A new article in CIO Magazine on Social Networking Analysis software explores how MWH Global, an international environmental engineering and construction company, used SNA to connect employees who shared similar interests and duties but resided in different offices.
An excerpt:
SNA can also make the lack of connections (or collaboration) painfully clear. Two years ago, IT executives at MWH Global looked around at their sprawling, decentralized company and knew they had to make some changes. …
Over the years, the Denver-based company had expanded through mergers to include 6000 employees and 150 offices worldwide. Three separate IT organizations worked in different locations in groups dedicated to ERP, IT infrastructure and other large projects. The company decided to reorganize so that all 160 IT employees dedicated to servicing the company's internal IT needs reported to one location. The goal was to break down the silos and get people in Europe, Asia and the Americas talking to each other to improve service and create efficiencies.
According to [University of Virginia research Rob] Cross, … the technique can help companies such as MWH Global get a sense of who is best connected in the enterprise, as well as who is most overloaded. The results can be surprising. "People are finding disconnects across functional lines, physical distance and even between people working on key projects," says Cross, who is also co-author of The Hidden Power of Social Networks.
More at the source article: http://www.cio.com.au/index.php/id;1136392485;fp;2;fpid;2