Like many other companies these days, Capgemini has an internal blogging community. I used to write frequent posts on my own internal blog, but I have been passive for over 6 months. The reason is that I do most of my blogging out in the open these days, which is already taking up much of my time. I must also admit that I had another reason, besides being too busy blogging elsewhere, for pushing aside the internal blog-o-sphere: the fact that it is only visible from within Capgemini. But I have changed my mind after reading this post on the "Go Big Always" (GBA) blog by Sam Lawrence. I am very much inspired by this post. Thanks for waking me up, Sam! The internal blogging community of Capgemini is fairly large. People from all over the globe are active in this community. There are blogs that focus on development methodologies, on specific technologies and products, on right shoring experiences, et cetera. However, I am not sure how actively other employees read these blogs and benefit from their contents. Most people at Capgemini (at least as far as I can see) use good old e-mail for finding and sharing information. They simply direct a question or item of interest at an e-mail group. This usually results in quick answers too. On the other hand, people also complain about receiving too much generally directed e-mail that pollutes their e-mail boxes. Maybe we should use e-mail for specifically directed information only, and use the blogs for generally directed information. That would take a rather large collaborative effort in our case. But would that really solve anything? Moving information from e-mail boxes to RSS feeds doesn't make much difference to me. I still have to read them, and I still won't have time enough to do that (the number of feed subscriptions I have in my RSS Software exceeds 80...). For me personally, podcasts form part of the solution. I listen to them while I am commuting or mowing the lawn (if I had one). The podcasts that aggregate news and information are usually the best ones. So, I can only conclude boldly with this: All Capgemini personnel should get iPods. Depending on your role, your skills, your position and your ambitions, your iPod will be automatically synchronized with what you need to hear. We'll probably need to be a little bit further in the development of the third version of the Web to really make this work...
Internal blogs matter
M. Nankman
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The GBA blog post you are referring to is indeed quite inspiring, however I think that it depends a bit on the company as well: corporate culture, enployees, size, etc. I can see that in a bit nerdy smaller engineering team, that this would be more popular.
They have also been very smart to force starters to post the "first" blogs, thus exposing recently joined employees to the internal blogging.
They have also been very smart to force starters to post the "first" blogs, thus exposing recently joined employees to the internal blogging.
I think the ipod would be a great solution, dedicated podcasts to download that we could listen to on breaks.
I'm a big fan of being open, and would prefer an external blog everytime.
The "Go Big" article is very good and inspiring, and while I agree that some stuff like competitor analysis is better kept internally, I think that "first" blogs by new employees could be externally facing as well.
I wrote about this recently at <a href="http://justaddwater.dk/2008/05/06/internal-or-external-company-blog/" rel="nofollow">http://justaddwater.dk/2008/05/06/internal-or-external-company-blog/</a>
Even though Capgemini is an 80,000+ people audience, my argument is that it's still a limited audience.
The "Go Big" article is very good and inspiring, and while I agree that some stuff like competitor analysis is better kept internally, I think that "first" blogs by new employees could be externally facing as well.
I wrote about this recently at <a href="http://justaddwater.dk/2008/05/06/internal-or-external-company-blog/" rel="nofollow">http://justaddwater.dk/2008/05/06/internal-or-external-company-blog/</a>
Even though Capgemini is an 80,000+ people audience, my argument is that it's still a limited audience.
I'm a big fan of being open, and would prefer an external blog everytime.
The "Go Big" article is very good and inspiring, and while I agree that some stuff like competitor analysis is better kept internally, I think that "first" blogs by new employees could be externally facing as well.
I wrote about this recently at <a href="http://justaddwater.dk/2008/05/06/internal-or-external-company-blog/" rel="nofollow">http://justaddwater.dk/2008/05/06/internal-or-external-company-blog/</a>
Even though Capgemini is an 80,000+ people audience, my argument is that it's still a limited audience.
The "Go Big" article is very good and inspiring, and while I agree that some stuff like competitor analysis is better kept internally, I think that "first" blogs by new employees could be externally facing as well.
