Delivering value back to the enterprise through an advanced Employee Directory
Continuing our regular feature of the benefits of understanding the financial value of your intranet, this month we reveal how valuing your intranet’s use of the Employee Directory can deliver value back to your organisation. Keep an eye out for articles about the Financial Value of your intranet and contact Karen Gurvis at IBF if you would like to discuss your needs and interest in having your intranet benchmarked by our Intranet Financial Value Benchmark service.
In a tough financial environment it is now even more important to understand the implication of major investments in your intranet and to ensure that every dollar spent will reap a greater ratio of rewards both tangible and intangible to the organisation. The Intranet Benchmarking Forum can help you build your business case using our valuation model which has been developed together with financial analysts and IBF members.
• The fastest way for employees to access the most up-to-date information on their colleagues including work, mobile, and pager numbers, email, instant messaging etc..
• The facility for employees to search for a colleague based on name, partial name, location, department, job function, etc.
• Self-service that allows employees to keep their own contact information up-to-date.
• An alternative to the need to compile, print and distribute traditional phone lists and other employee-related lists, such as departmental listings and home address lists.
• A data source for other applications such as Exchange, Active Directory, HR and CRM systems.
• Increased employee productivity.
• Improved customer communication.
• Simplified Business Continuity planning and recovery following a disaster.
• Reduced IT and communications costs.
If you are making a business case to provide enhanced facilities for your Employee Directory you should be considering all the following aspects:
TANGIBLE BENEFITS
1. Revenue generated – This is cash generated for the organisation which is a direct result of the implementation of an Employee Directory.
• Increased sales through fast and efficient access to the right person with the right information.
2. Cost savings – These are real cash savings that will be derived from the planned improvement.
• Savings in printing directory information.
• Reducing the workload for your switchboard.
• Eliminating duplication of data input and management.
• Reducing the number of systems needed to track employee information.
• Savings in the reduction of assets required to support multiple databases.
• Savings achieved by replacing outsourced activities, such as HR support, with on-line resources.
3. Time savings – Many financial accountants are sceptical of time savings which can be translated into cash so any analysis of time savings should be linked to specific tasks which can be measured in terms of time both before and after the improvement.
• Significant time saved by employees finding the right person to help them.
By analysing and using real examples (rather than a guess) you are less likely to meet opposition on these justifications. You should also consider applying a certainty factor to your calculations.
INTANGIBLE BENEFITS
These are areas that will show benefits for the organisation but can’t be directly translated into cash. Again, using any of these as a measurement requires that data is captured before and after the improvement. Most organisations conduct satisfaction surveys which are qualitative and general in nature. These surveys will need to be redesigned to provide specific and quantitative feedback on each individual area of improvement i.e. How long does this task take you? How has the Employee Directory improved your working life?
1. Employee satisfaction – you may be able to directly attribute increased satisfaction with a specific improvement to your Employee Directory. You may also be able to claim a share for the benefits of employee satisfaction such as employee retention and cost savings on recruiting and employing new staff e.g. Generation Y will be attracted to an organisation that employs the latest Social Media tools.
2. Reduced carbon footprint – reducing the volumes of printed directory materials.
3. Reduced business risk – improved applications and communications will result in a better informed workforce which will in turn reduce the risk of costly mistakes.
In summary
According to the research firm IDC, an organisation with 1,000 employees wastes $2.5 million per year due to an inability to locate corporate information efficiently and due to employees unknowingly duplicating work which has already been done by someone else at the company. In one large global organisation the advanced directory was valued at $110m per annum.
Some exciting new ideas are also being implemented now such as using video for recording employees talking about themselves and their roles and linking Social Media tools like Wiki and Facebook to build networking opportunities around the directory.
