Enterprise Microblogging at Siemens, Building Technologies Division: A Descriptive Case Study

Enterprise Microblogging at Siemens,
Building Technologies Division:

A Descriptive Case Study
Johannes Müller
Siemens Switzerland Ltd.
Alexander Stocker
Know-Center & Joanneum Research
presented at:
I-KNOW 2010, Graz, Austria
September 1st, 2010
© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2010
Page 1 September 1st, 2010 References@BT, Johannes Müller Building Technologies Division
Mircroblogging: Examples for
Open or Closed Internet Platforms
Twitter
Yammer
Socialcast
Chatter
screenshot found on
www.salesforce.com/chatter
Communote
screenshot found on
www.communote.com
... and of course even more ...

Typical Mircroblogging Characteristics
 Short messages (in Twitter max. 140 characters) with limited layout support
 possibility to add hyperlinks
 possibility to upload attachments
 reply to any posting
 citation of any other posting ("RT")
 reference to other members ("@")
 using tags or keywords ("#")
 direct or private message to any member ("DM")
 'following' other members
 'following' certain tags
 subscription of any certain piece of content via e-mail
 RSS Feed(s) of any certain piece of content
 access from mobile devices with dedicated application
Please note: Not every microblog platform offers every feature.

Microblogging as Part of References@BT,
a Siemens-Internal Community Platform
Content in References@BT
Knowledge References fee with Forum Postings Microblog

dba
 Customer Projects cks  Urgent Requests Postings
 Solution/Service Concepts  Solution Talk and General Ideas
 Technology Information  News, Trends and Innovations structured
 Market Information  Fairs and Conferences by free
 External Awards  BT Academy International tagging
 Business Excellence Cases  SES Solutions Community
 Lessons Learned  etc. ("Folksonomy")
po
st
es
s
qu
ut
re
rib
es
ad
nt
tio
s
co
n
knowledge and information sharing
people networking
The Application: References@BT ...
 is a web platform for the global exchange

of business-related knowledge,
experiences and best-practices,
 is a social networking tool, which networks
colleagues and animates them to
communicate to each other,
 is intended for internal use (by Siemens
members) only and thus available within
the Siemens intranet,
t r ecent s
s ng  contains knowledge references (customer
3 mo g posti
blo projects, solution/service concepts, etc.)
m icro
and suitable documents,
 contains several discussion forums (Urgent
Requests, etc.) and a microblog section,
 considers its users as global community
(~ 7,000 members located in 73 countries)
supporting each other.

Features of the References@BT Mircroblog:
Content Structure and Display
 Postings are not limited to a specific amount of characters.

 File attachments are not possible.
 Any specific layout apart from hyperlinks is not supported.
 Hyperlinks (URL and text) can be easily coded, e.g.:
[[http://www.siemens.com/ Siemens Homepage]]
 Replying to any posting is possible.
 The initial posting and all replies are hierarchically displayed as 'topic'.
 The author's name and portrait are displayed along with each posting.
 Tags or keywords:
 Tagging is mandatory for initial postings and optional for replies.
 Tags are not pre-defined and can be freely chosen ("Folksonomy").
 The most frequently used tags are summarized (see page 9).
 Postings can be imported from other microblogging sites.

Features of the References@BT Mircroblog:
Subscription and Networking
 'Following' other members is possible.

 Postings of all 'followed' authors can be received via e-mail once
a day or once a week.
 It's possible to receive all new postings once a day.
 In case of a new reply, the author is informed via e-mail
immediately (independent of any alert settings).
 Several RSS Feeds are provided:
 postings from a certain author
 postings from all authors, whom anybody is following
 postings having a certain tag

Microblog Examples:
Personal Blog and Blog Topic
All m
ic
sear roblog p
ch o
grow ed throu stings ca
ing k g n
nowl h and fo be
edge rm a
new repo
top sitory
ic .
e-mail alert
wers
follo
foll
ow
postin this
gs wit col
h sa m new re
e tag le ag ply
ue
gs
st in
po
e's
new re
ply agu
colle
s
thi

Topics Discussed in the Microblog
This screenshot shows the

most frequently used tags in the
References@BT Microblog:
a l l p o s tings
Nearly re l a ted.
in e ss -
a r e b us
taken on August 26th, 2010

Promotion Actions for the Microblog
 All registered community members in References@BT have been informed

about the new microblog and were asked to write own postings. Additional
measures:
 textual feedbacks about the new microblog,
 textual comments during a user survey,
 individual Season’s Greetings shortly before Christmas.
 Certain postings filtered according to defined tags are dynamically displayed
on related (Web 1.0) intranet pages.
 Import of postings owning a certain hashtag from several microblogging
providers (Twitter, Yammer, Socialcast).
 Members of the same locations are individually proposed for 'following' within
a personalized e-mail sent to all community members. This resulted in about
3,000 new following relations within just a few days.

