Read the Case Study: Kellogg Implements a Company-Wide Collaborative Workspace on p.182 and answer the 5 questions associated

Please answer the 5 questions below, and please no plagiarism.

Kellogg Implements a Company-Wide Collaborative Workspace

In 1906, Kellogg Company released its first productToasted Corn Flakes. Although many people still think first of the cereals advertising mascot, Tony the Tiger, when Kellogg is mentioned, in fact, the company owns dozens of brands and manufactures and ships hundreds of products to more than 180 countries worldwide. The company has over 30,000 employees. In 2010, these employees were using over 2000 different legacy applications, Web sites, and database systems to communicate and collaborate. Thats when the companys executive leadership decided to hire Infosys, one of the worlds largest IT consulting firms, to create one highly scalable portal, called K Connect, with a single URL and sign-on system for all employees. Infosys and Kellogg built K Connect using Microsoft Sharepoint and deployed it in 17 different countries, with support in multiple languages. To train employees on how to make use of the shared workspace, Infosys led a series of training sessions that ranged from lunch and learn gatherings to formal classes to presentations broadcast on Kelloggs internal closed-captioned television network.

Microsoft Sharepoint offered Kellogg many functions that facilitate collaboration. First, it offers a central repository for all reports, white papers, and other information employees may need to access. Using K Connect, Kellogg employees can read, listen to, or watch company news and find information about company policies and procedures. Sharepoint also provides a single online portal for shared documents. Project managers can establish individual project sites where team members can share documents, manage tasks, and update project schedules. Multiple employees can work on a single document simultaneously if necessary. Sharepoint keeps a record of document versions, so that employees can revert to a previous version if a document is erroneously updated or deleted. Kellogg employees can control access to their documents by choosing which coworkers to share the document with and by specifying what actions their coworkers are permitted to take with the document, such as view only or edit. Coworkers can chat online as they work collaboratively on a document, and they can access documents from desktops, laptops, and mobile devices. With Sharepoint, project managers can also create site mailboxes so that all project-related emails filter directly into the mailbox, eliminating the need for team members to search through crowded Inboxes to find project-related correspondence. Coworkers can also communicate through newsfeed, a microblog that allows users to exchange small elements of content such as short sentences, individual images, or video linksall of which are easily searchable. Project managers can also add apps to Sharepoint, build Web sites, use Excel to mine and analyze project data, and create and view visual presentations.

Sharepoint can also be used in conjunction with other Microsoft enterprise-wide products, such as Office 365. K Connect put these additional services to use to improve employee engagement. Through K Connect, the company collects feedback from employees about their ideas and concerns in the hopes of improving business processes and motivating employees. The site also allows employees to like and share pages.

For Kellogg, the creation of K Connect decreased administrative and management overhead costs spent on corporate communication. It also allowed the company to integrate new employees quickly following corporate acquisitions. Kelloggs Senior Director of Enterprise and Portal Collaboration Linda Stephens recalls that after the acquisition of the snack company Pringles, K Connect helped us bring [those employees] on immediately as part of the Kellogg family. They didnt even have our computers yet, but they had access to our internal resources and employee directories.

The potential of Sharepoint and other online portals that offer collaboration and management tools is enormous. By 2011, Microsoft reported that 78 percent of all Fortune 500 businesses were using Sharepoint. Today, the product brings in billions of dollars a year for the IT giant. Meanwhile, numerous competitors are entering the market, including companies with products intended to supplement or improve on Web-based shared workspaces. The growth of this sector reflects the growing needs of geographically dispersed and global companies to find efficient ways to collaborate.

Discussion Questions

What advantages do Sharepoint and similar products offer above and beyond the standard project management tools?

How does Sharepoint make use of emails and social media (its newsfeed)? What are the advantages and disadvantages of relying on tools such as instant messaging or microblogs versus group emails?

What legal and security risks might companies face when deploying Sharepoint?

What additional software features would help improve collaboration within a company?

Kelloggs IT department and business units worked closely with Infosys on customizing the software and developing training for employees. Why was this key to the success of its deployment?