APQC 2007 Communities Hotbeds of Innovation at IBM

Communities: Hotbeds of Innovation at IBM Alice Dunlap-Kraft Luis Suarez Mary Ellen Sullivan

IBM is an innovation company

Open, collaborative, global, multi-disciplinary

Combine products, technology, know-how to create systemic value for clients and for the world

“ Innovation occurs at the intersection of invention and insight. It’s about the application of invention – the fusion of new developments and new approaches to solve problems.”

– Sam Palmisano

Innovation is what is going to differentiate businesses and national economies

IBM uses enterprise-wide jams to generate ideas and solve problems collaboratively

What is a jam?

A jam is not:

An announcement vehicle

A top-down communications tool

A personal soapbox

A chat room – no one is anonymous

A community creator or definer – it’s a population, not a community

A jam is:

An event – an organizational intervention that begins and ends

Best-practice capture – vehicle to surface and socialize good ideas

Global collaboration – find people you otherwise would never meet

Democratic – equal access and freedom-of-action for all

Pragmatic – participants rate actionable ideas and behaviors

Organizational research tool – a population snapshot, a barometer of culture change

Recognized experts set the stage for the forum

Each forum is moderated by senior leaders and aligns with an engaging strategic question

Recognized experts focus the discussion with an initial framework for the topic

You pick a forum and dive into the discussion

You track your own ideas in “My Jam Activity”

Facilitators escalate the best discussions to the “Hot Ideas” area and issue “Jam Alerts” to refine the discussion

Communities drive jam participation by calling on members to initiate a new idea or collaborate on an idea already posted

“ If you unleash all this energy, opinions and hope, you better be prepared to do something in response.” -- Sam Palmisano In January 2005, IBM unveiled the rating results for WorldJam in 11 languages. Employees could read in detail about the 35 actions relating to 4 strategic areas.

The Jam is more than a “feel good” event

To be successful, the Jam’s outcomes must be distilled and acted upon

To reinforce the link between the Jam and its outcomes, results are communicated quickly, clearly, and periodically

Jams led to the creation of ThinkPlace

2003 – ValuesJam led to a new set of IBM values, including “innovation that matters”

2004 – WorldJam solicited ideas to bring our values to life

Employees ranked their ideas

Sam Palmisano and senior leaders committed to implement the top-rated ideas

2005 – one of the top ideas, “reinvent the IBM ideas program for 21st century,” was implemented as ThinkPlace

“ We’re taking the best aspects of jams, wikis, and on-line communities and applying them to our understanding of innovation in the 21st century”

Nick Donofrio Senior Vice President, Technology and Manufacturing Executive Sponsor, ThinkPlace

ThinkPlace is IBM’s 24x7 idea marketplace

Open, collaborative system : ideas submitted, discussed, then refined by community

Every employee can see ideas from others, comment on ideas, rate them, or tag them

Facilitates social networking by using tags to enable discovery of similar ideas and people with similar interests

Personalized action lists with simple workflow for idea evaluation and collaboration

Executive challenges request ideas to address specific issues

Hundreds of catalysts worldwide facilitate collaboration and implementation in their areas of expertise

Linkage to prototyping/validation programs (BizTech, Technology Adoption Program)

Innovator’s Awards for implemented ideas

An accessible quorum of the whole, where all are trustworthy because all are empowered

Cutting across processes and silos to brand, culture, and purpose, where every employee belongs as an “IBMer” and reporting relationships are irrelevant

Building a collective understanding and context about what’s standard and what’s innovative

Drawing on passion, motivation, and caring about the future of the domain of interest

Providing a safe and welcoming place for new ideas

Communities epitomize the qualities of Jams and the ThinkPlace that make them innovative and successful

Executive challenges seed new ideas by focusing attention on an area of interest to the executive

The executive challenge to communities netted 143 ideas, 374 responses, and 84 volunteers to work on the ideas

Seek ways to identify opportunities for innovation on behalf of defined communities and groups

Review program submissions and advance applicable ideas for management review

Assist authors of promising submissions

Identify and advance strong ideas that have been overlooked

Propagate IBM’s strategic approach to innovation

Provide feedback to project team

Innovation catalysts move ideas in ThinkPlace forward Hundreds of influencers worldwide who … A few IBM communities with innovation catalysts Business Resilience Community Global Learning Community Grid CoP Microcode and Firmware Design Community Networking Technical Community Open Source CoP Project Management Knowledge Network Security Technical Community SOA/Web Services CoP Telecom Industry Community WebSphere CoP

