At LIFT07 I met Lisette Hoogstrate working in Marketing for Macaw - Well we shared the same table during the del.icio.us cheese fondue and while eating way too much melted cheese we also talked about what we do and what brought us to LIFT07... Lisette began to talk about her Corporate Blogging project and she got my attention initially - what striked me indeed was the very openness she shared her insights and experiences. I checked out the company and their Blogging Plattform and Lisette was so nice to agree to an eMail Interview to share her experiences and answer some of my questions that interested me most - now I wanna share her answers with you:
When did you start your Corporate Blogging Project? Why did you start it (actual need, or just for fun?)? Did this project have Top Management backup or initiative?
Corporate Blogging @ Macaw started 2 years ago. There was no actual need, it wasn't also just for fun, it was just something we thought would be a valuable new way of communicating to and WITH our clients, propsects and potential colleagues. It was a project that I carried out together with Maarten Sikkema, co-founder and CTO of Macaw, so yes it did have Top Management backup. He's still one of the contributors to the blog but the day-to-day maintenance of it, re-designs, internal promotion etc. comes down to me now.
What kind of concrete goals did you have with this kind of project?
Concrete goals: nope ;-) Like I said, we just thought (and still think) that it adds to the already existing media that we use (website, emailings, events, newsletters). It gives the company a personal tone, because it is precisely that: a person writing about his or her project, field of expertise, etc.
Did you have an explicit rollout strategy or was it a "trial and error" strategy?
Definitely trial and error! We had to figure out how to work with the blogging software we chose (Community Server) We did have a kick off session with a few key figures to get their point of view and generate ideas on how to design the blog. We've just (a month ago) redesigned it to align with our new company structure and with that I've also produced both a manual and some corporate blogging guidelines.
You said, everybody of our employees get's a Blog when starting at Macaw - Is everybody in the end a blogger or do you have Bloggers, people who comment and some who only read? Do people have to blog?
Now, there's an important distinction at Macaw between our corporate blog (external focus) and our internal blogs (which, you've guessed it, have an internal focus). Every Macawer however, does have access to both. When people start at Macaw, they get an account, a key to the building and a personal INTERNAL blog. In this blog they can write whatever they want, personal, technical, corporate, joke of the day, stories of personal triumph or illness, literally everything. These blogs are very well read and very well commented on. Not everyone blogs as much, not everyone comments as much, I'd say there's a core group of about 30 people (including me) that blog/comment regularly. It is something you can do, not have to do.
The corporate blog (external) is a different story. With the recent redesign I've aligned our blog with how we are organized at Macaw (solution centers). This means that the blogs are not personal but grouped along the different solutions we provide to our clients. At the same time however, I've given everybody rights to the whole blog site, so that anyone can post and when doing so choose in which bloggroup their post belongs best. Bloggers can also complete their own profile, with picture, so readers can find out a bit more about the bloggers. What is hard though, is to get my colleagues to actually blog on this site. There are no real restraints as in, I do not filter or check beforehand what gets written, but there is some sort of hurdle that people feel they need to take before they start writing. Internally, this hurdle is non-existing, because no clients or 'the outside world' can read along. It's just us ;-)
Did you ever try to measure the success of your Corporate Blogging projects by any economic means (e.g.: saves us x 1.000,- EUR of communication cost/year)?
no, but I do have the corporate blog on our marketing budget as 'a free PR tool', which to me it is amongst other things.
What kind of your specific business processes are especially supported by the use of blogs, in how far does blogging make Macaw more competitive on the market?
With the internal blogs I'd say that they really support the process of knowledge sharing. Macaw exists for a large part of software developers. If one of them has a question, he/she will post it and get 10 responses within 2 hours. This is of great value to them and ultimately to our clients. We are dispersed throughout the Netherlands, as a project organization, so communicating through our intranet (of which our blogs are part) really enhances and speeds up the way we work. Which in turn makes us more competitive. Having an external, corporate blog, to me signifies that we are up to date with what's out there, what's new and that we are willing to experiment with those new media (well, not so new anymore, but 2 years ago).
What kind of Blog Software do you use, what are your experiences with it and do you miss anything?
We use Community Server 2.0, which is a recent (not the most recent) version. It has improved in navigation and usability but still isn't very inuitive at times. That said, it's fine, it's workable, and everything that we could be missing is just an upgrade away ;-)
Is Corporate Blogging the end or just the beginning of "Enterprise 2.0"? What's comming next for Macaw?
Just the beginning! We're rebuilding our intranet at the moment (SharePoint 2007) and will incorporate much more social software tools (tagging, knowlegde network facilities). As for our website, we're rebuilding that too, also with SharePoint 2007. This will not affect the corporate blogsite yet, but thinking a few steps ahead it will (merging of corporate site and blogsite, being able to comment everywhere throughout the site, the use of video.........)
Was there any resistance from employees side to the 100% openness and transparency - you said every employee can edit any post... - and if yes how did you deal with it?
I think, no, I know, it would be the other way around: take away the openness and then people will resist. This is a highly valued characteristic of Macaw: openness, sharing, transparency. But not everyone can edit one anothers blogs, these are personal.(but we can all comment ofcourse!)