I wrote about this recently at <a href="http://justaddwater.dk/2008/05/06/internal-or-external-company-blog/" rel="nofollow">http://justaddwater.dk/2008/05/06/internal-or-external-company-blog/</a>
Even though Capgemini is an 80,000+ people audience, my argument is that it's still a limited audience.
i think Ipod would be a good solution for this
Good day,
First of all blogging, if used in an effective way is a really good tool to explore and exchange knowledge base hidden in once brain; but many of them rarely understand it.
Giving iPOD, another Luxury which will add to another cost overhead on the organization. Any dedicate employee, who has access to talents update, can get all the news including podcast.
Instead try to bring down the costs, like the Operating costs, the Rising Inflation in the Rate cards and others; which impacts achieveing Sales target as the GOPs and the CMs cannot be negotiated to a reasonable mark.
These things will help in managing the organization growth in long term and overcome big hurdles like Competing with Pure players and various other threats.
Just expansion does not help, as expansion if not controlled, can just be a result of "Increasing the Incomes to Overcome Liabilities".
The key to Success is Managing Costs and Rolling Investments in other areas IT as well as non IT.
First of all blogging, if used in an effective way is a really good tool to explore and exchange knowledge base hidden in once brain; but many of them rarely understand it.
Giving iPOD, another Luxury which will add to another cost overhead on the organization. Any dedicate employee, who has access to talents update, can get all the news including podcast.
Instead try to bring down the costs, like the Operating costs, the Rising Inflation in the Rate cards and others; which impacts achieveing Sales target as the GOPs and the CMs cannot be negotiated to a reasonable mark.
These things will help in managing the organization growth in long term and overcome big hurdles like Competing with Pure players and various other threats.
Just expansion does not help, as expansion if not controlled, can just be a result of "Increasing the Incomes to Overcome Liabilities".
The key to Success is Managing Costs and Rolling Investments in other areas IT as well as non IT.
Hi Mark: I have to disagree with the idea of iPods -- not that I don't want all Capgemini staff to have an iPod, but that it's an efficient way of aggregating only the news I need to hear.
If it was possible to aggregate only the news I need to hear or read, such an aggregator would already work nicely for my e-mail, my RSS feeds, my newsgroups, my IM rooms. But, as you point out, we're all overwhelmed by irrelevant information in these channels.
When I'm reading stuff I can skim over the text and then read in-depth when there's something that catches my eye. With a podcast I have to listen sequentially. Yes, I can skip ahead if there's irrelevant info, but then I might lose an interesting tidbit in the skipped part. And manipulating my iPod to skip parts is next to impossible while I'm driving or mowing the lawn (at least, to the peril of the other drivers, or the shrubbery at the edge of the lawn).
The best way to get the stuff I'm interested in might be to use a "reverse spam filter", one that actively selects RSS feeds (or even podcasts) based on things I've found interesting before. There has been lots of talk in the Blogosphere on this, but I have yet to find a practical implementation. The Google search below provides a good launching point...
<a href="http://google.com/search?q=bayesian+aggregator" rel="nofollow">http://google.com/search?q=bayesian+aggregator</a>
If it was possible to aggregate only the news I need to hear or read, such an aggregator would already work nicely for my e-mail, my RSS feeds, my newsgroups, my IM rooms. But, as you point out, we're all overwhelmed by irrelevant information in these channels.
When I'm reading stuff I can skim over the text and then read in-depth when there's something that catches my eye. With a podcast I have to listen sequentially. Yes, I can skip ahead if there's irrelevant info, but then I might lose an interesting tidbit in the skipped part. And manipulating my iPod to skip parts is next to impossible while I'm driving or mowing the lawn (at least, to the peril of the other drivers, or the shrubbery at the edge of the lawn).
The best way to get the stuff I'm interested in might be to use a "reverse spam filter", one that actively selects RSS feeds (or even podcasts) based on things I've found interesting before. There has been lots of talk in the Blogosphere on this, but I have yet to find a practical implementation. The Google search below provides a good launching point...