Innovation circles – small groups of catalysts helping catalysts – amplify the benefits

32% increase in the number of catalysts taking ownership of ideas

41% increase in the total number of ideas owned by catalysts

Searching - how to find good ideas

Idea extension - how to make an idea better

Network connections - how to bring in the right collaborators

Road blocks - how to address institutional resistance

Typical sequence of topics

Open discussion but discussion must be focused on positive suggestions for promoting specific ideas assigned to specific catalysts

Format

30 minutes, meets weekly

Time, frequency

Groups of 3-5 catalysts

Size Details Element

Communities are creating community innovation circles, linking to ThinkPlace, and implementing ideas Idea submitter from IBM India estimates this saves $15K/user/yr Catalyst and leader of 10,000-member Project Management Community Typical ThinkPlace idea lifecycle (note: community plays evaluation and implementation roles) Catalyst borrows innovation circle concept to create community innovation circle (including catalysts and non-catalysts)

ThinkPlace Idea #28759: c reate reusable template to transition project details to new project managers more efficiently

Community adopts idea Community evaluates idea merit Community implements idea Submits idea in ThinkPlace Search ThinkPlace for ideas Evaluate in community Determine next steps Meets monthly

IBM’s Academy of Technology reached out to communities to bridge a thought leadership gap

From the Academy to the communities

Link to the Academy website from community portals

Identify Academy members who are community members and broaden their role to become Academy ambassador for that community

Invite community core team members to Academy Speaker Series calls

Include community core team members in the Academy’s calls for participation for studies and conferences

Give community members access to the Academy reports in the Technical Leaders Database

The academy includes IBM’s most distinguished experts and has a mission to

Provide technical expertise to the IBM executive team and thereby impact the direction of IBM

Promote communication and synergy throughout the IBM technical community

A bi-directional effort to inspire, inform, exchange, and influence ideas

From the communities to the Academy

Encourage communities to identify, submit, and lead Academy activities that pertain to their areas of technical interest

Poll communities in Academy’s annual theme development efforts

Have communities be pilot users of the “Ask The Academy” project

Using ThinkPlace and conducting innovation circles have become community best practices in IBM

Ensures community collaboration on ideas of interest to community

Demonstrates value of community

Community can leverage built-in reward structures of ThinkPlace

Ideas that meet approval at Innovation Circle are brought to attention of entire community for development, SME feedback Community collaboration on ideas (ratings, comments, tags)

Focuses collaboration on ideas of interest to community

Validates ideas and strategies

Promotes to community members

Publish a ThinkPlace executive challenge to solicit ideas on a specific opportunity Post and promote ThinkPlace executive challenges

Access to rewards and recognition

Demonstrates value of CoP

Helps achieve community objectives at low cost

Community members vote to take action to implement idea from ThinkPlace. The community can leverage enterprise innovation programs for implementation. Community adoption of ideas

Ensures community awareness of ideas arising in ThinkPlace that overlap with community interests

Leaders of community and community catalysts review ThinkPlace ideas that overlap the community mission Establish community innovation circles

Establishes review of relevant ThinkPlace ideas

Forges link to ThinkPlace

Members of the community sign up to be ThinkPlace catalysts Establish community catalysts What it does How it works Action/Practice

Collaboration Technology Luis Suarez

The Telecom Industry Community held a lightweight Jam in a wiki

For 72 hours, seven forums explored the impact of Web 2.0 within the telecommunications industry

Objectives

Enable the collective wisdom of the community to be tapped in a new and creative way

