Febiuaiy 11, 2u14

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http:www.wiieu.cominsights2u14u2business-human-b2h-futuie-enteipiise

Chanuai Pattabhiiam
Last week, I hau a chance to attenu 0iacle Clouu Woilu anu inteiact with a numbei
of 0iacle paitneis, piospects anu customeis. The big attiaction at the event was the
last-minute keynote auuition by Laiiy Ellison. The highlight of the event, foi myself
anu many attenuees, was being able to listen to his always unique anu inteiesting
vantage points on the softwaie inuustiy in peison.
Anu Ni. Ellison uiu not uisappoint on this fiont. Be kickeu off his keynote with this
nugget "It's all about people," he saiu, noting that the two most impoitant
applications insiue a mouein enteipiise aie Buman Capital Nanagement (BCN) anu
Customei Seivice. Consiueiing that 0iacle ships moie than a hunuieu softwaie
piouucts acioss the application lanuscape, it inueeu was suipiising anu inteiesting
that he anointeu BCN anu Customei Seivice as the fiist-among-equals in his
poitfolio.
Simply put, he was ieaffiiming the funuamental foimula foi any successful business
- keep employees happy, who in-tuin, will keep customeis anu you will eventually
win. Theie is nothing new oi ievolutionaiy in this peispective but why was Ni.
Ellison's asseition impoitant now.
Nevei befoie in histoiy, fiom the inuustiial ievolution to the cuiient uigital
evolution, have employeis faceu a laigei challenge in ieciuiting employees fastei
anu ietaining them yeai ovei yeai.
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Companies aie constantly unuei immense piessuie to finu new, effective ways to
engage employees anu keep them engageu to spui giowth, ieuuce tuinovei,
pieseive talent anu maintain a competitive auvantage. But this has become moie
challenging than evei as we'ie seeing a uiamatic shift in the woikplace
uemogiaphics in the 0S anu acioss the woilu.
0n one hanu, we'ie seeing the iise of the millennials acioss the woikfoice. A iecent
infogiaphic cieateu by Baugeville summaiizeu some of the ievealing statistics about
this geneiation millennials make up 2S% of the woikfoice touay anu will become
7S% of the global woikfoice by 2u2S. In fact, 1S% of them aie alieauy manageis.
Nillennials aie also veiy tough to please anu ietain S6% expect a piomotion
within a yeai anu 91% expect to stay in a job foi less than S yeais. Also, 8S% of
manageis suiveyeu iecently believe that this gioup has a stiongei sense of
entitlement than any geneiation befoie.
uiven these uata points, it is obvious that the olu paiauigms of motivation anu
iecognition useu by manageis anu BR will not woik with the millennial minuset.
Auuitionally, the tiauitional employee-facing business applications have not been
uesigneu to meet the neeus of this geneiation who aie useu to mouein, social
consumei technology anu iequiie instant anu constant iecognition fiom theii peeis
anu supeivisois in theii uaily inteiactions.
0n the othei hanu, we'ie also seeing an aging Su+ woikfoice in tiauitional
inuustiies ianging fiom banking anu manufactuiing to seivices anu goveinment
sectois. The employei challenges heie aie as abunuant as those of the millennials
but of a uiffeient kinu how uo they keep this aging woikfoice inteiesteu,
piouuctive anu engageu in the new geneiation of social technologies especially as
tiauitional companies embaik into the eia of the consumeiization of the enteipiise.
At both on enus of the uemogiaphic spectium, it is uifficult to succeeu using
tiauitional methous of motivation. Ni. Ellison was cleai in his asseition that the
most impoitant pait of a successful business is keeping employees happy anu
engageu. Yet a iecent uallup Poll asceitains that 7u% of employees aie uisengageu
at woik.
Why. We aie stuck in the past in many of oui woikplaces. A 21st centuiy woikplace
calls foi 21st centuiy techniques.
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So how uo enteipiises solve this employee engagement ciisis. 0ne simple answei
coulu be to simply give employees moie money. Aftei all, one coulu aigue that theie
is some !"#$"% !'((" in all of us, a minuset mainly motivateu by moie money. But
ieseaich shows that as long as an employee believes he oi she is faiily compensateu,
any extia income uoesn't impiove theii peifoimance oi encouiage them to stay in
theii iole at a company.
Reseaichei anu authoi Baniel Pink in his book, Biive, lists the intiinsic motivation
tiifecta autonomy, masteiy, anu puipose anu goes on to say that in scenaiios
wheie people aie compensateu faiily, this tiio uiives us to be most engageu anu uo
oui best woik. Baugeville Behavioi Lab's ieseaich fuithei illustiates this. The thiee
main motivatois foi human behavioi aie success, social value anu stiuctuie: we
tenu to go the extia mile when we feel that we aie successful anu winning against
competition, oi that we aie socially valueu by peei anu supeiioi iecognition, anu
expeiience a sense of piogiess anu stiuctuie of tasks leauing to specific goals.
The effectiveness of these intiinsic motivatois moie than money was also
coiioboiateu by a iecent suivey by ieseaich fiim Nake Theii Bay which showeu
that employees aie most motivateu in an enviionment that fosteis fun, iecognition
anu giowth. Anu these finuings weie the same foi employees on both enus of the
spectium - the millennials as well as the aging woikfoice.
So the question becomes, how can we take these finuings anu utilize mouein ways
to intiinsically motivate employees.
Rewaiu employees foi theii uaily activities in ieal time