<a href="http://google.com/search?q=bayesian+aggregator" rel="nofollow">http://google.com/search?q=bayesian+aggregator</a>
I like the idea of the reverse spam filter. I doubt that my understanding of Web 3.0 is complete, but the reverse spam filter reminded me of Web 3.0. If the Web would understand its content and understand everybody's individual needs in a certain situation or location, we wouldn't have to do all the filtering and comparing ourselves, or at least wouldn't have to go through useless (i.e., in that particular situation or location) information.
Although I really use my own iPod as I described, I didn't really literally mean that we should heavily invest in that solution. On the other hand we are already seeing that Capgemini deploys the podcast as a medium for reaching out to employees. To me that means that employers are adapting to the lifestyle of employees, who bring in and use technology that they use in private (such as iPods, but other examples are instant messaging and blogging) to be more effective and efficient at work.
Although I really use my own iPod as I described, I didn't really literally mean that we should heavily invest in that solution. On the other hand we are already seeing that Capgemini deploys the podcast as a medium for reaching out to employees. To me that means that employers are adapting to the lifestyle of employees, who bring in and use technology that they use in private (such as iPods, but other examples are instant messaging and blogging) to be more effective and efficient at work.
Hi Jesper. I read your article about this on your blog (http://justaddwater.dk/2008/05/06/internal-or-external-company-blog/). I actually agree with most of it. It is interesting to see that so many people seem to be contemplating the use of blogs these days.
Hmmm... IPods are no efficient means. Who would pay for the data plans. There are alternatives to it and which are not product specific..
1. Move capgemini mail on to IMAP. So that it could be accessed using existing products such as Mobiles and wifi enabled devices.
2. The amount of info which might be pushed on RSS will lead to a feeling "RSS alias spam ".
3. The IMAP enabling would lead to a less expensive data rates and faster access to mail.
1. Move capgemini mail on to IMAP. So that it could be accessed using existing products such as Mobiles and wifi enabled devices.
2. The amount of info which might be pushed on RSS will lead to a feeling "RSS alias spam ".
3. The IMAP enabling would lead to a less expensive data rates and faster access to mail.
Good day,
All very interesting... At the moment I'm busy writing my Master thesis on the use of internal corporate blogs for organizations. I'm still looking for a internal blog community though, to conduct my research with (a small survey). Would Capgemini be interested?
In the end I can might answer you how effective the use of iPods is for internal use....
All very interesting... At the moment I'm busy writing my Master thesis on the use of internal corporate blogs for organizations. I'm still looking for a internal blog community though, to conduct my research with (a small survey). Would Capgemini be interested?
In the end I can might answer you how effective the use of iPods is for internal use....
absolutely ... i'm in with the IPod usage as proposed by Mark ... and yes; internal blogs for the organisation prove to be an effective platform for not only exchanging information and interacting with other employees across the verticals ... but at the same time, it opens up a chanel for an understanding different perceptions towards different solutions being offered by individuals ... :)
im wondering if is it part of your company to train people to WRECK A HAPPY FAMILY? I wonder how you do train and maybe you could discipline or make any actions regarding this... im addressing this complain to your management if there is and im ACCUSING ERIC JEAN YVES MARIE LEMARTRET OF WRECKING MY FAMILY! he's in the security program director / security & risk management team/ ASPIRE.
I hope your company will put an actions on this and i dont think your company will tolerate this kind of employees you have and for all i know this company is also a family oriented and not only for business. a good business starts in a happy family. i know this company has a good track record and hoping that this complain wont make any bad impressions on your future business transaction...
more power to your company
bobi
I hope your company will put an actions on this and i dont think your company will tolerate this kind of employees you have and for all i know this company is also a family oriented and not only for business. a good business starts in a happy family. i know this company has a good track record and hoping that this complain wont make any bad impressions on your future business transaction...
more power to your company
bobi
