I suffer from e-mail ennui. Remember when it was fun? Not anymore. Content is scattered everywhere and people use e-mail – wrongly – as an information repository and archiving system.
Last week SAP unveiled its social strategy to transform how business people connect, engage and transact with customers, colleagues and partners. Listening to the launch, I was struck by CMO Jonathan Becher’s statement: “We’re changing what we’re doing inside SAP.” He spoke of the impact of an “authentic social presence” and how important it was to treat social as embedded in and not tacked on to the company strategy.
SAP Jam is only part of the social strategy at SAP, but from what I have seen and heard, it is going to unshackle me from my e-mail handcuffs by connecting me to colleagues on a collaborative platform. With SAP Jam we can switch from closed-circuit conversations that happen via e-mail to real-time group conversations. If an entire project team has insight into the developments, progress and decisions that impact a project, their commitment increases and the transparency they have involves them more deeply in the project and with the team members.
Earlier last week I was interviewed by cpwissen, a German corporate publishing and media forum. The last question was, “What’s the next big thing for employee communications?” And my answer was “social”. This is it: SAP Jam. I just signed up.
The Global Employee Communications team at SAP (of which I am a member) is committed to using the platform to strengthen social communications within the company. While not primarily a communications channel, SAP Jam supports enterprise social networking which in turn can strengthen employee engagement. I look forward to using the platform with the team to share best practices, manage projects, gather requirements and feedback, and to publicize decisions. When our team got a sneak preview recently, it was obvious how quickly results are driven on the platform.
ZDNet had a nice piece on this after the launch. Social will be a big topic at SAPPHIRE NOW in Madrid so watch for more there.