References@BT Microblog Statistics
February – August 2010
Feb 2010 Mar 2010 Apr 2010 May 2010 Jun 2010 Jul 2010 Aug 2010
blog postings 101 102 88 90 158 159 163
blog authors 31 34 39 33 37 58 40
still existing
following relations 60 106 47 45 67 53 2,988
Total figures on September 1st, 2010:

1,989 blog postings
458 blog authors
3,870 existing following relations

Benefits of the References@BT Mircroblog (1):
Perceived Usefulness
 easy way of sharing information (5 statements)

 the additional channel of promoting events (2 statements)
 new means of networking with others (2 statements)
 suitable tool to improve writing skills (2 statements)
 possibility to follow experts (1 statement)
 way of identifying current trends (1 statement)
 new awareness of latest happenings (1 statement)
"The microblogging tool helps to understand or be aware of the latest happenings

in terms of product releases, features, market enhancements, etc. in the BT
Division. (...) This will help to benefit in terms of knowledge, understand some of
the best-practices used in BT, and to network with others."

Perceived Ease of Use
 grouping of blogs with certain tags

 possibility of adding HTML links to blog posts
 possibility of importing blog posts from externally hosted
microblogging services
 possibility of forwarding blog topics or profile pages
"We need to look at Web 2.0 aspects and try to improve this tool to be inclined
towards Web 2.0 standards. Since the number of blog entries is increasing, it is
good to group all the blogs to their respective blog group name."

Perceived Individual Benefits
 getting the right contacts (5 statements)

 assistance on getting the right information/knowledge (4 statements)
 enlarging the personal network (1 statement)
 learning from followers (1 statement)
 gaining an edge on information (1 statement)
"(...) The microblogging tool helped me in getting the right contacts

working on a specific protocol and to receive more information
about this protocol that helped me with my documentation work."

Perceived Organizational Benefits
 better flow of information caused by the microblogging

service (4 statements)
 enabling of worldwide networking (4 statements)
 drive on knowledge management practices and learning
(1 statement)
 reduced overall workload (1 statement)
 diffusion of rich experiences which lead to more
innovative thinking and better products (1 statement)
"Finding other people in the organization that might have the skills or knowledge
you require for a particular problem is often very hard. Microblogging provides
the ability to find and exchange knowledge with other people in the organization
and thus enables very quickly best-practice sharing and avoids 'reinventing the
wheel'. It also reduces the workload compared to e-mail communication. (...)"

More Information about References@BT
Would you like to learn more about

References@BT? Feel free to visit the
presentation in the I-KNOW Praxisforum:
References@BT – a Case Study for

Knowledge Exchange and Social
Networking using Web 2.0 within the
Organization
Thursday, September 2nd, 11:00-11:30 am

(The presentation is spoken in German.)

Contact for Questions and Feedback
Dr. Johannes Müller

Siemens Switzerland Ltd.
Building Technologies Division
Zug, Switzerland
e-Mail: j-mueller@siemens.com
https://www.xing.com/profile/Johannes_Mueller47
Dr. Alexander Stocker

Know-Center & Joanneum Research
Graz, Austria
e-Mail: alexander.stocker@joanneum.at
https://www.xing.com/profile/Alexander_Stocker


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Enterprise Microblogging at Siemens,

Building Technologies Division:

... and of course even more ...

© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2010

Please note: Not every microblog platform offers every feature.

Knowledge References fee with Forum Postings Microblog

 is a web platform for the global exchange

© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2010

 Postings are not limited to a specific amount of characters.

© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2010

 'Following' other members is possible.

© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2010

© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2010

This screenshot shows the

taken on August 26th, 2010

© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2010

 All registered community members in References@BT have been informed

© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2010

blog postings 101 102 88 90 158 159 163

Total figures on September 1st, 2010:

© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2010

 easy way of sharing information (5 statements)

"The microblogging tool helps to understand or be aware of the latest happenings

© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2010

 grouping of blogs with certain tags

© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2010

 getting the right contacts (5 statements)

"(...) The microblogging tool helped me in getting the right contacts

© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2010

 better flow of information caused by the microblogging

© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2010

Would you like to learn more about

References@BT – a Case Study for

Thursday, September 2nd, 11:00-11:30 am

© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2010

Dr. Johannes Müller

Dr. Alexander Stocker

© Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2010

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