Descom takes Konecranes’ internal social networking to a new level.

1. “The importance of effective commu-
nication and cooperation is growing all
the time in our operations. We have now
found a good tool for internal communi-
cations.”
– Juha Lähde, Konecranes
IT Manager, Portal and
Community Services
Descom takes Konecranes’ internal
social networking to a new level
Social media services have made a real breakthrough in recent years as a component of
everyday communications, but from the corporate perspective utilising them can be prob-
lematic. When communicating on Facebook or some other public service, there is the risk
that confidential work-related information can be divulged. Furthermore, the rights to the
content on these social networks often belong to the service provider.
Konecranes , a world-leader in lifting equipment and services, wanted to harness the pos-
sibilities of the social media and make its intranet portal more socially interactive. Descom
responded to the challenge and delivered a Lotus Connections solution to the customer in
a very short timeframe.
“We are a global corporation that operates in practice on all continents and in all time
zones. We identified a real need for a tool like Facebook that could help our employees
maintain contact with each other,” says Juha Lähde, IT Manager at Konecranes.

2. Konecranes wanted a service that enabled social
networking within the company, and it didn’t want to
wait. Accordingly, Descom launched the pilot in just
a couple of weeks.
“The more our employees would have begun using
external communications services, the harder for us it
would have been to attract them to our own in-house
service. We were also very concerned about data
fragmentation and information security risks,” Juha
Lähde explains.
Low threshold for maintaining contact
Social media solutions can create real added value
for companies and help support the creation of inno-
vations. The threshold for all kinds of discussions and
presenting and developing ideas is very low.
“Our employees around the world can now actively
interact with each other. The more people get
involved, the more knowledge can be refined.”
Fast implementation
The new “MyCommunity” service can be accessed
directly from Konecranes’ intranet service. Since the
customer was in a hurry to introduce the service, The new “MyCommunity” social media service
many of the default settings for Lotus Connections is fully integrated with Konecranes’ intranet.
were used initially.
“Right from the start the solution seems to be very
effective,” Juha Lähde says. “The feedback from
users has been mostly positive – there has been a ADVANTAGES FOR KONECRANES
clear need for this kind of tool. Many employees do
admittedly compare the service to Facebook, which
• A big step forward was taken in terms of
seems to have set the standard for how other social social networking among employees. At
media solutions are judged.” the same time the service can be man-
aged by Konecranes itself.
Added value for business
• Functional default settings enabled a fast
The potential offered by the social media is still sur- and uncomplicated launch.
prisingly underutilised, especially among B2B com-
panies. Juha Lähde from Konecranes nevertheless • The communication threshold for employ-
believes that this will change in the near future. ees was lowered. The new service has
“I’m sure that many companies have been waiting rapidly found users.
to see how things develop, but it is clear already
now that social media solutions can create signifi-
cant added value for business. It is easy to predict
a fine future for solutions that make it easier to find
information, people and expertise. We have already
noticed an improvement in our performance in big
projects thanks to the enhanced feeling of commu-
nity and openness,” Juha Lähde emphasises.
Descom Oy Laajalahdentie 23, 00330 Helsinki, Finland Tel. +358 207 558 180 E-mail sales@descom.fi
Aleksanterinkatu 32 B, 33100 Tampere, Finland Fax +358 14 611 260 www www.descom.fi
Vapaudenkatu 48-50, 40100 Jyväskylä, Finland