Blog: How IBM HR is using technology to become smarter

HR Analytics

How IBM HR is using technology to become smarter

IBM is leading the shift in focus to Cloud, Analytics, Mobile, Social & Security and gearing up for change in client demand
How IBM HR is using technology to become smarter

IBM is a world leader in enterprise social collaboration and leverages connections, its enterprise social network, to lead the global culture change. Our organization is leading the shift in focus to Cloud, Analytics, Mobile, Social & Security and gearing up for change in client demand. Which means, the teams are required to restlessly reinvent and simplify our processes to create signature client experiences.

From the onset, the big question for HR was, ‘How to simplify and integrate our efforts to support our organization embrace this shift in the market?’  

In 2014, IBM HR spearheaded the initiative with #SocialHRSuccess, to include over 8,000 HR professionals. The program is designed to ensure early adoption of the ‘social for work’ concept by using social capabilities to solve business challenges. It aims to bring the HR workforce together on a single platform, to share knowledge, solutions, best practices and grow to be smarter and nimble.

The first-of-a-kind program was conceived by - Tim Collins, Howard Smith and Khalid Raza, who hand-picked social champions from  various geographies and HR verticals inside of IBM  and formed the core team. The core team understood the vision and changing demands of our internal clients. The team ideated on potential areas of opportunity where the project could have maximum impact.

Top focus areas that were turned into key projects-

- Create a top down culture of work in open

- Simplify Communication & learning to adapt to the change in business need

- Effectively engage with business and simplify work by using collaboration platform

- HR to spearhead culture change by influencing our networks

- Influence the HR fraternity by role modeling & story telling

The program used unstructured data to analytics and understand the sentiments and brought about the expected cultural change. The community membership grew more than 1,000% and over 66 % of HR execs and managers were active on social, thus leading by example. The program also inspired other departments to use #SocialHRSuccess as a best practice and launch their own social programs. The program also generated over 200 thought-leadership assets which is publicly available and leveraged by IBMers.

The volunteer-driven program was an absolute success and goes to prove that budget is not a constraint, when talented employees come together for something they believe in. In 2015, the program has grown to include two more projects. The first project will re-tell the story of IBM HR history through crowd sourcing. The second project involves expertise tagging for all of IBM HR, on their Connections profile to create a funnel of expertise and skills. This will enable IBMers and clients to find the right talent, with the help of Expertise Locator, an expertise search tool.

To summarize, Social is who we are and how we connect. #SocialHRSuccess has proved beyond doubt that social is the new workplace.

IBM HR effectively uses social platforms for:

- To collaborate ideate and engage

- Efficient Internal communication

- Bring about change & transformation in open

- On-boarding, recruiting, leadership & management development

- Aggregating metrics for open dash-boards

- Idea generation through knowledge sharing

The effort has encouraged each and every employee to be a brand ambassador for the organization. 

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Topics: HR Analytics, #HRIndustry

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