FITT Fostering Interregional Exchange in ICT Technology Transfer Communication & Collaboration Tools

2 | Communication & Collaboration Tools Communication & Collaboration tools Collaboration of people from different teams, institutions or companies  Inter- and intra-team collaboration needs usable tools  One-way communication vs. Interactive communication tools  Challenge: Implement tools  that minimise collaboration efforts  that are used without time consumption  that are up to date  Technology Transfer involves different persons: researchers, TT officers, lawyers, companies, …

3 | Communication & Collaboration Tools Tools in Practice - Overview MFG internal communication and collaboration tools consists of:  MFG Intranet: central platform for internal information  MFG InnovationWIKI: MFG knowledge pool  CRM: Community Relationship Management tool  Pidgin: instant messaging system

4 | Communication & Collaboration Tools Process in Practice: MFG Intranet  Central platform for internal information and communication  Used as front page on the web browser & door to other communication tools  Structure: blog format (OS content management system TYPO3) Main part: Blog postings left side: links to other MFG tools right side: feeds to the latest articles of the InnovationWIKI as well as to external news platforms  Every MFG employee contributes with postings and comments

5 | Communication & Collaboration Tools Process in Practice: MFG InnovationWIKI  Internal knowledge pool of articles about MFG related topics  Information on projects, tools, book reviews, conference reports as well as articles featuring trends  Ever employee has an account and can read, write and edit articles  Articles are linked with each other by direct links and categories, which enables to see connections between projects, experience and topics  Structure on the front page:  a tag could with the categories,  a list with the most recently created articles and the most popular sites,  a “wish list” with articles that need to be created  some help pages with guidelines and instructions.

6 | Communication & Collaboration Tools Process in Practice: CRM  Community Relationship Management (CRM): more than a database with contact details  CRM system helps to manage and administer the contacts of each project manager  Relations to different target groups (regional – national – international; politics – science – industry) can be visualised and managed  Links between persons and projects, events or documents  Management of events: Registration, Mailings, etc.  Proprietary software with some special modifications

7 | Communication & Collaboration Tools Process in Practice: Instant Messaging  Pidgin: instant messaging system  Free software, only used internally  Every employees has an account, usage is optional  Tool for short messages, informal notes, reminders, etc.  Amendment to telephone, or direct communication

8 | Communication & Collaboration Tools Timing  When were the tools started? MFG Intranet: July 2003 – first version – several updates since then InnovationWIKI: October 2006 CRM: Mai 2008 (current system) IMS: October 2008  How is it organized? MFG Intranet: everyone contributes, one person nominated for technical maintenance InnovationWIKI: everyone contributes, one person nominated for technical maintenance, content and training sessions CRM: one person nominated for technical maintenance and training sessions IMS: one person nominated for technical maintenance

9 | Communication & Collaboration Tools MFG Intranet PRO’s  Central platform to inform employees  Browser front page with connection to all communication tools  All employees can write postings, no central editorial person needed  Efforts for installation and maintenance are quite low CON’s  For vivid contribution employees must be active and willing to contribute  All posts can be commented – a communication culture and netiquette must be practised

10 | Communication & Collaboration Tools MFG InnovationWIKI PRO’s  Knowledge pool of MFG project, topics and trends  More than pure documentation: Links between different articles, interactive format, collaborative way of editing  More than articles show a vivid contribution CON’s  Time consuming for employees  Wiki contributors need to be motivated – in general, there are more passive than active users  Administrator needed for technical implementation and the content side

11 | Communication & Collaboration Tools Community Relationship Management PRO’s  More than a database: linking of different data  Connections between people, projects, documents, etc.  Decentralised and collaborative database CON’s  Costs, especially for the software  Human resources for implementation and maintenance needed (data and software)  Training sessions for employees

12 | Communication & Collaboration Tools Instant Messaging System (IMS) PRO’s  Easy way to post links, comments, remarks and reminders direct to one person  Hardly no resources needed for implementation and maintenance CON’s  Only used within MFG, for external communication tools like Skype are used simultaneously  Can be a waste of time if used for chit-chat  Optional tool: not every employee uses IMS (  network effect)

13 | Communication & Collaboration Tools Why? MFG Intranet To have a central communication platform which is accessible for all employees To have a central platform, where all other MFG tools are linked To stop mailings which might get lost in crowded mailboxes To have an up to date intranet, as all employees post their news To have an intranet without an editorial team that manages the content MFG Innovation WIKI To create a central knowledge pool with articles about MFG relevant topics To save knowledge and experience when projects end or project managers leave the company To create a collaborative tool, where all employees can work together and contribute

14 | Communication & Collaboration Tools Why? Community Relationship Management To have a up to date / state of the art database solution To manage efficiently the relations MFG has to politics, science and business To create links between projects, persons and documents To have a documented history for all contacts Instant Messaging The instant messaging was first implemented and used by a small lead user group. Their acceptance was so high, that the tool was offered to all MFG employees. It supports the following actions: To post short messages and reminders To exchange opinion with one person

15 | Communication & Collaboration Tools Outcome The tools are part of the MFG knowledge management, which was recently awarded for its excellence by the German Minister of Economics and Technology MFG Intranet  MFG Intranet became the central platform for relevant news  internal survey: Intranet was used and read by every employee at least once a day  Integration of trends, e.g. the integration of new news tools like twitter MFG InnovationWIKI  WIKI is a knowledge pool for MFG related topics and trends  Currently more than articles  Internal survey found out that it is used by every employee  Makeovers (e.g. limitation of categories) are planned

16 | Communication & Collaboration Tools Outcome Community Relationship Management  The Community Relationship Tool was a significant improvement  Internal survey: 80 per cent expressed their satisfaction about the tool and use it from every day to at least once a week  The linkage between contacts and documents or projects is a huge advantage for MFG, in the future some more trainings to effectively use all the features of the database are planned Instant Messaging Tool  About 2/3 of MFG employees are using the instant messaging tool every day  Reduction of internal phone calls and s with little content  As an optional tool, which every employee can integrate into his/her daily work

17 | Communication & Collaboration Tools Lessons Learned  Looking back now, what would you … … do different? Nothing really… … improve? Stronger user involvement, more surveys and feedback channels … recommend to others? Ask the users what they need!

18 | Communication & Collaboration Tools Suggested Readings  Link to bibliography  Link to code book: Communication, Web 2.0, collaborative research  Link to relevant websites collaboration.pdf