Social Software Roadmap : Implementering av sociala verktyg internt i organisationer

Today more and more companies are looking out to adopt a new generation intranet, a social intranet where all employees can engage to express themselves and share information. There are large expectations on these new services, which have the opportunity to create high business value if used actively and qualitatively. However, there is a large challenge in knowing how to best implement these services in an organization in order to achieve this. This paper has investigated how an implementation should be made by defining obstacles for the implementation and adoption, discussing how they could be overcome, investigating what incentives could be used to foster usage and finding common success factors for an implementation. By a qualitative research method, consisting of five case studies and two focus area interviews we found a number of steps that must be followed for an implementation to be successful. First the conditions of the organization must be investigated in order to see whether or not social tools are suitable. If deciding to implement social tools the project must then at an early stage be defined in the organization, when it comes to desired achievements, responsibilities, governance, financing and transfer pricing. Thereafter the suitable platform and tools should be chosen by defining the organization’s user groups, studying their needs and translating them into features, deciding whether to replace or complete the existing intranet and choosing a platform based on recognition and application handiness. The next step is to prepare the tools for launch by creating structures, integrating with existing systems and forming guidelines for usage. The launch should then be made by combining a bottom-up with a top-down approach. It should include choosing a pilot for focused efforts and general marketing. Managers and leaders should be instructed separately before instructing each user group. To help the launch suitable ambassadors should be used. The sixth step is to stimulate activity by the use of stars and medals and by emphasizing good material and achievements. Finally, the last step is to follow up the implementation by measuring the outcome and interviewing employees