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Building a Better Enterprise with Yammer Success Story | Education & Public Sector Northwards Housing uses Yammer to connect and engage staff, whether they’re in headquarters or out in the field. Benefits: >> A more unified and open organizational culture >> More transparent and targeted information flow >> External networks that connect staff with customers and partners, improving efficiency and ultimately, customer satisfaction Building a Better Enterprise with Yammer Industry Education & Public Sector Northwards Housing is a not-for-profit organization that was created by tenants’ Employees representatives and the Manchester City Council to deliver top-notch housing services 340 in the northern part of the city. Some of the 340 people who work for Northwards Founded oversee everything from rent collection to repair scheduling from the organization’s 2005 headquarters; others spend their days out in the field, handling cleaning, maintenance, Region and other tasks. United Kingdom “As an organization, our success depends on engaging and empowering employees and customers,” says Head of Business Effectiveness and Communications Steve Finegan. “Yammer is one of the key ways we do that. Our staff are now more open, transparent, and social in their communications. We’ve also started using the network to forge tighter connections with customers, gaining vital input that helps us adapt to their needs—and improve our services.” Up until two years ago, Northwards had a traditional intranet. “A lot of pages and documents were out of date,” Finegan recalls. “No one bothered to update them, since a lot of the time, no one even looked at the intranet.” The company decided to replace that static intranet with a vibrant forum that would become a hub of communication and interaction. “Our vision was clear: we wanted a site that could be personalized by individual users and include instant messaging and forum discussion,” he says. “At the same time, we wanted our communications team to control and manage the content efficiently, without spending a lot of time on technical updates and content management. We researched a lot of products and decided that Yammer fit the bill. Instead of a traditional intranet, which is essentially a document library, Yammer offered a dynamic approach.” Northwards introduced Yammer to its organization in 2012. “It was an instant hit with our employees, and it’s grown organically from there,” Finegan says. According Success Story | Education & Public Sector to a recent network activity report, 85 percent of all employees actively engaged with the network. “Ninety-nine percent of our employees have logged in to the network,” Finegan says. “That tells me that we’re starting to have the impact we wanted, which is all the more amazing given that we have done very little by way of formal introduction to Yammer.” Finegan says executive buy-in was critical to the network’s growth. “Our CEO regularly participates in discussions, posts links to topical news stories, welcomes new members to the network, and publishes a regular news blog,” he points out. “And our executive directors—despite initial skepticism about potential benefits—are now actively posting content, joining in discussions, and answering queries on a range of issues.” Listening to the Field Steve Finegan Head of Business Effectiveness One of the biggest benefits of Yammer is the way it enables two-way communication: and Communications network participants don’t just receive information, they also can share their own Northwards Housing experiences and observations. “With Yammer, people have a voice,” Finegan says. Listening to those voices keeps Northwards in touch with what’s happening at the We need to constantly properties it manages. “Our estate-caretaking team members use Yammer on their evolve and respond to the smartphones,” he explains. “They post updates on conditions, including before-and-after environment around us, and photographs showing their efforts clearing away rubbish or erasing graffiti. Those posts that’s an area where Yammer is strong. generate discussions, as well as lots of ‘Likes’ and ‘Praise.’ Thanks to Yammer, those of us who work in headquarters feel more connected to the field, and mobile workers who used to work in isolation now feel more in touch with—and appreciated by—the rest of the organization.” He adds, “A social intranet breaks down organizational hierarchy and information silos, allowing people to have conversations that never happened previously. Our field team and headquarters staff have started having conversations about strategy on Yammer, which is quite remarkable.” Since understanding customers’ needs is crucial to Northwards’ mission, the organization has begun using a Yammer external network to get feedback. “Customers help us review how we’re doing and drive improvements,” Finegan says. “Listening to what they have to say has been useful, giving us an independent perspective on where we’re succeeding and where we need to make changes.” That’s not the only external network making a big difference