Image via CrunchBaseAn interesting article on how IT firms in India like Cognizant, TCS, Wipro are using inhouse social networking platforms to retain GenNext. I have posted earlier that there is a generational change coming which is driving these changes - one must realise two things:
- It's not just a generational thing - sure the young have more comfort with such technologies - but it's wrong to say that such tools are focused only for them
- The benefits of social networking is not just higher engagement - collaboration leads to business benefits - like reducing time to market and impacting productivity if used in a strategic way - and not just left to be "emergent"
Top tech firms are realising that keeping the new generation glued, they need changes beyond pure salaries, which is already considered hygiene by new recruits. Launched around two years ago by Cognizant, the C2 already has around 60,000 active users and the site records over six million page views every month.Read my earlier post on the Social Business Employer manifesto - to think about it in a strategic manner. Also go through my presentation for a detailed explanation
“That’s how close you can get a Facebook to the business processes,” said Malcolm Frank, senior vice-president and Cognizant’s chief strategist. “The millennial actually have a completely different expectation in terms of how they work, they love to have virtual experiences,” added Frank.
From the time a new customer project is kicked off, to when it’s actually delivered, Cognizant 2.0 glues the entire workflow together, across varied skills, geographies and business units. “The work flow is not a boring experience, it’s so much refreshing,” agrees Pendse.
For Cognizant as an organisation, the system helps it not only knit the project groups together, but also reduce the entire time taken to identify who can do a particular project better than the rest.
“It’s like a Google search—we put the skill set required, and it throws up different project teams and individuals with prior experience in dealing with such situations,” says Frank. Some 7,000 projects are already registered in the system, and employees have shared around 200,000 posts about these projects.
At TCS, the country’s biggest software exporter, nearly one third of its over 1,50,000-strong workforce is actively participating in the company’s social media platforms already. TCS uses wikis, or personalised, websites that bring together specialised communities, apart from other tools to help its employees collaborate better. While Justask enables employees to ask questions openly, Ideamax encourages employees to share their ideas about a particular technology or a process.