Bring the concept of “innovation that matters” to life in the telecom industry

Test the wiki technology as viable platform for jamming

Test the process and management of a community-based Jam

Gain an understanding of the resources needed for execution

Make recommendations for future deployment

Brainstorm and select ideas to further develop for telecom’s Web 2.0 strategy

Participation was active and feedback was positive and practical

Participation

Jam home page had 1,887 hits from 824 visitors

123 ideas and comments posted

Industry executives in every geo participated

A post-jam survey indicated that 72% of visitors actively participated

30% posted comments

42% read the discussion

80% would recommend a Jam as a way to collaborate on other industry topics

Feedback on outputs desired

Synopsis of top ideas

Upgrade and make strong statement on IBM's strategy on Web 2.0 in telecom

Prioritize and implement top ideas to improve our solutions

Increase community collaboration for business benefit

Prioritization

Community evaluate ideas and make recommendations to executives

Management huddle and issue direction

Action plan to implement best of the best

The innovation circle of the Global Learning Community is using its wiki to advance ThinkPlace ideas

The Service-Oriented Architecture CoP put its newsletter in its wiki to reach a wider audience with dynamic content

Communities use Lotus Sametime 7.5.1 Broadcast Suite to set up channels for instant help or collaboration

The HorizonWatch community uses a weblog to collaborate and innovate

Social bookmarks enable IBM communities to share essential links on a wide range of topics

Social bookmarks also help communities find the knowledge and innovations that others have tagged

Social tagging has been added to ThinkPlace to enhance sharing and collaborating on ideas

Tagging facilitates social search and discovery

Users can share their tags and build public collections of related ideas

Tag information is used to present similar ideas in real time

Looking at a tagged idea can also lead you to people with similar interests

A new activity-centric computing tool enables community members to collaborate and innovate outside of e-mail

SmallBlue, an IBM Research experiment in visualizing personal networks from email data, helps members find connections

IBM Global Innovation Community: Case Study Mary Ellen Sullivan

IBM has identified six vital innovation enablers and recognizes that communities can supply them Climate for Creativity Working environment where inspiration thrives and creativity flourishes Idea Generation Secure a continuous source of creativity and flow of new ideas Incubation Structures Support the development and growth of ideas from innovation to delivery Metrics and Incentives Measure outcomes from creative processes and recognize talent at the organization and individual levels Role of Collaboration and Partnering Work externally and internally with organizations and specialists who have the strongest capabilities for innovation Integration of Business and Technology Integrate technological capabilities with business insight to achieve innovation

Global Business Services’ Strategy and Change practice chose to use a community as the basis for its innovation focus

Innovation practice

Innovation project

Center of excellence

Innovation community of practice

For speed, flexibility, and cross-boundary connections

The hallmarks of innovative communities exemplify the six vital innovation enablers Global Innovation Community Goals Hallmark

Share the innovation story

Lead via the expertise of members

Recognize members for innovation practices

Measure success across the community

Apply innovation metrics and incentives

Leverage cutting edge tools to share knowledge, collaborate, communicate, and innovate (e.g., virtual worlds)

Better integrate business and technology

Focus on global innovation issues

Exhibit diversity in membership and activities

Through agenda, collaboration, tools, activities, and membership

Excel in knowledge sharing

Foster innovation through collaboration and partnering within and outside IBM

Lead in collaborative innovation, both internal and external

Bring innovation to the membership through topics and projects

Excel in agenda innovation

The Global Innovation Community (GIC) launched in May 2006

GIC agenda: Accelerating growth

Exchange

Share best practices for pursuits and engagements

Join deep business expertise with deep technology expertise to differentiate IBM

Obtain tangible client examples

Identify innovation opportunities

Enhance skills and professional expertise

Access collateral

Collaborate

Co-create new collateral and thought leadership

Close the gap between what clients need, what IBM can offer, and how IBM can help

Advance understanding of new collaborative approaches and tools

Climate for Creativity

The community’s vision, mission, and agenda aspire to innovate

Mission

Foster enthusiasm for innovation through sharing best practices, collaborating, co-creating, and delivery

Better position IBM as the “innovator’s innovator”

Deliver on the differentiated value of innovation as a growth strategy

Scope

Focus on services and cross-IBM solutions

Develop and access collateral suitable to client pursuits, proposals, and client engagements

Stay current with IBM's innovation messages, including competitive differentiation

“ None of us is as good as all of us: the power of community” Climate for Creativity

The GIC developed a structure to support innovation in thought leadership and delivery of services to clients

The GIC core team comprises global leadership, practitioners, and cross-enterprise contacts

The community fostered the development of sister communities – to dive more deeply into and create outlets for innovation topics

The community launched a Center of Competence – to provide an organization to support innovation in the community