What people can edit is news items on our intranet. As well as place news items (or events or pictures or documents) on our intranet. This is not done solely by the communications department, it is an intranet for and from everyone.
Thank you for the interview Lisette - some really great insights and I will post my thoughts on your answers within the next days...
When did you start your Corporate Blogging Project? Why did you start it (actual need, or just for fun?)? Did this project have Top Management backup or initiative?
Corporate Blogging @ Macaw started 2 years ago. There was no actual need, it wasn't also just for fun, it was just something we thought would be a valuable new way of communicating to and WITH our clients, propsects and potential colleagues. It was a project that I carried out together with Maarten Sikkema, co-founder and CTO of Macaw, so yes it did have Top Management backup. He's still one of the contributors to the blog but the day-to-day maintenance of it, re-designs, internal promotion etc. comes down to me now.
What kind of concrete goals did you have with this kind of project?
Concrete goals: nope ;-) Like I said, we just thought (and still think) that it adds to the already existing media that we use (website, emailings, events, newsletters). It gives the company a personal tone, because it is precisely that: a person writing about his or her project, field of expertise, etc.
Did you have an explicit rollout strategy or was it a "trial and error" strategy?
Definitely trial and error! We had to figure out how to work with the blogging software we chose (Community Server) We did have a kick off session with a few key figures to get their point of view and generate ideas on how to design the blog. We've just (a month ago) redesigned it to align with our new company structure and with that I've also produced both a manual and some corporate blogging guidelines.
You said, everybody of our employees get's a Blog when starting at Macaw - Is everybody in the end a blogger or do you have Bloggers, people who comment and some who only read? Do people have to blog?
Now, there's an important distinction at Macaw between our corporate blog (external focus) and our internal blogs (which, you've guessed it, have an internal focus). Every Macawer however, does have access to both. When people start at Macaw, they get an account, a key to the building and a personal INTERNAL blog. In this blog they can write whatever they want, personal, technical, corporate, joke of the day, stories of personal triumph or illness, literally everything. These blogs are very well read and very well commented on. Not everyone blogs as much, not everyone comments as much, I'd say there's a core group of about 30 people (including me) that blog/comment regularly. It is something you can do, not have to do.
The corporate blog (external) is a different story. With the recent redesign I've aligned our blog with how we are organized at Macaw (solution centers). This means that the blogs are not personal but grouped along the different solutions we provide to our clients. At the same time however, I've given everybody rights to the whole blog site, so that anyone can post and when doing so choose in which bloggroup their post belongs best. Bloggers can also complete their own profile, with picture, so readers can find out a bit more about the bloggers. What is hard though, is to get my colleagues to actually blog on this site. There are no real restraints as in, I do not filter or check beforehand what gets written, but there is some sort of hurdle that people feel they need to take before they start writing. Internally, this hurdle is non-existing, because no clients or 'the outside world' can read along. It's just us ;-)
Did you ever try to measure the success of your Corporate Blogging projects by any economic means (e.g.: saves us x 1.000,- EUR of communication cost/year)?
no, but I do have the corporate blog on our marketing budget as 'a free PR tool', which to me it is amongst other things.
What kind of your specific business processes are especially supported by the use of blogs, in how far does blogging make Macaw more competitive on the market?
With the internal blogs I'd say that they really support the process of knowledge sharing. Macaw exists for a large part of software developers. If one of them has a question, he/she will post it and get 10 responses within 2 hours. This is of great value to them and ultimately to our clients. We are dispersed throughout the Netherlands, as a project organization, so communicating through our intranet (of which our blogs are part) really enhances and speeds up the way we work. Which in turn makes us more competitive. Having an external, corporate blog, to me signifies that we are up to date with what's out there, what's new and that we are willing to experiment with those new media (well, not so new anymore, but 2 years ago).
What kind of Blog Software do you use, what are your experiences with it and do you miss anything?
We use Community Server 2.0, which is a recent (not the most recent) version. It has improved in navigation and usability but still isn't very inuitive at times. That said, it's fine, it's workable, and everything that we could be missing is just an upgrade away ;-)
Is Corporate Blogging the end or just the beginning of "Enterprise 2.0"? What's comming next for Macaw?
Just the beginning! We're rebuilding our intranet at the moment (SharePoint 2007) and will incorporate much more social software tools (tagging, knowlegde network facilities). As for our website, we're rebuilding that too, also with SharePoint 2007. This will not affect the corporate blogsite yet, but thinking a few steps ahead it will (merging of corporate site and blogsite, being able to comment everywhere throughout the site, the use of video.........)
Was there any resistance from employees side to the 100% openness and transparency - you said every employee can edit any post... - and if yes how did you deal with it?
I think, no, I know, it would be the other way around: take away the openness and then people will resist. This is a highly valued characteristic of Macaw: openness, sharing, transparency. But not everyone can edit one anothers blogs, these are personal.(but we can all comment ofcourse!)
What people can edit is news items on our intranet. As well as place news items (or events or pictures or documents) on our intranet. This is not done solely by the communications department, it is an intranet for and from everyone.
Thank you for the interview Lisette - some really great insights and I will post my thoughts on your answers within the next days...
