AT&T to save $80 million in productivity due to internal social media profiles
The telecommunications giant has built a robust social-business area on its intranet. Its officers got involved through what communicators dubbed reverse mentoring.
“Employee engagement is not just nice to have. It leads to ROI.”
That was AT&T Executive Director of Emerging Communications Blair Klein’s response to an audience member at Ragan Communications’ Intranet Summit when asked how to persuade c-suite officers to fork over money for internal social media.
AT&T has proved that the return is definitely there. The company estimates it will save $80 million because of increased productivity over five years, Klein said, and that’s just from improving employee profiles with information such as personal work history and areas of expertise.
Klein said the question isn’t so much whether bosses know that becoming a social business is worthwhile, but how you can help guide them toward embracing it. “It is hard to point to leaders of any business in America today who do not have social media on the radar,” she said.
Setting up guides
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