Incubation Structures Idea Generation

The GIC developed a network of sister communities for deep focus on innovation topics Innovation Agenda Global Innovation Community Business Model Innovation Product Innovation Services Innovation Collaboration & Partnering “ None of us is as good as all of us: Planting seeds” … To Be Discovered Idea Generation

The GIC Center of Competence provides global community management and delivery support

Activities include

Membership management

Event management

Intellectual property management

Provides for ongoing, consistent delivery of services to the community

Facilitates innovation by providing an organization to support creation and sharing of innovation

Incubation Structures

The center evolved into a support system for innovation incubation

Event Management

Manage community events (global, for sister communities, training, special events)

Membership Management

Manage membership, community segmentation, and sister community membership

Welcome and exit survey

Intellectual Property Management

Manage ongoing sourcing and contribution of community collateral

Manage community wiki, community w3 Media Library series, w3 community resource homepage, community knowledge card

Communications Management

Collaborate with community communications advisors, sister communities, and geo leads to support needs

Manage internal promotion of news and activities

Coordinate to publish innovation-related information on intranet

Core Team Housekeeping

Manage central repository TeamRoom, community mailbox, process documentation of key activities

Technology and Tools Management

Manage ongoing exploration and use to support selling, enablement, productivity, communications, collaboration

Relationship Management

Liaise with sister communities and geo leaders

Facilitate cross- network, -industry, and -geo collaborative opportunities

Expand the community network into local geographies, across business units, and externally

Enablement and Delivery

Manage IBM and member requests and needs

Support innovation citations and innovation offerings

Manage directory of innovation contacts

Deliver 2007 community survey and results

Support the development and promotion of go-to-market solutions

Create collaboration opportunities with like communities of practice (e.g., Innovator’s Club, Foresight@IBM)

Create an external community node (e.g., The Greater IBM Connection, GBS Alumni)

Sponsors, Leadership & Management Incubation Structures

A keystone of the GIC is sharing the innovation story and recognizing successes by members at events Metrics and Incentives

The GIC speeds to market the ideas that are spawned through collaboration or uses them to improve operations Idea Generation

Innovation through the use of collaboration tools provides the climate for creativity for the community CommunityMap for membership mailings Wiki for collaboration Centra and Raindance for interactive webinars Sametime 7.5 and FreeJam for “town hall” interaction Role of Collaboration and Partnering TeamRoom for documents

The GIC wiki provides members a place to collaborate to innovate

For on-line collaboration and off-line information dissemination

Exchange innovation project information

Disseminate the latest innovation thought leadership

Enable a gathering of almost “real-time” consensus on innovation topics

Role of Collaboration and Partnering By setting the basic level of information about innovation, the wiki builds a common identity for members of the GIC

The community is integrating business and technology through virtual world events for members Integration of Business and Technology Planning Orientation Main Event

The GIC, now with over 3300 members, continues to innovate and provide value with its initiatives for 2007 Events Enablement / Delivery Thought Leadership Support Messaging / Communications India Innovation Summit (tentative) Second Life Event #1 Jan 30 Wave 1 Innovation Offerings Second Life Event #2 Feb 15 Ongoing - Monthly Global Events Ongoing – Membership Inquiries, Wave n Innovation Offerings, Innovation Citations 1 Year Anniversary (May 12 th ) Collaboration & Partnering Jan 25 Innovation Portal Relaunch (March) Operations Innovation white paper (throughout Q1) Collaborative Innovation white paper (begins end Q1) Business Model Innovation white paper (mid/late Q2) Innovation Compendium publication Q1 Services Innovation Feb 13 Services Apr 3 & Jun 6 Collaboration & Partnering Apr 25 Q2 Q3 Q4 W3 Resource Page Launch (end March) KCard Launch (April) 2007 Community Survey Services Innovation Sep 6 Services Innovation Nov 7 Collaboration & Partnering Oct 25 External Event #1 External Event #2 Ongoing – Biweekly calls, ItM Team Monthly update Events Enablement / Delivery Thought Leadership Support Messaging / Communications Brief Biwkly S&D Innovation Team (March) Brief CIC (April) Community Collateral Refresh ANZ Summer School Mini Summit Brief S&D 2006 Innovation Citations

Through collaboration, communities actively drive innovation