E-communication at work : the advantages of a collaborative intranet

 

In order to study how Internet and e-communication can be used at work, I will focus on one tool : the intranet.

That’s the definition of an intranet given by Wikipedia : “An intranet is a private computer network that uses Internet protocols.”It allows the employees to share information and, as a consequence, to work more efficiently.

 

During my internship in SFR, I made a report about MY SFR. It’s the company’s intranet, that has been recently created. The specificity of this tool is that it’s a “collaborative intranet”. First, I will explain what is a “collaborative intranet”. Secondly, I will show how it can help people working together, and how it improves the collaboration between employees. Thirdly, I will demonstrate that an intranet represents a real advantage for in-house communication.

What is a collaborative intranet ?

 

My SFR’s creation is an answer to the wills of two different departments. Firstly, the Communication department wanted to replace the old intranet (considered as too static) by a new one. Secondly, the Human Resources department wanted to accelerate the innovation in terms of internal mobility.

That’s why the company decided to create My SFR, an intranet that have the features of “Web 2.0”. It means a more participative tool. It permits to convert the old intranet which was an informative place into an expression place.

 

 

 

This intranet includes three sections :

–       YOUR BLOG allows all employees to write articles about the company, its competitors, and the market, and to comment its.

–       YOUR IDEAS is a kind of “ideas box”, of brainstorming. All employees can propose ideas and vote for it.

–       YOU invites the employees to complete their profile (like you can do in Facebook for example). This section also includes a space dedicated to Human Resources, where workers can evoke their progression wills.

 

 

 

A tool that helps employees working together

 

This kind of collaborative intranet modifies the information stream in the company. It’s not a top / down or a bottom / up information, but a circular one. It gives the company more flexibility. Moreover, it encourages the employees’ visibility in the company.

The fact is that one employee, who was in an trial period, contributed a lot in this intranet, by writing articles. It was a way for him to reveal some talents.

 

But we have to qualify this idea. Indeed, there are some impediments to participation. Firstly, employees can be reluctant to reveal their personal life by filling their profile. Even if it looks like Facebook, the workers know that they still are in the company. So they pay attention to what they indicate in those profiles. Secondly, they have to learn how to use the tool. As a consequence of those technical impediments, they are more young and technophile employees who express themselves on the blog. Thirdly, they have to know editorial techniques. That’s why the majority of contributors are from the Communication and the Marketing department. Indeed, expressing themselves is a component of their work.

 

A real advantage for in-house communication

But a collaborative intranet like My SFR is a real advantage for in-house communication.

First, it feeds the company’s image. It appears as more dynamic and innovative.

Secondly, it helps information exchange. Indeed, workers from different departments can communicate although they weren’t used to meet for their work.

A good example is that, thanks to this intranet, a technical problem in SFR was solved by two employees that worked in different places, separated by many kilometres !

 

Moreover, My SFR was particularly useful for the company, because it was the period of the merger between SFR and another company (Neuf Cegetel). This is an article announcing the merger between the two companies. The announcement of this merger lead to a climate of anxiety, because of some vacancies’ suppression. That’s why a chat was created in My SFR. In this chat, employees can ask questions to the executive committee about the merger. It helped the workers to have all the important information about this point.

Moreover, the collaborative intranet evoluated after the merger’s authorization. In its intranet, SFR put a link to the other company’s one. The graphic codes changed, integrating the other company’s ones. And the workers of both companies could meet before being gathered in one place. In this context, this collaborative intranet was a very efficient tool to anticipate the merger and to help the employees to adapt to the future situation.