Microsoft SharePoint allows organisations to harness their knowledge and experience as a strategic asset while sharing this best practise in a social media model of internal communication.
In this era of globalisation, organisations around the world are operating round the clock, around the world in a networked business environment. The need of the hour for these organisations therefore, is to adopt systems that offer functionality above and beyond traditional company intranet portals. In this context it becomes not only prudent but also imperative to merge the collaborative usability of social media with solutions that are designed to provide the functionality that organisations need to operate efficiently in the current ultra-competitive environment.
Microsoft’s collaboration platform SharePoint, offers a solution for companies that face this challenge. And as the growth of social media has forever changed the manner in which people share and consume information, the lines between a traditional knowledge sharing portal, social media platform and company intranet are fast blurring.
Traditional intranet and knowledge-sharing portals that are unidirectional can are no longer enough to engage employees. What would once have sufficed as a message board and memo circulation system does not address the demand for an engaging company portal that embodies a culture of connectedness and provides opportunities to collaborate in real time.
Human Resources (HR) professionals are also increasingly under greater pressure to harness organisational knowledge, learning, experience and information. These strategic organisational assets often reside in silos, with limited visibility and access from the rest of the company. A people-centric and collaboration oriented portal goes a long way in creating a vibrant work environment.
With collaboration software such as Microsoft SharePoint working in tandem with ITC Infotech’s custom-built accelerators and frameworks, enterprise collaboration can be rolled out in a much quicker manner to unify different regions, lines of business and departments.
Vice President – Microsoft Technologies at ITC Infotech, Mahesh Prabhu, highlights how well-defined workflows and smart integration can help companies create a truly collaborative online portal. “The success of a corporate intranet portal depends on the active participation of employees, both as a consumers & creators of content. Our custom developed Enterprise Social Framework and Social plugin components help in engaging the users, and gives them the power to voice their opinions, thoughts and ideas. The framework enables integration of employee data residing in HR systems with the SharePoint portal, opening up a plethora of possibilities. In most global organisations, it is often difficult to put a face to a name, find details of colleagues in different locations and figure out the right people to address queries. Through this integration, the SharePoint portal becomes the de-facto comprehensive repository of employee data.”
ITC Infotech has in fact transformed its own intranet portal using Microsoft SharePoint technology, and its deep integration and technology expertise. The new portal has created a truly collaborative environment for the company’s 6,500 plus workforce spread across the globe. With pre-defined workflows, seamless integration with backend systems and devices and notifications, ITC Infotech’s Enterprise Social Accelerator today provides a dynamic workplace for its entire organisation.
Mahesh Prabhu concludes, “At ITC Infotech, we have developed and deployed our intranet portal on SharePoint. Our new portal now supports a wide array of feeds, notifications, and social components. Employees can also view trending topics, post questions and quickly resolve issues and view details of colleagues in a dynamically generated organisation chart. An intranet portal, knowledge management system, business process workflows, records and information repositories, as well as intuitive dashboards have all been brought together on one platform with an underlying theme of enterprise-level social network bundled with a rich user experience. It is this experience that makes the cut for employees, especially for ‘Generation S,’ the social generation.”
