Royal Bank of Scotland is to connect 100,000 staff across the bank to Facebook at Work, an enterprise version of the social network, to encourage collaboration and allow employees to communicate faster and more efficiently.
RBS is the biggest client yet for Facebook's new ring-fenced business network. With a similar look and feel to the consumer version of Facebook, RBS says that users will be able to download the business equivalent to their phones and tablets so that they can keep track of work when they are on the move. Employees will be able to post photos, create groups and events, update their work profiles, and send private messages to colleagues.
RBS has already piloted Facebook At Work and found that staff adapted readily to the familiar interface with minimal training and were able to "work more efficiently together, answer customer questions faster, update other colleagues on their work in a much more engaging way and source a far wider range of ideas for on-going projects".
The bank says it will roll the system out to 30,000 employees by the end of March with the aim of onboarding all staff across the enterprise by the end of 2016.
Simon McNamara, RBS chief administrative officer says: “I’ve already been using Facebook At Work while we test it and it’s been so useful - allowing me to exchange information and ideas quickly and securely with all my team on a wide range of projects.”