Social Media Analytics@Securitas - Kooperatives Forschungsprojekt im Rahmen des "ERCIS-Competence Centers Smarter Work"

Grunddaten zu diesem Projekt

Beschreibung

Analyzing social media platforms has been continuously gaining importance in the corporate environment. When analyzing such platforms it is important to differentiate between social media platforms and services which are designed to be used by private individuals and social media services which are aimed at providing a closed social environment for businesses, in order for employees to be able to share information and collaborate more effectively. Since implementing a social media platform does not only represent a substantial investment but also a significant change in the company’s communication processes, it is vital to being able to evaluate and monitor the usage and the effectiveness of the platform. Through such an evaluation the management responsible might detect departments which could be using the platform incorrectly or only to a small extend, and can then encourage increased usage and appropriate behavior. In 2010 Securitas started a project for implementing a social media platform called Lotus Connections, in order to increase knowledge sharing and improve communication and was able to get the system running in 2011. In the fall semester of 2011 a system was developed for Securitas, which provided analytical data on a multitude of subjects derived from the the Lotus Connections platform. Securitas services a wide range of customers in a variety of industries and customer segments. The size of the customers varies from the "shop on the corner" to global multi-billion industries. Securitas employs more than 300,000 people in 52 countries in North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Security is Securitas' core business providing customers with a range of specialized services or a complete security solution. Securitas’ strategy is to be a knowledge leader in security. Their core business consists out of integrated security solutions. From a broad range of services, Securitas customizes offerings that are suited to the individual customer’s needs, in order to deliver the most effective security solutions. The analytics were based on a diverse set of data records originating from the live system operated and used at the time by Securitas. The records included 5000 user profiles and more than 300 communities, created in Lotus Connections. The team analyzing the data and developing the analytics platform, displaying various statistics and charts, consisted out of multiple experts from the extensive ERCIS Research Network. The data was analyzed from three different angles including a social network analysis, a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative analysis. Through this unique process the team was able to make a variety of discoveries, including: Determining which subjects were discussed in different groups and where these subjects originated from, Discovering how top performers were affecting the behavior and work ethic of different groups, Uncovering the organizational role of top users, identified through the network analysis. Additionally the team was able to determine overall factors which could encourage or prevent different usage patterns. Through this multidimensional analysis process the team was able to give Securitas a detailed insight into the usage of its social networking platform.