Five Ways the Enterprise Youtube Improves Internal Communications

Five Ways the

Enterprise YouTube

Improves Internal

Communications

Five Ways the Enterprise YouTube Improves Internal Communications

Better Internal Communications with Video

At the beginning of 2013, the team at simply-communicate.com (an internal communications group with over 20,000 members) asked a select group of internal communications and social media experts to share their internal communication predictionsi. Responders discussed a wide- range of change variables, from gamification, to brand journalism, to increased social media within the enterprise.

The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) (which participated in the discussion) shared insights gained as a result of their extensive research into pivotal themes for internal communications and social media professionals. With the goal of enabling communication professionals to better optimize internal communications’ (IC) impact and relevance, the IABC offered the following thought-provoking recommendations:

Be a Bridge Builder

The IC team must become master storytellers who utilize technology in ever-more masterful ways. This team’s grasp of the “big picture” of a business and ability to relay that vision to personnel can be augmented by incorporating video, graphics and traditional journalistic elements into transmedia platforms. By capitalizing on their technical fluency to translate complex information into compelling narrative for both personnel and stakeholders, the IC team can and should create greater synthesis across an enterprise.

The Value of Clarity

What do you value? What is important to your enterprise? Diversity. Reputation. Performance. Accountability. The IC team is guided by their mandate to uphold and project these pillars of the enterprise through clear, veracious, and ethical communication. In so doing, they foster the kind of long-term relationships across an organization’s workforce that feel personal, meaningful and relevant. The IC division of an enterprise is charged with continually finding new ways to support relationships throughout the enterprise that can withstand (and prevail over) potentially disruptive transformations, be they change- or crisis-oriented.

Foster a Continuous Learning Culture

www.mediaplatform.com 1

Five Ways the Enterprise YouTube Improves Internal Communications

An IC team can extend its reach by continually adapting to the evolving needs of their business, acquiring new skills (especially new technologies), keeping apprised of resources that explore and examine the connection between human behavior and communication strategies, and pushing past expectations. Through continually developing and expanding their internal resources in this way, IC professionals and teams can further augment their innate business acumen and leverage it to strategically align actions throughout the enterprise with the larger vision they are championingii.

Enterprise Video is the New Conference Call

To achieve IC’s fundamentals objectives –consistently and creatively conveying the story and clarifying the core values of an enterprise – companies of every size and structure are utilizing enterprise video platforms, more commonly known as enterprise YouTubes. Tech giant Cisco recently made the prediction that as much as 90% of all internet traffic would be video by as early as 2014iii. IBM and Microsoft Services Asia regularly deploy video for their internal communications; Microsoft releases weekly video podcasts and IBM utilizes video to conduct staff meetings and trainingsiv. Large companies aren’t the only ones that “get” the compound value of video in the enterprise; a recent study by internalcommshub.com reported that 93% of IC teams see enterprise video as an “important tool” for conveying information to employeesv.

What is an Enterprise YouTube?

Video as a vehicle for training dates back to the military and defense industries’ training videos used during WWII. In much the same way that governments use video to engage and train their personnel, corporations are leveraging the immersive capabilities of “socialized” live streaming of video content to accomplish an

www.mediaplatform.com 2

Five Ways the Enterprise YouTube Improves Internal Communications

array of objectives. As the name “enterprise YouTube" suggests, software providers have taken design cues from YouTube and Facebook to create internal video sharing platforms to help engage employees and shareholders.

Given the pervasive utilization of YouTube, mimicking its functionalities enables enterprises to rapidly engage employees without the labor-intensive process of training them to adapt to a foreign format. The principal distinction in utilizing an enterprise YouTube is that, unlike its consumer-focused progenitors, your content management lives behind an internal firewall and has greater security provisions and controls than content posted to the public domain.

Five Ways Enterprise the YouTube Helps Internal Communications

Number One: A Passport for Dispersed Workers

In large multinational corporations where one division may occupy an entire floor and be comprised of several sub-divisions, connecting face to face is often an elusive (and perhaps antiquated) luxury. Even more elusive is connecting with the philosophical principles guiding the organization and driving business practices which may seem more like Orwellian “group think” or corporate speak than the ideas and dreams of flesh-and-blood people. But, as disconnected as workers may sometimes feel, and as removed from human connection as large companies may appear, corporations are people, and it is the task of each company’s IC team to relay the vision of the people guiding the corporation in such a way as to foster buy-in and engagement beyond the minimum required to keep one’s job, if that company is to remain competitive and attractive to current and future employees.

