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Social Computing PlanLuis C. SilvaBellevue UniversityAbstractOrganization B is a facilities management organization that provides cleaning services to businesses, buildings, and major facilities across the western United States. They are considering a social computing strategy that will allow the company to connect employees, generate additional contracts, and expand into new areas. If implemented properly, leadership hopes to bring the organization closer together, lower expenses, and increase profits. This report is designed to outline a potential social computing strategy for Organization B, the issues they may face, and ways to measure success. Social Computing PlanIn today’s progressive business environment, it is becoming increasingly difficult to remain on the cutting edge of technology. Organizations that are embracing new systems, processes, and tools are beginning to make great strides forward in comparison to their counterparts. Much of their success is a direct result of their ability to embrace technology. As such, social computing activities and strategy are becoming necessary in the business world. Organization B is a facilities management organization that provides cleaning services to businesses, buildings, and major facilities across the western United States. They are considering a social computing strategy that will allow the company to connect employees, generate additional contracts, and expand into new areas. If implemented properly, leadership hopes to bring the organization closer together, lower expenses, and increase profits. This report is designed to outline a potential social computing strategy for Organization B, the issues they may face, and ways to measure success. Key Objectives Supported by Social Computing:Connecting employeesConnecting employees with each other and leadership is designed to create a synergistic work environment. First, it is important to show employees that leadership is engaged and care about what they go through on a daily basis. Second, connecting employees sparks innovation and creativity (Burkus, 2012). This leads to ideas that could benefit and improve the enterprise. Generating additional contractsBringing on new accounts is the lifeblood that funds the entire organization. Additional business creates more revenue for the company and more opportunities for employees to grow into leaders and trainers. Rather than focusing on word-of-mouth advertising, the organization can leverage social computing to create a buzz around their service.Area expansionAs the organization grows, leadership will be pinpointing markets to expand in. Social computing tactics, if utilized properly, can target specific areas for market testing. This will allow costs to remain low before jumping into new markets. Potential Pain Points to Consider with Social Computing:Social media literacy among workersThis is important to consider because social media is still a relatively new form of communication. Introducing social media to employees to assist with better communication and create a sense of “team” may be challenging if they do not embrace the system. Additionally, they may not understand how it works or the purpose of communicating in this fashion. Developing a mandatory training plan centered on social computing will be required. Leadership will need to demonstrate the importance of involvement, the key objectives, and the ease of use. Engagement from leadershipIn order to ask employees to embrace a new habit, product, or service, it is important to have the full support of upper management and leadership. Prior to a successful launch, leadership will need to “buy-in” on the social computing program. This may require a presentation on the facts, figures, risks, and rewards. Further, if leadership signs off on the plan, they must also get involved to demonstrate the “why” behind the “what.” This will make it easier for employees to accept and embrace the changes. Legal complicationsLegal matters are always going to be a concern when dealing with internal and external forms of communication. It will be mandatory that every employee involved needs to comprehend what is allowed and what is considered acceptable social behavior. A mandatory training will be required and attendance will be verified. Leadership and HR will review examples of acceptable posts among employees, customers, and other third parties. Additionally, it this would be a good time to touch on sexual harassment and ways to avoid potentially harmful situation. Negative mediaControlling negative media may create some vulnerability within the organization. If the company is receiving negative feedback, this could greatly impact the amount of new accounts that are developed. On the same token, negative feedback will provide the company with areas to improve. This is an area that must be closely monitored. First, it would be wise to reach out/monitor a competitor that has already launched a social computing strategy. Gaining competitive intelligence on the matter will allow Organization B to potentially avoid the same mistakes their competitors made. More importantly, leadership may be able to pinpoint areas where their competition is highly successful. The goal with any social computing plan is to maximize exposure but minimize negativity and potential operational threats. Additionally, it is important to add that negative press or media should be welcomed with concerned leadership and addressed immediately. If handled properly, the negative feedback can be turned around.Social applications supporting the key objectives:Internal communication strategy – Internal communication is highly important within the enterprise. It is critical that information is communicated quickly, efficiently, and in a manner that clear and concise. This will allow employees to follow protocol, make fewer mistakes, and ultimately reduce expenses. At this point, Organization B uses email as a primary form of internal communication. This would normally be fine, however, it leaves the janitorial and maintenance staff in the dark. The representatives that are in the field do not typically have easy access to email. GroupMe, as presented below, may be a cost efficient resolution for the short-term.GroupMe: A mobile application that will allow information to be broadcasted through a group text message. This is a low cost method that will allow employees to receive brief correspondents directly on their personal mobile device. For the employees that don’t have a cell phone, this may be a bit of an issue. However, most field representatives have a partner or manager they report to daily. This will allow the information to be transferred. Additionally, for those with a smart phone, granting access to company emails is a great way to stay informed. Keep in mind, coaching