Social Media Tools in a Corporate Information Setting

Academic & Special Libraries Conference 2014

Florence Curley

www.pwc.ie

Social Business/Corporate social networking

“From taste tests on a new burger, to making the sprawling arms of the European Commission work together, organisations are using internal social networks to boost productivity, flatten management structures and monitor who makes the real decisions”

Financial Times December 13 2013

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April 8, 2023

Social business is a change in mindset

From this To this

Communications:

Pushed down to me > I decide what I follow and need

Point-to-point comms > Many-to-many

Monologue (messages) > Dialogue (conversations)

Organize & Derive Value:

Organize by hierarchies > Communities

Corporate structure > My network and content

Barriers to working globally > Open to all 180,000 people

Create:

Centralized output > Mass collaboration (peer-to-peer production)

Knowledge silos > Cross-organizational knowledge accessibility

Static documentation > Live thinking and insights

April 8, 20233

The PwC Approach…

• PwC – network of firms in 158 countries providing tax, assurance and advisory services. Recognition by the global firm of need for inhouse social media tool

• Key business requirements - ability to work across platforms, ability to create project spaces, groups, personal profiles and personalised streams

• Other considerations such as compatibility with IT infrastructure and local intranets, internet browser speeds, mobile capability

• Consultation with an independent social media consultancy, analyst reports (eg Gartner). 16 vendors were longlisted and eventually shortlisted to 4. 2 finallists were selected – detailed proposals were pitched and the winning vendor was Jive

Slide 4April 8, 2023

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Naming the baby…Spark

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Intuitive, easy to use, on brand

How to describe what Spark does…

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Spark is a gateway to:

−places (communities of interest),

−people (relationships), and

− content

Spark Global Deployment

158countries

776offices

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taxassuranceadvisoryinternal services

WHO:

To provide one common social networking & collaboration platform that accelerates our ability to connect with each other and collaborate together to create value for ourselves and our clients.

WHAT: “THE CHALLENGE”

WHERE:

182,000+employees

HOW [MANY]:

Setting Objectives & Goals for PwC

Spark Objectives

① Make a large firm feel small

② Bring fragmented groups together

③ Engage internal stakeholders better onthe issues that matter to them

④ Create fresh insights through an openand faster exchange of expertise and ideas

⑤ Extend our social reach outside the firm

connect people fast

eliminate silos

company-wide buy-in

accelerate innovation

grow brand recognition

Spark Goals

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1. ConnectI can connect and communicate with colleagues easily, instantly and securely – wherever they are in the world. So I can build stronger relationships with them.

2. CollaborateI can share ideas, insights and interests with colleagues in quicker and more intuitive ways. So I can work faster, smarter and better.

3. CreateI can use these connections and collective knowledge to create new ideas, content, value for me and my clients. So I can make a bigger impact.

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PwC message to employees on how Spark can empower them

Spark can help you do 3 things (the 3 C’s):

Addressing RiskStaying the Course

• Concerns over visibility into sensitive information

•Regulatory requirements

•Client confidential information

•Data privacy

•IT security

• Messaging & training

•Outreach team

•Peer review

•Alternatives

•Territory options

•Technology solutions

•Involving IT

Challenges Approach

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Principles for internal social networking behaviorTen principles have been developed to guide PwC professionals towards appropriate use of the internal networking and collaboration tool.

Essentially, PwC professionals must remember to:

• protect client confidentiality• respect others’ privacy• use common sense • use your professional judgment

Look after us

Be valuable

Be yourself

Play nice

Give credit

Make it your own

Share with care

Pause to think

Stay focused

Be smart

Slide 11April 8, 2023

Launch highlights

In Canada they asked people to go totally crazy

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Use your melon!Go totally crazy!

April 8, 2023

Launch highlights

In Singapore they had a flash of inspiration …

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“Spark in a Box” communications toolkit

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Spark – Help & Support page

April 8, 202315

Spark Advocates United

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SUCCESS STORIES

Research while you sleep

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23 replies

17countries

One Friday, a manager in PwC Russia asked a question...

“Do tax authorities in other countries take tax from an agent, even if they haven’t withheld the tax from their client...?”

April 8, 2023

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“This was a two-week proposal we did in one week … we didn’t lose sleep.”

SUCCESS STORIES

Taking the pain out of proposals

the $10 million bidTHE PREMISE | A two-week proposal finished in just one week.

OPPORTUNITY

80The percent reduction

in version control issues.

= a higher quality

document delivered

in half the time

THE PREMISE | Keeping track of activity on a very large and valuable international client account can be tricky so Advisory leader Suneet Dua created a dedicated Spark group to use as a central client team hub.

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SUCCESS STORIES

Improving how we serve our clients

Large account team uses Spark to build thriving community.

“Connecting through Spark has increased the team’s morale. Spark helped us quickly form a community where one hadn’t existed before.”

- Suneet Dua,Advisory Point Partner

OUTCOMENow there’s a single place for his team to find the latest client related news on selling, delivery and relationship activities, and to share their personal experiences.

PROVEN RESULTS

• Scattered teams are now more unified

• Team morale is increased, everyone feels included

• New teammates get up to speed more quickly

SUCCESS STORIES

Increased speed to marketInternational Tax Story• When Canada announced their 2012 Federal

Budget it contained changes to inbound investments into Canada.

• The budget and an initial write-up was posted on Spark the same day and people began adding comments.

• That same evening a couple of International Tax partners in the US noted the importance of this change to their clients.

• Based on the Spark discussions they were able to hold conversations with their clients the next day.

• Over the next few days they worked with the Canadian ITS and posted a formal point of view in Spark, @referencing those with impacted clients.

• A few more days later they produced a formal PwC point of view on this issue and it went to affected clients.

• A 2-3 week process was reduced to days and clients were impressed by the speed of which they received the info.

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Spark - PwC Ireland

• The Information and Research Centre is encouraging Spark usage, including it in induction training, providing bespoke help to groups and individuals. Spark is now an essential research tool for information queries

• In the run-up to the last Irish budget, Spark was used to share ideas internally – useful as complement to our external thought leadership

• Plans to funnel more information through Spark and away from the intranet – easier to update and more dynamic

• Support of the leadership is essential; identifying regular users, encouraging blogging, drop-in training sessions, other usage such as sports and social activities

Slide 21April 8, 2023

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Spark - PwC Ireland

• The Information and Research Centre is encouraging Spark usage, including it in induction training, providing bespoke help to groups and individuals. Spark is now an essential research tool for information queries received by IRC

• In the run-up to the last Irish budget, Spark was used to share ideas internally – useful as complement to our external thought leadership

• Plans to funnel more information through Spark and away from the intranet – easier to update and more dynamic

• Identifying regular users, encouraging blogging, other uses such as sports and social information

Slide 22April 8, 2023

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“We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it ”

Eric Qualman

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Thank you and any questions…

This content is for general information purposes only, and should not be used as a substitute for consultation with professional advisors.

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