Connecting Organizational Silos: Taking Knowledge Flow Management to the Next Level with Social Media

HOW TO REALLY GET IT OFF THE GROUND

In the previous section I talked about some of the pre-conditions for really getting started. Now let us have a look at what you really need for the launch.

Before you launch your ESN to your users, it is important that you have a team in place to guide it way beyond the launch. It is a common mistake to assume that after the launch all that will be needed is some technical support. If you want it to be a success, an ESN needs ongoing “initiative support,” as I call it. There need to be at least a few people adapting strategies, guiding users, and organizing trainings (not just technical but also, more importantly, business trainings). Make sure you have identified this team and have set their roles accordingly before the launch. There is hardly anything worse than putting all that effort into the preparation only to risk your success by assuming it is a project that ends with launch day. See the next section for an extended discussion on viewing an ESN as an initiative.

For the actual launch it is important to use multiple channels to target potential users. In the case of The Hub, the main channel was our Intranet, where a number of articles highlighted the advent of the new platform and how people would be able to sign on. Earlier I mentioned the prelaunch spread of information about the ESN, which led to viral usage and a nice way of turning the preproduction launch into an early-adopter launch. In addition to this unplanned information spread, ...