Who is who and who do I need?

Company: OCETrend: The SimplicitySubject: Intranet

What do you see?

At Océ it is extremely easy to get in touch with kindred spirits. The Dutch printing enterprise employs around 23,000 people. Thanks to the killer app ‘Who Is Who’ knowledge and experience are being exchanged, and friendships are even blossoming as a result.

Each employee fills in an extensive profile. There are three tabs: Contact details, Work & skills and Personal. In this example, Ria shares with her colleagues the fact that she knows all about the corporate intranet, has user training and web technology as knowledge areas and enjoys gardening.

Her colleagues can easily track down Ria through the extensive and user-friendly search function.

Another nice feature enables Ria to congratulate three colleagues, as their birthdays are today.

Why is it effective?

If knowledge management is on your company’s agenda, then ‘Who is Who’ is an excellent tool for sharing knowledge between colleagues. As most knowledge is implicit (existing in your employees’ minds and hearts), it can only be shared and handed down from person to person. At Océ, finding and contacting colleagues with certain expertise and knowledge is a piece of cake.

The professional relevance for the birthday tool may be limited, but the social & fun factor increases the popularity of the application. And killer apps can even increase the popularity (and use) of the entire intranet!

What’s next?

A ‘Who is Who’ with an adequate search or filter function enables co-workers to exchange implicit knowledge. \World-renowned management gurus Nonaka and Takeuchi call this process socialization. Through an intranet, socialization can be realized via wikis, community portals, LinkedIn profiles, Twitter, weblogs or virtual marketplaces. The possibilities are well-nigh endless.