If bonds between coworkers in the same site require continuous cultivation, fostering bonds across multiple locations around the world requires substantially more effort to achieve and maintain. The correlation between increased employee engagement and increasing ROIvi makes this a pressing concern for executives and a mandate of the IC team’s strategy. The enterprise YouTube’s ability to create “virtual workspaces” which allow workers in various locations to connect and collaborate in real-time is creating veritable passports across time zones for the dispersed workforce.

Moreover, as research has shown that 64% of all communication is non-verbal, enterprise YouTubes, which allow workers to see, hear and respond to an actual person (or group of people), create a sense of “being there” and belonging crucial to connecting people and ideas across geographical, cultural and linguistic barriers. Manuals can serve a purpose and emails can transmit data anywhere in the world, but to convey dense, highly subtle and/or complex ideas or feeling to dispersed workers, the enterprise YouTube is an ideal platform. Through this level of (near) face-to-face engagement, dispersed workers can feel closer and more connected to their remote counterparts and the larger company vision they support.

www.mediaplatform.com 3

Five Ways the Enterprise YouTube Improves Internal Communications

Going Mobile

Corporate communications experts also predict that mobile will continue its ascent as a prime vehicle for connectivity. Through live webcasting and on-demand video, companies can engage with workers whether they are in the field, in transit, or working from home. Mobile connectivity also addresses the issue of reaching employees who may not have access to a company’s intranet, but who use a company provided or personal mobile device.vii Though the demand for connecting to work via mobile devicesviii indicates that this is a prime target for IC professionals, to reap its full rewards will necessitate that all communication streamed be compatible with multiple desktop and mobile operating systems.

Number Two: Increased Safety and Cost-Savings

How much time does staff spend repeating or clarifying what was said in a meeting or in a conversation to other personnel? While exact numbers may be difficult to pin down, everyone has experienced the frustration of getting crucial information from a second-hand source and later learning that some critical component was omitted (or unsuccessfully relayed), necessitating the additional expenditure of time and resources to correct a misstep.

In the case of mission critical industries, getting it wrong can be even more costly. One example of the efficiency of utilizing enterprise YouTubes for internal communication within this type of industry is that of the Lubbock County, Texas Police Department. Several departments have integrated video communication tools into courthouses and jailhouses, and have consequently reduced the costs associated with traveling between various sites. These tools have also been instrumental in reducing some of the risks associated with prison transfers (and the related manpower, fuel and security costs), by enabling all interested parties to be continuously on the same page.

Number Three: Control Content and Distribution

“Know your audience”, goes the adage. Through creating appropriate enterprise YouTube channels, the right message will go to the right team. So, for example, content that is only

www.mediaplatform.com 4

Five Ways the Enterprise YouTube Improves Internal Communications

useful to a given department would live on a channel created for that department or tagged appropriately (e.g., “accounting”, “marketing”, “human resources”, etc.), thereby eliminating irrelevant communicationsix.

YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media sites allow anyone to upload and stream content, but for enterprises that wish to leverage the functionality of such a platform while safeguarding their intellectual property and other confidential information, using these platforms would be disadvantageous. A secure enterprise YouTube allows companies to take full advantage of a tool that mimics the behaviors of one of the world’s most popular social platforms, while using it to distribute proprietary content that is safely encased behind the corporate firewall.

Number Four: Socialize Your Communications

According to Pew Internet (a project of Pew Research Center), 72% of online adults are social networking site usersx, and contrary to common perceptions about its socially isolating nature, they use it for everything from creating new relationships to reviving dormant ones. Social media (LinkedIn, Tumblr, et. al.), has created a new roadmap for human connectivity that enterprises can integrate into their own internal communications methodologies. Creating enterprise-based social platforms may sound like a straight-forward and self-evident process, but to think that simply creating enterprise YouTube channels will suffice, is to oversimplify the endeavor. To draw employees to those channels, the social platform you create must strive to match and surpass the dynamism of its internet counterparts (such as Yammer, Chatter, and Socialcast)xi.

