Social Business Case Study: Continental

Transcription

1 Social Business Case Study: Continental ConNext as the New Work Order The international automotive supplier Continental wants to optimize collaboration between its locations around the globe using IBM Connections software. Increasingly, dependence is growing around the efficient interaction between globally distributed production and development sites of the company and also the interaction with customers and suppliers. Under the name ConNext the board commissioned a project led by the IT, to build up the technical and organizational foundations for this new network cultur e within the company.

2 Social Business Case Study: Continental ConNext as the New Work Order With ConNext we launch a holistic foundation for modern communications, cross-border cooperation and decentralized knowledge management. Our intention is to use the collective intelligence of our organization better in the future. We expect higher efficiency, greater effectiveness, and greater capacity for innovational capability and capacity. Web 2.0 technology today can be very well used as a corporate communications and collaboration environment. We recognized the opportunities at Continental and as a project-team consisting of IT, human resources, corporate communications, and knowledge management are building a platform called ConNext for our employees, with which they do not follow rigid processes, but instead form the informal knowledge sharing and global networking with modern tools, says Martina Girkens, Head of Corporate Functions IT at Continental. Company Continental AG, also frequently referred to as 'Conti', is a leading German auto and truck parts manufacturing company specializing in tires, brake systems, vehicle stability control systems, engine injection systems, tachographs, and other parts for the automotive and transportation industries. Continental is based in Hannover, Germany. Continental is the world's 4th largest tire manufacturer after Bridgestone, Michelin, and Goodyear, with an annual revenue of 30,5 billion in 2011 and around 167,000 employees in 46 countries. Continental was founded in 1871 as a rubber manufacturer, Continental-Caoutchouc und Gutta-Percha Compagnie. In this video presentation Martina Girkens describes the competitive advantages a company can obtain through social business by enhancing network capabilities and driving significant cultural change establishing a new network behavior through the ConNext -project: For viewing this additional video click on the image below YouTube-Video: Creating Competitive Advantage Through Social Business May 2012 (13:18) 1

3 To jump directly into certain topics of the video presentation click on the following time codes: Greater Success With Network Behavior (5:16) ConNext brings it all together (10:53) Business Drivers and Challenges Speed, unpredictability and global operations require new ways to collaborate The ultimate aim should head towards the realignment of the organization, which is able to meet the needs of the complex business environment, such as innovations and product improvements, faster and more flexible in order to remain competitive Become more agile by making our employees have their say and participate in decisions as well as providing feedback opportunities Inclusion of the whole company and not just a specialized department on product innovation or product quality control The social technologies are means to an end and serve to minimize the distance between the operational level, which possibly has substantial improvement ideas for the quality of the product or the process, and the coordination and decision-making level It shall also achieve a new commitment and a new spirit of optimism in the workforce in order to use the its potential more effectively worldwide Especially in the creation and development phase of ideas and innovations is the creativity of as many people as possible asked - regardless of their rank or function (crowd sourcing) New hires at Continental are from the beginning being trained to use the tool Old Solution Corporate communication has been based on and messaging Additional support tools provided are real-time applications, document management and information publishing External social networks (like Facebook) have been blocked New Solution Goal: With this project we develop a framework (systems, tools, processes) that promote our network culture. 2

4 ConNext consists of Connections and Sametime (IBM), with IBM Connections as a Business Facebook and SharePoint as a document management system. Components of ConNext are: employee profiles, networks, blogs, wikis, file sharing, tagging, chat, conferencing, and search functions. In addition there are communities on three different organizational levels (departments, projects and experts) and many more functions to increase the agility in communication and collaboration. The OmniFind search solution is an addition to ConNext, allowing easy retrieval of content from the global networks in Connections, the intranet and the attached document management systems. Here is a short video about the cultural development and social media project at Continental with 200 participants from 37 countries. The event is the kick-off event for an international GUIDE network with approximately 450 employees from all functions, business units and career levels. The GUIDEs will help the 170,000 employees to get started in business networking - parallel exemplify and promoting the culture development (core values like trust, freedom, solidarity and winning mentality). Social media caters to internal and external audiences. 3

5 For viewing this video click on the image below YouTube-Video: GUIDE kick off December 2012 (7:33) Benefits and Business Impacts Those companies that understand the use of online collaboration and communication and fulfill the wishes of their employees, to be able to use the same technologies at work as in private are best set up in the future and will be successful. Continental s existing know how all around the world can be accessed directly and brought together: We don t have to let information dribble through the hierarchies first Nearly 25,000 employees have a profile in ConNext already Employees often encourage and motivate each other in going forward Lessons Learned It needs a systematic ability of the organization to use the infrastructure as well as a change in the management culture. Front of the movement has to be the board of management, which itself has endorsed the role model for the new culture and wants to set an example. Model functions also take over the directors, availing themself to use ConNext on their own. A workers council that understands that the aim of the board is not to control or spy, but to improve the involvement of employees. Multistage change program, in whose center an ambassador concept lies, in which voluntary and specifically selected people from different departments, hierarchical levels and regions are involved. Guides were integrated, which are particularly well versed with the tool and are on site to help with questions online or offline in an informal way. Currently we are working on the construction of the Guide-network of 400 worldwide guides. The approach implies that people connect and participate (network) across the borders and the hierarchy of their own teams. The informal network makes it easier for employees to take action despite existing job structures. In parallel there is a need for hierarchy in the company, because it provides orientation and team membership. The process of gradually extended functionality brought to us the advantage that the user quickly learned how to deal with the particular tool and that way felt safe with the 4

6 applications. The activation took place in three steps: 1. Website, profiles, micro-blogs of people, 2. Files, bookmarks, blogs (07/2012), 3. Wikis (Mediawiki, existing contents from ContiPedia with approximately 10,000 page are being migrated), communities, tasks, forums. A key success factor for ConNext is the establishment and development of media literacy by participating Continental employees. Continental noticed that the tool can t be explained if the employees can t try it out by themselves - stimulating curiousness to try the tool and informing employees via about the features of the tool. In fact, the technology is not the limiting factor anymore, instead it is the expertise of the staff, to use the available communication tools responsibly and target-oriented. With all potential that the tools provide for virtual teamwork it will and should not go completely without direct contact and exchange. It's about the most efficient and effective use of all the tools and options that we offer - including traditional in-person workshops. Source: This case study as well as further case studies are available in the Social Business Library of the Social Business Experience City. 5