Images add an additional dimension to your ability to share information and ideas.

When you click into the text field in any section, you will see the attachment feature pop-up.

Set up a custom dashboard in SharePoint.
Feed key groups into a team or company Intranet page.
Or follow activity on your smart phone.

You will find the feeds on the Group Details pages.

When you first start using HyveWorks, it is best to set these expectations clearly upfront.  Encourage people to default to their group.  If you change your mind later, you can always go back and @Share it more broadly.

Changing the default view and post from All is easy.  It will only return to the default if you a) log out or b) change it yourself.  Even if you jump from feature to feature (e.g., Files to Questions) it will stay in the selected group.

Go to the View menu and select your group.

Once you do that, you can see that both the view and the post features are set to that group.

To go back to a broader view, simply repeat the process and re-select All.  We are also working on a Customizable Homepage which will allow you more ability to filter and control your activity stream; so stay tuned for more features.

@ Share can be used when you are posting new content to HyveWorks.  When you type the @ symbol and the first few letters of either an individual or group name, you will see a menu.  Choose the individual or group you want to direct the post to.  You can choose as many as you like by simply typing @ again.  When the post is submitted an email notification will go to the individual(s) and let them know there is a post, idea, question, etc. that they need to attend to.

Use @ to speed adoption.
@ directly engages users to participate.
Example: @ John Wyatt – what’s included in the next launch?

Use @ to assign responsibility or accountability.
@ allows you to focus you post on an individual or group without losing the value of the public discussion.
Example: @ Jenna Ruiz – when will the report be finished?  When Jenna replies, everyone will have that information.

Use @ to give praise.
Example: @ Dev Team – the new feature looks great!  I’m not a member of the Dev Team group, but I want to acknowledge their great work.

Using @ Share with Current Posts.

@ Share can also be used with content that has already been posted.  Simple click the @ symbol attached to any post and type in the name or group name.  Add a message and send.  Again, email notification will alert users that content has been shared with them.

Use @ to share content you think might be of interest.
Example: @ Selena Scuito did you see this idea?  You were talking about something similar.

Use @ to share content you think someone can help with.
Example: @ Miguel Kim I think you might be able to answer this question.

Use @ to resurface a post you think has been lost in the shuffle.
Example: @ Marketing Team – We really do need the answer to this question!

At HyveWorks we’ve been playing with @ Share for a couple weeks now and we tend to use it a lot.  The above are some of the ways it has been helpful for us, although I’m sure there are many more uses.  The ability to call out someone by name is a useful hybrid of individual and group communication.  We think you will like it.

Organizational Awareness

Bring everyone into one conversation.
When everyone in an organization sits together or knows each other, Organizational Awareness is natural and spontaneous.  Everyone has a sense of the who and what.  People can exchange information and support each other in a spontaneous, organic way.  In larger organizations, especially dispersed organizations or teams, this is a particular challenge.

With its inclusive, open, Enterprise 2.0 format, HyveWorks takes the place of the organic, physical proximity missing in today’s workplace and creates one central hub for communication and collaboration. See what people are working on, project updates, questions, requests, feedback, new files, relevant links, and new ideas all in one place.  This allows people within teams or across teams to identify and engage in new points of connection, collaboration, problem solving and innovation that would not otherwise exist.  This allows people to reach beyond their current relationships and establish relevant, productive new ones.  In simple language:  a better connected organization or team gets each individual to the information and expertise they need to do their job more quickly and efficiently.

Individual Engagement

Increase productivity and uncover hidden talent.
While HyveWorks increases organizational cohesion, it also increases individual ownership and engagement.  It gives individuals the ability to contribute beyond their defined role or job description; and add broader value to the organization.  This is particularly important to the newest generation in the workplace, sometimes called the “Millennial Generation.”  To this generation, lateral opportunities for challenge and growth are as important as vertical ones.  Meanwhile, studies have shown that engaged employees are more productive and more likely to stay in their jobs.  In other words, there is direct company value in employees feeling valued.  Because HyveWorks is inclusive and open, it also gives an organization the ability to uncover hidden talent and expertise.  In short, good ideas may come from unexpected places.

Collective Intelligence

Capture the expertise and knowledge of your people.
Once you have everyone joined in one central hub, knowledge easily moves from the individual to others in the organization and the organization itself.  This makes it accessible to everyone and part of the corporate culture and DNA.

As opposed to outsourcing, many companies are increasingly interested in ‘in-sourcing’ innovation and problem-solving; turning to their own employees for new ideas and feedback.  HyveWorks question/answer feature and idea management tool are ideal for focusing the collective intelligence of your organization for problem solving and innovation.

It all starts with building a space for the conversation.

Many Enterprises are struggling to understand what aspects of Enterprise 2.0 are relevant to them.  How do they apply social collaboration in a way that enhances the Enterprise?  They are worried about losing control, introducing time-wasting technology and adding another layer of expensive technology that is difficult to adopt, use and maintain.

At the end of the day, Enterprise 2.0’s biggest challenge isn’t technological, it’s human.  The best technology in the world won’t help if it’s not used.  And the key to adoption is providing value to the user; and not adding more to do (or more to distract).  The only way to truly address this issue is to look at work from the bottom up.

Where is information getting stuck?  In the case of one client we are working with, information was getting ‘stuck’ because information flow was dependent on key individuals distributing updates in a timely manner.  Instant Messaging and email worked well for their one-on-one conversations, but it wasn’t working as a team tool.

