The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/271291
WWW.ILTANET.ORG 53 About the Author Larry Kuhn, Account Technology Strategist at Microsoft Corporation, has helped numerous global enterprise customers plan, design and deploy solutions based on SharePoint and .NET technologies. Larry assists his customers with solving their business challenges and seizing market opportunities using Microsoft-based solutions. With over 25 years of experience in the software industry, his experience spans areas of end-user productivity, application development and project management. Contact Larry at lkuhn@microsoft.com. WHY BOTHER WITH ENTERPRISE SOCIAL NETWORKS? Similar to their consumer-focused cousins, social networks (e.g., LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter), ESNs differentiate themselves by providing a walled garden accessible only to authorized members of your firm or enterprise. There are a number of beneficial characteristics and behaviors that ESNs enable and encourage. Visibility: Most enterprise social tools operate in a "public by default" model (i.e., posts and replies are visible to all members of the network). Most tools also provide means of constraining visibility via security mechanisms, but this would be the exception rather than the rule. Interestingly, this tendency toward open sharing of information is completely aligned with the basic operating principles of most law firms. Each member of the firm already seeks to leverage the good work of their colleagues for the benefit of their clients. In the absence of ESNs, this happens through face-to-face discussions, phone calls and email messages with trusted mentors, searches of work products stored in document management systems and case law reference systems. The unique twist that ESNs bring to the picture is to serve as an easy-to-use "connective tissue." People can ask and answer questions out in the open, which leads to other beneficial behaviors. Crowdsourcing: When you click the "post" button, you are putting an ESN-hosted conversation on pause, which frees you up to work on other tasks. This is similar to an email "send." The difference here is the visibility characteristic. Instead of the conversation being paused until your recipient opens your email, it can remain active in front of all authorized members of the ESN. What happens very often in active ESNs is that experts you, the requestor, never knew existed come forward and contribute answers, suggestions and guidance. Another beneficial aspect of the crowdsourcing behavior is it helps bring fresh perspectives to bear. ESN members from different departments or practice groups within the firm might provide just the kind of out-of-the- box thinking needed to push through the mental barriers that cause viable options to hide in plain sight. Reinforcement: When you "like" a post or reply, you are applying an endorsement. ESNs provide a very easy way for good ideas and useful information to be reinforced and highlighted. Individuals whose posts garner a large number of "likes" build their reputation and credibility within the network. In a recent two-part blog post series, Jasvinder Dhanjal, a Customer Success Manager at Yammer, outlined how Yammer helped several of his customers streamline the operations of their service centers and develop improved strategies to manage customer interactions. In particular, he explains how Yammer enabled communications across the typically tiered support hierarchy. Tier 3 engineers could share their expertise with Tier 1 and 2 engineers in a manner that helped them resolve issues without escalation. This led to increased customer satisfaction because issues were resolved sooner, and increased employee satisfaction because it reduced the case load for the service desk overall. A similar spanning of hierarchy could be achieved in the law firm context — in the IT helpdesk and in practice groups. Senior partners and attorneys could share their guidance and expertise in a manner that would increase the effectiveness of associates and other less senior staff. SERVICE DESK EFFICIENCY INCREASES WITH YAMMER Read this blog series at https://about.yammer.com/yammer-blog