at Northwards. There’s also one for the board of directors that oversees its operations, and another that connects with the customer-service center that helps with incoming requests. “We’ve also launched our first event network, using Yammer to plan and collaborate with the sponsors and organizers of our annual employee awards ceremony,” he says. Success Story | Education & Public Sector Adapting to Changing Demands As at most enterprises today, things happen quickly at Northwards—and its social intranet helps staff keep up. “We need to constantly evolve and respond to the environment around us, and that’s an area where Yammer is strong,” Finegan says. “Discussions on the network regularly alert us to issues when they arise, literally anywhere across our organization. That means we can resolve them faster.” Northwards has even used Yammer to test how quickly staff can adapt to crises, setting up a private group to explore what might happen if an extreme weather event hit when headquarters was closed. “Employees logged into the group and impersonated customers trapped in their homes by snow, posting a range of complaints and queries,” he says. “It was a good way to test our responsiveness in that kind of pressurized Steve Finegan situation.” Head of Business Effectiveness and Communications Yammer also helps Northwards adapt to the challenge of trimming the bottom line, since Northwards Housing robust online discussions cut down on the need for in-person meetings. “For instance, we used to bring staff together every quarter for a briefing from our chief executive,” Finegan reports. “Now that our CEO has his own blog on Yammer, we gather everyone Employees are using the network to ask questions, just once a year instead of quarterly. That saves time and money.” express opinions, share Another way the network helps staff meet work demands is by filtering information so information, and debate and solve problems. Now people can stay up to date on the information they need without being inundated with that we’re expanding our extraneous material. Yammer’s Group feature allows team members to organize their Yammer network to include personal newsfeeds so they can decide what they’ll be updated on—and what they customers and partners, the won’t. The Notes feature is also popular, since it allows multiple users to create and sky’s the limit. annotate notes together in real time. “That kind of collaboration boosts innovation and productivity,” Finegan says. “It also helps reduce email traffic.” Collaboration on Yammer is further supported by the network’s link to SharePoint. “Besides the ongoing discussion taking place on Yammer, staff can use SharePoint to access a document library to find less dynamic content, such as policies and procedures,” Finegan says. “It’s seamlessly integrated—and we look forward to integrating Yammer with all our core applications.” Growing into a Brighter Future Northwards’ social savvy is helping the organization improve—and showcase—customer satisfaction. A recent example stemmed from a customer’s question about the amount of energy saved by an upgrade to a complex’s communal lighting. The person fielding that question posted a query on Yammer that elicited a lot of responses, including some impressive numbers. “Not only did we find out the answer, but the discussion enabled Success Story | Education & Public Sector everyone involved to see that the new lighting would save £2,725 [$4,563] and 18.06 tons of carbon a year,” Finegan says. The pleased customer suggested that Northwards publicize the figures—which it did, in a press release endorsed by that customer. Thanks to Yammer, Northwards now has a process to drive innovation. “In the past, there was no formal process, and staff ideas were communicated to managers via email,” Finegan explains. “There was no transparency and often, no action. Now we have a Yammer staff-suggestion group where people post ideas, which then get tweaked and refined by colleagues. Those ideas then are posted in our judging-panel group, which rewards the people who generated the ideas. The top ones are forwarded to senior management for implementation, leading to greater efficiency, productivity, and improved customer service. In short, we’re working like a network.” According to Finegan, Northwards’ entire culture is changing because of its enterprise social network. “We are a more open organization,” he says. “Employees are using the network to ask questions, express opinions, share information, and debate and solve problems. Now that we’re expanding our Yammer network to include customers and partners, the sky’s the limit.” THE RESULTS >> Stronger and more transparent corporate culture. Yammer forges connections that span functional boundaries and information silos, empowering staff to work like a network. >> A way to listen. Northwards uses its network to stay attuned to staff, customers, and business partners. >> More productive communication. The targeted, multifaceted communication on Yammer cuts down on email and meetings— saving time and money.
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