and monitoring will be needed to regulate activities and behaviors when dealing with group chat or emails (Workplace Mobile Messaging). Expansion utilizing LinkedIn - A professional networking site designed to connect business men and women from all around the world. It is a zero to low cost social application that can allow employees to network amongst themselves while keeping an eye on company updates. Additionally, it is highly effective for potential business growth and market expansion. It can be used in many ways to benefit Organization B as listed below.Recruit top talent: LinkedIn has an available application called a “basic talent finder.” The recruiting department can input specific requirements and search for qualified individuals. This will be useful for area expansion and organizational growth (Turchetti, 2012).Group activities: Joining or initiating a group on LinkedIn is simple yet it allows the enterprise to get involved in the online community. Participating in group discussion can add value to other business owners which will lead to more referrals and business (Turchetti, 2012). Endorsements and recommendations for good work: Testimonials have been proven to drive business. It is essentially the online version of word-of-mouth advertising. The more positive testimonials Organization B receives, the easier it will be to sell their service. The feedback will speak for itself (Turchetti, 2012).Finding connections: Organization B likely has a target customer that they seek out with their basic marketing efforts. LinkedIn will help them focus on those customers. They can reach out, connect, and attempt to develop a relationship (Turchetti, 2012).External communication strategy – Communication between external customers and third party vendors is extremely important from a customer service perspective and a marketing perspective. Organization B currently leverages email and phone communication between both parties. They have basic customer relationship management software through their website where documents can be reviewed and they do very little external marketing. Most clients come from referrals or the local trade shows. By implementing a new social computing campaign through Facebook, Organization B can leverage their existing CRM software to reach new clients and better maintain their service levels. Facebook: A social media website designed to bring people from all over the world closer together. In the more recent years, businesses have leveraged the networking powerhouse as a great way to stay in touch with clients and expand their business. Creating a Facebook business page will allow Organization B to learn customer interests, strengthen their network, and share updates, events or promotions (Zoho). This will promote client involvement and assist with customer requests, comments, and concerns. It is also an effective way to adjust the enterprise strategy as needed per popular request. Customer relationship management software: A CRM software is important to the organization because it contains valuable intelligence on each client that is entered into the system. Linking Facebook with the current CRM is cost effective and relatively simple to implement. This means that any new client which becomes a friend on Facebook will automatically be entered into the CRM database. Their basic interests and information will be tracked and monitored. This will allow Organization B to strategically tailor marketing efforts to their needs. Measuring success:Identifying measurable goals - Before success of a social computing strategy can be measured, it is important to identify and establish goals that can be measured. For example, if the goal is to expand within a certain market area, it is important to establish what success would look like. For purposes of discussion, let’s assume that Organization B would like to obtain two new client accounts per week within a new market. The new accounts are to come from social computing efforts as well as word-of-mouth. Since the company does not have a track record with social media, they can estimate what activities are needed to drive traffic to their site, and how many visitors are needed to achieve a new account. Let’s say that for every 250 visitors, Organization B will achieve one new account. The company should initially focus on driving 500 unique visitors to their site per week. In theory, this would create two new accounts per week and exceed their goals once you factor the word-of-mouth business as well. As time goes one, the organization can use historical analytics to measure the accuracy or their predictions. Monitoring progress - “The great thing about the web is that you can measure everything, and you can tie a dollar value to every website conversion,” (Bullhorn, 2012). Between the CRM and social applications that Organization B is implementing, they will be able to effectively monitor their progress. They will be able to determine what works well and what does not work. Adjusting the strategy – The first step is to take action and pick somewhere to start. Second, monitor the progress while determining what works. Third, adjust the organizations strategy as needed. Adjusting the strategy based on historical data is extremely important. It allows the business to stay on top of trends, exploit marketing opportunities, help customers better meet their goals, and expand operations. Organization B has built a successful and profitable company with little to no marketing efforts up until this point. Leadership has decided that it is critical moving forward to implement cutting edge marketing strategies and improve communications if they want to reach new levels of success. Adding additional contracts, expanding into new markets, and improving internal/external communication are within reach if the company executes strategic social computing strategies. If done correctly, Organization B will experience higher levels of success, more sales, and a better sense of what their customers are looking for. Additionally, it will improve the customer experience, service levels, and employee morale. The strategies presented in this report are designed to bring employees closer to leadership, and bring the organization closer to its clients. As technology advances, social computing will become the standard versus being optional. Organization B needs social computing to remain relevant and stay one step ahead of the competition. ReferencesBurkus, D. (2012, March 9). LDRLB. Retrieved from, C. (2012, December 12). 4 Ways LinkedIn Can Help Grow Your Business. Retrieved from Mobile Messaging Apps Are Growing Trend. (n.d.). Retrieved from CRM - Integration with Facebook. (n.d.). Retrieved from to Create Measurable Goals for Social Recruitment. (2012, August 27). Retrieved from ................
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