Most large companies, particularly banks with international operations, struggle to share knowledge and encourage collaboration across their groups. Social networking platforms that are familiar to an increasing number of bank employees are now increasingly being deployed behind the company firewall, so employees can use blogs, wikis, RSS feeds and networking functionality to improve how they work.
Scotiabank saw the potential for these technologies, and worked with Microsoft to introduce an internal Web 2.0 social networking platform, based on Sharepoint Server 2007, aimed at encouraging information sharing and collaboration among its staff.
Scotiabank, which began piloting the system at its international division, hopes the technology will transform how staff share knowledge and best practices, and said upon announcing the initiative in April last year that it is eventually targeting a 72 per cent participation rate.
Finextra verdict: Targeting the international division first was a smart move, because employees are more likely to want to use the tools to learn about what best practices they can borrow from colleagues outside their own operation. It also broadens their search when looking for subject matter experts within the group.