 18 hours, 29 minutes ago