For example, Google+ offers a virtual “water cooler” meetup or hangout session for people in various locations. Your enterprise YouTube can offer the same functionality - enabling

www.mediaplatform.com 5

Five Ways the Enterprise YouTube Improves Internal Communications

spontaneous, frequent and informal mini-meetings to occur that, create a place for sharing insights and inspiration on everything from new staff policy to unhappy customers, which can rapidly increase the sense of community in your organization and accelerate the team’s response to internal and external business concerns.

Number Five: Counter Employee Disengagement, Increase Employee Engagement

One standard proposed for measuring the efficacy of using video to improve employee engagement is to measure how your workforce engages with it, rather than going by the number of videos uploaded, according to internal communications experts. Employee engagement is ultimately a case of quality over quantity. For example, when IBM launched its employee generated video (EGV) campaign less than one percent of the total workforce was engaged with the program. Thirty days later, employees had shared over 4,700 videos. The key was the quality of the videos shared and the appeal of receiving and distributing content generated by and for one’s peersxii. Additionally, according to Aberdeen Group, collaboration implementations with video improve ROI by up to 5 timesxiii.

A Better Learning Tool

When learning systems involve active learning, retention increases manifold. Of what we learn, we retain:

. 10% of what we read . 20% of what we hear . 30% of what we see . 50% of what we hear and see . 70% of what we say (discuss in detail, rather than merely regurgitating) . 90% of what we do (create or manipulate), and . 95% of what we teachxiv

An enterprise YouTube engages all of these aspects of learning through presenting information, encouraging discussion and application of the information, and providing a platform for employees to teach others what they know through employee generated video content, thereby enabling vastly greater retention and adaption of new technologies and processes across an organization.

www.mediaplatform.com 6

Five Ways the Enterprise YouTube Improves Internal Communications

Conclusion

In the book “Organizations Don't Tweet - People Do”, author Euan Semple devotes several chapters to what he calls “the rise of new business literacy”, liberated from the rigidity and truancy of old-guard internal communications (long-toothed documents and formalized communications channels), and embracing the relevance and immediacy of communication forms and formats that people naturally gravitate towards. In other words, internal communications is taking cues from the way people communicate in their personal lives, towards real and natural conversations and integrating technologies (i.e.,. webcasting, telepresence, video conferencing, virtual workspaces) that enable organizations to convey business intelligence in like manner . As Semple aptly puts it, “What I believe we are seeing is a lifting of the gray cloud of sanitized business speak and a return to real conversations with real people about real products and services. This has to be a good thing.”

ABOUT MEDIAPLATFORM

MediaPlatform is the best-in-class enterprise YouTube for global enterprises and digital media producers. MediaPlatform’s video portal and rich media webcasting software enables high- impact interactive presentations and on-demand video for lead generation, corporate communications and training. The company offers organizations the ability to take advantage of scalable cloud-based computing, as well as on-premises deployment, to present and manage rich media. MediaPlatform customers include Accenture, Ericsson, Facebook and General Motors. www.mediaplatform.com (310) 909-8410 Ext. 1 [email protected]

i http://www.simply-communicate.com/news/internal-communications/internal-communications-2013 ii http://www.simply-communicate.com/news/internal-communications/internal-communications-2013 iii http://mashable.com/2010/06/02/online-video-traffic-2014/ iv http://www.businessinsider.com/video-offers-new-way-for-companies-to-communicate-internally-2012- 10#ixzz2fjaHIMoO v http://www.businessinsider.com/video-offers-new-way-for-companies-to-communicate-internally-2012- 10#ixzz2fjaHIMoO vi http://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinkruse/2012/09/04/why-employee-engagement/3/ vii http://www.simply-communicate.com/news/internal-communications/internal-communications-2013 viii http://www.simply-communicate.com/news/internal-communications/internal-communications-2013 ix http://www.tmcnet.com/topics/articles/257462-five-ways-improve-internal-communication.htm x http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2013/social-networking-sites.aspx xi http://www.simply-communicate.com/news/internal-communications/internal-communications-2013 xii http://www.qumu.com/news/news-releases/469-executive-survey-employee-generated-content-works.html xiii http://www.cisco.com/en/US/solutions/ns1007/UC_incorporate_video.html xiv http://www.csun.edu/coe/eed/holle/560C/Thinking%20Maps.pdf