Or, where is communication falling short?  In the case of another client, they needed social collaboration integrated into one aspect of a current Application Life Stage Management System.  The ability to do this solves a real problem for them.

Often, adding another layer of complex social infrastructure and functionality is the last thing companies need.  Companies don’t necessarily need to invest in all-encompassing, top down platforms to add social to their organizations.  It doesn’t have to be an all or nothing conversation or investment.

To address these concerns, HyveWorks offers a highly configurable, modular solution that is simple to deploy and use; integrated into current workflow; and has two levels of security, Hosted or on-premise Enterprise. The more integrated and ‘contextual’ the collaboration tool, the more useful and relevant it is for its users and the higher the return for the organization.

Here are some basic guidelines for success:

Step 1.  Start Small

Focus your pilot effort to achieve success and create evangelists.  Changing behavior is not simple. Where are your communication or collaboration pain points?  Addressing a specific issue or solving a specific problem will help focus usage and adoption.

Step 2.  Identify a clear objective, opportunity and/or pilot team.

• Are you looking to increase communication and collaboration with a specific team or for a specific project?
• Are you looking to increase networking and knowledge sharing on a broader level; across work groups?
• Are you looking to better harness and focus collective intelligence?
• Are you looking to engage employees more fully in a specific problem, process or goal?

Step 3.  Incorporate usage into the flow of work itself.

Determine how HyveWorkscan facilitate work; rather than add an extra ‘to do’ on top of work.  Is there an existing process you can migrate onto the platform?  Status updates?  File sharing?  Technical Assistance?  Question and answer sessions?  Brainstorming?

HyveWorks integrates with Outlook and SharePoint, making it easier to integrate with current work flow and collaboration processes.

Step 4.  Evangelize, set expectations and train.

Model behavior and participation you want. Be present and participate.  Senior managers and executives need to participate and set a positive example.  Be clear with your goals and expectations upfront.  Address any training needs so that people are comfortable with the technology.  The HyveWorks team is always willing to help with on-boarding and training.

Step 5.  Consider appointing a community facilitator or evangelist.

An evangelist can seed content and discussion; and encourage connections and participation.

Step 6.  Acknowledge (and therefore encourage) smart participation and thinking.

While some companies choose to directly incentivize participation, simply acknowledging smart participation can go a long way towards incenting participation.  Did someone’s answer help another user?  Did someone’s idea get adopted?

Step 7.  Encourage employees to look for places to implement the tool and let demand feed adoption.

Word of mouth success will be your best promotional tool.  The more successes are known, the more interest you will raise.  Consider packaging and sharing qualitative measures of success organization-wide.  Real examples of time saved, collaboration success or problems solved will be the most compelling reasons for adopting the tools more widely.

Contact Us

If you would like our help on-boarding collaboration with HyveWorks, we are happy to help. Please contact us for details.

HyveWorks presented their Enterprise 2.0 solution at the Johnny Cash Blackout Sunday cocktail party and demo showcase held at SxSWInteractive in Austin.

In keeping with the spirit of the event, HyveWorks ‘Got Busy’ with a video mix and sneak peak of the new HyveWorks UI launching March 29th.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ziwNLmKx6OE

Microsoft BizSpark Accelerator at SxSW

HyveWorks brings the power of Collaboration 2.0 to the workplace.  Twitter-style micro-blogging brings everyone into one conversation; while the ability to form both public and private groups allows for more focused work and collaboration. File Sharing, Link Capture, Q&A and an Idea Management tool help people efficiently exchange information and knowledge; share resources; problem solve and innovate.  Finally, a dashboard that loads into Microsoft Outlook integrates HyveWorks easily into current workflow.

HyveWorks is a suite of integrated, social media-based, collaboration tools specifically designed to help large or dispersed businesses better communicate, work together, problem solve and innovate.  The concept of HyveWorks is based on the behaviors and benefits of the social web. In the same way that LinkedIn; Wikipedia; and online communities or forums can help you find the people and information you need in your personal life, HyveWorks does this within a business.  Like these other tools, HyveWorks is an open, peer-to-peer ‘platform.’  This contrasts sharply with current business tools, like email or even IM, which are closed ‘channels’ aimed at specific senders and receivers.  With HyveWorks, conversations, ideas and information is shared broadly and available for all to benefit from; rather than being left in individual heads or on individual desktops.
The more openly people can communicate with each other, the less information and expertise is silo-d, lost or stuck.  When information flows openly in a shared environment, people can exchange input more efficiently, cross-pollinate more easily and find the resources they need more quickly. This leads to a more efficient and agile workplace where collective knowledge is captured,created and leveraged.

The HyveWorks Enterprise edition is an on-premise version of the easy to use HyveWorks Enterprise 2.0 collaboration and innovation tool-kit. Unlike hosted applications, the Enterprise Edition gives you full control over security, audit, archive and uses SQL Server or Oracle databases.

HyveWorks Enterprise Edition integrates directly with your Active Directory infrastructure and authenticates and authorizes against the AD Domain for user management.

All data stored as part of the HyveWorks application is stored in your databases, with connections to either SQL Server or Oracle databases.

Organizations have concerns about social computing in the workplace – risk, compliance and protection. These are very valid concerns, but they’ve been dealt with before…

The best security is your security.