Transform your corporate communications with SharePoint

Transform your corporate communications with SharePoint Dux Raymond Sy (@meetdux), PMP Managing Partner, Innovative-e Dux, Author, “SharePoint for Project Management”

The #1 most used corporate communications tool is email – a 1973 technology – to facilitate corporate communications.

Why SharePoint?
The vision for SharePoint is that it democratizes productivity – it centralizes information, makes the right things available to the right people, and you don’t need IT’s help to do what needs to be done.

7 Ways to Maximize SharePoint for Corporate Communications

1. Easily create a Collaboration Platform
   The best part of SharePoint is that you don’t need IT’s help to set it up.  The collaborative platform centralizes team artifacts (documents) and dialogue around projects.  In addition, SharePoint is connected to all the other tools people are already familiar with, including Outlook. For example, from Outlook, SharePoint calendars, documents, and other pieces are accessible and editable. You can actually use SharePoint without going to the project site, but just by working within Outlook.
2. Efficiently Manage Information
   With a centralized workspace, you can avoid playing “who saved the file last.”  In new versions of SharePoint, up to 4 people can work on a document simultaneously.  Version history, alerts, and organization manages records retention and allows users to customer how they want to work.
3. Utilize Microsoft Office Integration
   Word, Excel, Outlook, Project, and other Microsoft products can sync files directly with SharePoint.  You can work with the tools you’re familiar with, and SharePoint simply helps connect and centralize the information. When everyone is working off the same set of information, you no longer have to take it all in and sort and combine data or information. For example, “Sync with Outlook” will move things like SharePoint discussions, documents, etc. to work with Outlook.
4. Enhance Team Collaboration
   Two things can be used specifically to help team collaboration – Discussion Boards and Meeting Workspace.  Discussions are easy, and as mentioned, can be used just like email, by syncing with Outlook.  The meeting workspace provides a single place to store meeting information and record it.
5. Effectively Automate Processes
   Common corporate communications processes and workflows are already in the tool out of the box – Approvals (stages/next steps or parallel), collect signatures, Disposition approval).  These are great for helping to document approvals, and ensure process and proceedures are followed.
6. Generate Relevant Reports
   Sharepoint allows you to utlize the data within documents to build Dashboards with KPIs, charts, etc.
7. Enable Mobile Access
   One Note – can be used to send things from a mobile device and then edit in Sharepoint.

How to Successfully Leverage SharePoint

Planning, executive support, educating your employees, and using the tools to solve problems is key.  SharePoint is more than just a glorified way to share and store documents, it’s a business enablement tool.  SharePoint has multiple capabilities, but you must take the approach of figuring out how to use it to solve your particular challenges.

 

My Plan for Oct. 3

The Ragan Employee Communications, PR and Social Media Summit is coming up next week. You can always follow my live (West Coast time zone) on Twitter (@kkozlen), or here on this blog. If requested, I might do some live video coverage via this site… please take a look at my plan for the conference and let me know if there are any questions or things I can look into on your behalf.

The first thing I’m attending is a pre-conference workshop on Wednesday, October 3, covering various aspects of employee communication. Here are the workshop sessions I’ll be attending:

9 a.m.-11 a.m (PST)
Transform your corporate communications with SharePoint
Dux Raymond Sy (@meetdux), PMP Managing Partner, Innovative-e

By leveraging SharePoint 2010, corporate communicators are empowered to create relevant solutions that can increase productivity by streamlining and automating communication processes and minimizing communicators’ dependence on IT.

• Exploit the key benefits of SharePoint for corporate communicators
• Automate corporate communications processes and workflows with SharePoint
• Integrate SharePoint with existing corporate communication tools
• Create a Web-based dashboard to track and measure relevant corporate communication metrics
• Leverage social and mobile capabilities to better engage corporate audiences

12:30 p.m.-2:30 p.m. (PST)
Leadership communications: How a communicator in the social media world can support and maximize the impact when an executive communicates
Mark Schumann (@dmarkschumann), past Chair, IABC
Mark Schumann, ABC, past Chair of IABC and a 17-time Gold Quill winner, for a compelling workshop on how to reinvent your communication skills to provide the support a leader needs in the social media world.  Behind every great leader is a great communicator. And, in this 24/7 business environment of constant interaction, how a communicator supports a leader has significantly changed. No longer is helping a leader craft a message adequate support. Today’s communicator must continually coach the leader to make the most of each opportunity to engage.

This session will cover:

• Help a leader discover a communication style, tone and level of comfort with a range of interactions
• Coach a leader to work within an authentic voice that is natural to express and absorb
• Introduce new media to a leader without forgetting that every tool is a means to an end of stakeholder engagement
• Establish a curriculum of leadership message and content
• Encourage a leader to become more involved in the development of communication strategy and approaches without delegating the task
• Continually reinforce to the leader that communication is a fundamental part of the role

3 p.m.-5 p.m. (PST)
How organizations need to use video and storytelling to create and protect their brand
Drew Keller (@DrewKeller), Owner, StoryGuide

Corporate communicators must explain, defend, and bolster the corporate brand internally and externally with imagination and verve. This is no small task now that social media has made it more difficult to manage your brand on many platforms. Video is one of the strongest weapons in your arsenal to create the look and feel of your brand. When you make a video, your audience pays attention to every detail. They look in the corners of your shots, they listen to the words, and they absorb your message… intended or accidental. Therefore it is critical that every video you produce has an identifiable relationship with the personality of your product.

This session will cover how to use video to tell your corporate stories. You will learn how to:

• Make certain that your stories reflect your company or organization’s philosophy
• Make sure the look and feel of your videos reflect the brand positively
• Avoid common pitfalls of content creation that does not advance your brand
• Capture inspirational and memorable stories that will bring your company renown
• Write the perfect script through employee interviews and brainstorms