Crucial conversations:
The role of technology in building an engaged and collaborative workforce

Welcome from the Chair

Keynote session:

The Collaborative Workplace: The future for intranets and digital communication in 2012

In this session Paul Miller will share insights from his new book, The Digital Workplace: How Technology is Liberating Work. While the workplace is being positively transformed through technology, this transformation comes with a fresh set of challenges.

Drawing on his book, Paul will share his predictions for intranets and digital communication in 2012 and explore:

• Isolation and fragmentation - understanding human challenges and opportunities in the digital workplace.
  
• The evolution of workplace applications and mobile technology.
• Diverging paths - why ambitious managers are switching from intranets to digital to engage with employees.
• Enemies of efficiency - why intranet search and digital usability has to improve for tech-enabled communication to thrive.

Paul Miller,
Founder & CEO,
Intranet Benchmarking Forum & Digital Workplace Forum

Placing education at the heart of IBM's social software programme

In 2007 a small team known internally as "BlueIQ" was established within IBM Software to encourage a reluctant and overwhelmed sales force to make better use of the social software available to them.

Early efforts had proved unsuccessful, but this changed after "BlueIQ" identified specific opportunities to complete daily tasks more efficiently and developed a learning programme to improve productivity.

This session will share transferable lessons learned and best practices including:

• Getting in front of technology by shifting the focus from tools to tasks.
• Overcoming barriers to adoption through learning and facilitation.
• Walking the talk - why "BlueIQ" hasn't used internal email for four years.
• Using statistics and stories to demonstrate ROI.

Luis Suarez,
Knowledge Manager, Community Builder & Social Software Evangelist,
IBM

Morning coffee

Using video, audio and social tools to create compelling communications at Grant Thornton

Incorporating video and audio into intranets and social networking tools can transform your messages. But inadequate IT infrastructures and poor understanding of new technological capabilities means that many organisations are still missing out on its true potential.

In this session, you'll hear how accountancy firm Grant Thornton uses live streaming audio and video and other social media to create more compelling communications:

• Making sense of new tools and technology.
  
• No laptop necessary - streaming "phonecasts" to multiple platforms.
• Using video to connect a global business and make corporate messages more compelling.

Paul Thomas, Senior Manager, Digital Communications & Social Media Grant Thorton UK LLP

Dr Mark K. Smith, CEO, iPadio

Networking lunch

Interactive session

Collaboration Compendium:
Hints, tips and questions to better diagnose key business partner needs

Successful collaboration demands the formation of solid, closely aligned partnerships between IC and key business functions such as IT, HR, Knowledge Management, Leadership and Corporate Comms.

But where do you start? How do you develop a mutual understanding of roles, goals, responsibilities and concerns and what are the questions to ask?

In this interactive session, you'll discuss, debate and benchmark with fellow delegates on how to most effectively work with and better understand the needs of business partners through the consideration of hints, tips and key diagnostic questions for IC to ask.

Afternoon tea

Connecting and engaging a global workforce through the Bupa Live networking platform

In 2009 a social networking platform was launched to help deliver "One Bupa" and connect a diverse workforce. With critical mass achieved, the platform is demonstrating ROI through early successes such as improved engagement scores among users, reduced printing costs, a more transparent and inclusive annual leadership conference and open discussions around a redundancy programme.

In this session the winners of Melcrum's 2011 SCM Award for Excellence in Technology will share:

• How IT, HR and Group IC functions formed an active working group to oversee the launch of Bupa Live.
• How a "launch and learn" approach allowed early adopters to establish the tone and shape the way the tool would be used.
• The role of both grass-roots support and senior leader visibility to drive take-up.
• How web 2.0 technologies fit within the overall IC and engagement strategy.

Hamish Haynes, Head of Internal Communications & Engagement, Bupa Health & Wellbeing

Nick Crawford, Social Business Strategist, Group Internal Communications, Bupa

Digitally Enhanced: Using behavioural insights to inform collaborative workplace strategies

In this session, research expert Dr Andy Brown shifts the measurement emphasis away from the usual quantitative tracking of activity and usage of digital channels, to the valuable surfacing of insights into employee behaviours that can be mapped to business imperatives.

His session will cover:

• Why collaboration matters - the business case and research-based evidence.
  
• The overlapping roles of leadership, culture and technology in creating a collaborative organisation.
• Understanding the role of "lateral communication" and drawing meaningful analysis and insights from the metrics.
• The value of "quality" conversations and how they contribute to collaboration.

Dr Andy Brown,
CEO,
Engage Group

Closing remarks from the Chair

Networking drinks