Integrating collaboration – linking virtual workspaces with your intranet #epem

Oops, missed the 1st minutes of Neil Morgan, Head of Global Intranet at WWF International (5000 employees).

How did they get to their new collaboration platform? Surveyed users by asking questions and watching the way they worked. Based on the survey’s they came up with personas. They found that lots of work was very labor intensive.

To address their ‘problems’ they turned to Google. People were already using Gmail, Google Docs, etc. They went for Google Apps:

• Calendars
• Docs (e.g. Forms), Spreadsheets Presentations
• Google Sites (best practices, wiki space, etc.)

Neil stresses how really simple it was to set up Google Apps and how simple it is too use. He also shows how well the parts of Google Apps integrate. Search Docs or Search All from one box. Create a document, share it easily and chat about it in the sidebar. Etc.

How do they link all these sites back into the intranet portal. They implemented a newsroom approach on the central intranet. They want the sites to think more in a newsroom way. Write news items locally with links to more info. This is picked up centrally. They also tie the sites together using search (also Google).

Tips from WWF

• Online collaboration must start with real world collaboration (trust…)
• You will make mistakes (fail quickly and move on)
• Promote a culture of openness in teams (share early and often)

Benefits

• Group editing
• Self-organization
• Easy authoring tool (promotes contribution)
• Collective intelligence

Brand development within WWF is done using storytelling.

Reason to Go Google is costs and the range of services. It’s a platform to build on.