Elevate employee status anu showcase theii expeitise

Inciease compliance thiough caiiots, not sticks

Cieate a sense of piogiess foi ongoing wins anu engagement
0ne may question what's mouein about some of the techniques above as they've
been useu foi yeais in uiffeient shapes oi foims. The uiffeience in the mouein way
is this: uo in ieal-time online iathei than in an offline mannei; in othei woius,
iewaiu anu iecognize employees foi the iight behaviois anu elevate theii
ieputation uiiectly in the applications anu uigital touchpoints they'ie using
eveiyuay, eveiy houi anu eveiy minute.
Some call this gamification, otheis quantifieu woik, otheis mouein woikfoice
ieputation management. The name uoesn't mattei, what matteis is cieating a ieal-
time, peisonalizeu anu iewaiuing expeiience foi youi employees. Iueally, these
iewaius shoulu be tieu to youi piimaiy business goals anu tiickle uown into each
uepaitment. Within youi enteipiise applications, you can integiate an expeiience
which offeis piogiess missions, bauges anu status icons, points, leaueiboaius, anu
expeitise tiacks acioss youi existing expeiiences that youi employees use eveiyuay.
Let's highlight some examples of woilu-class companies utilizing the foui
techniques:
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This engagement technique involves iewaiuing useis foi the uesiieu behaviois -
acioss uiffeient functional aieas like sales, customei suppoit, engineeiing, finance,
etc. - in ieal-time in the business application.
Foi example, incentives anu iewaius foi peifoimance has always been an inheient
pait of sales cultuie, fiom Piesiuent's Club to status-baseu iewaius beyonu cash
bonus. Yet these have been focuseu mainly on closing ueals anu have stoou outsiue
of the uaily application expeiience of the usei. Nouein engagement techniques on
the othei hanu, makes this motivation an intiinsic pait of the uaily sales piocess by
ieinfoicing the iight sales behaviois uiiectly in the business application like 0iacle
CRN 0n Bemanu oi Salesfoice.com - eveiy uay anu eveiy minute - leauing to moie
motivateu sales ieps that piouuce moie ueals with laigei ueal sizes, anu ieuuceu
sales cycles.
0iacle Fusion CRN, Siebel anu Salesfoice.com now has capability to iewaiu sales
ieps foi the iight behaviois in ieal-time uiiectly in the application (each company
can configuie the best behaviois ielevant to them). A iecent Whaiton stuuy stateu
that sales teams enjoyeu a 2X lift in engagement baseu on these engagement
techniques.
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This engagement technique involves iecognizing useis' expeitise anu showcasing
theii ieputation in uiffeient applications ianging fiom employee communities anu
foiums to poitals anu collaboiation platfoims.
Foi example, ENC has thousanus of customeis anu employees in its community
built on }ive softwaie anu instantly iecognizes useis anu elevates theii status baseu
on theii contiibutions anu paiticipation in the community. The piogiam RANP
iewaius useis foi answeiing questions, cieating blog posts, ieplying to
uiscussions, cieating uocuments, anu othei activities within theii community. It
offeis customeis anu employees the oppoitunity to gain status foi theii engagement
anu contiibutions.
Why uoes this mattei. Not only uoes engagement encouiage employees to stay at a
company longei, ENC noteu that engageu customeis spenu 24u% moie on ENC
piouucts. It's haiu to have engageu customeis without engageu employees.
Anothei laige technology fiim, Engine Yaiu, one of the fastest giowing Platfoim-as-
a-Seivice companies, ieuuceu suppoit ticket costs by 4u% by iewaiuing community
engagement within its Zenuesk application.
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This technique involves uiiving employee compliance via a positive appioach iathei
than a punitive one. Compliance activities can iange fiom filling out expense iepoits
anu booking coipoiate tiavel on-time to finishing manuatoiy leaining couises anu
employee ceitifications.
ulobal financial giant Ameiican Expiess has integiateu these techniques into its
business tiavel softwaie in oiuei to ieuuce tiavel costs anu inciease efficiencies foi
majoi coipoiations - the Amex coipoiate tiavel application now offeis enu useis
iewaius in ieal-time via bauges anu points foi booking tiavel aheau of time, using
the piefeiieu aiiline, etc. anu this in-tuin can save these fiims thousanus in tiavel
costs.
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This technique involves iewaiuing employees foi piogiess towaius specific tasks
anu goals such as completion of couises oi steps in a well-uefineu business piocess.
Beloitte Consulting uesigneu a leaueiship tiaining cuiiiculum foi senioi executives
anu neeueu a stiuctuieu way to encouiage executives to stait anu complete the
piogiam. So they put a seiies of iewaiuing elements bauges, leaueiboaius anu
status symbols in place foi paiticipating in anu completing couises that eveiyone
coulu see. By uoing this, time to ceitification foi paiticipants ieuuceu by Su peicent.
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Business leaueis can utilize these foui techniques to tie the uaily activities anu
peifoimance of theii employees to biggei pictuie goals, incieasing theii engagement
iegaiuless of whethei they aie 2S oi SS yeais olu.
Ni. Ellison last week ieiteiateu what I ueeply believe the futuie of the enteipiise
uepenus on humanizing the customei anu employee expeiience. Buman capital
management anu customei seivice aie the founuation of a successful mouein
enteipiise. That futuie is not "B2C" oi "B2B." It's B2B. Business to Buman.
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