This document discusses how some companies have reduced internal email usage by adopting enterprise social networks (ESNs). Atos saw earnings per share increase by over 50% and administrative costs drop after moving communications to an ESN. Intellect Design Arena saw project development time reduced by 12% and freed up 1.3 million hours per year towards productive work after implementing its ESN called Unmail. Microsoft also uses internal collaboration tools and cites examples like Bajaj Finance improving its marketing strategy based on employee interactions on the platform. While internal email can't be completely replaced, ESNs allow for improved information sharing, collaboration and productivity when used alongside existing email systems.

1. Bye Bye Email, Hello Productivity

2. Contd...
• When French company Atos declared a few years ago that
it wanted to bring down its internal email use to zero by
using an enterprise social network (ESN), most people
didn't think it would work. However, two years into the
move, a Gartner study found that the company's earnings
per share went up by over 50% and admin costs went down
to 10% from 13%. Though not all of it may be linked with
the reducing in internal email, there is a definite
correlation. Closer home, Intellect Design Arena, a
subsidiary of Polaris Financial Technologies has been using
its ESN Unmail (earlier Octopus) for over two years. “The
biggest challenge in our organisation was that all the
information was in silos.

3. Contd...
• In the last two years, the effort required for developing
a project has gone down by 12%. 1.3 million hours of
unproductive time (per year) that was spent on email
has been freed up towards productive work across
12,000 employees,“ says Shashi Mohan, CTO & CIO,
Intellect Design Arena. To make sure that employees
actually use this platform and not email, 74% of the
4,000 Intellect employees don't even have an email
id.“I'm at a senior level so I have an email account but
when I have to communicate with my team, I don't
have a choice but to use this platform,“ says Mohan.
• Microsoft has a whole suite of products which it uses
internally as well as offers clients.

4. Contd...
• “Enterprise social describes a new way of working that taps
into the power of human networks,“ says Alok Lall, Director
Apps & Services Marketing, Microsoft India. For instance,
Bajaj Finance modified its go-to market strategy on the
back of interactions and learnings that happened as
employees started collaborating online. “Employees on
field were able to share feedback on the go, which would
earlier take them 5-10 days after a campaign,“ says Lall.
• At Intellect, the on boarding process has shrunk from eight
weeks to two, and Mohan says that attrition has dropped
by close to 30%, in large part because of the options
available to look for alternate roles across the organisation
through the ESN.

5. Contd...
• At IBM, the behaviour change is driven from the top,
says Gaurav Sharma, Director Social Solutions, Smarter
Workforce & Internet of Things, IBM India South Asia.
“The `Personal Social Dashboard' gives individual
scores across areas and there is also a comparison
versus the department & organisation which builds
positive competition within the team,“ he says.
Innovative approaches to drive employee traffic also
helps. In the early days of launching Unmail, Intellect
started updating the IPL scores on the platform to
prompt people to spend more time there instead of
logging onto another news portal.

6. Contd...
• However, most organisations maintain that internal
emails can never be done away with completely. A key
reason here is privacy and accountability . With
employees discussing strategy over instant messenger
and chat, it can become difficult to pin responsibility if
things go wrong. VC Gopalratnam, President, IT and
CIO APJ&C, Chief of Strategy , Planning & Operations,
Cisco, points out, “In cases where documentation is
needed, email and other forms of communication will
continue to be used even as instant messaging and
social chats etc. become more and more acceptable
forms of documentation.“

7. Parveen Kumar Chadha… THINK TANK
(Founder and C.E.O of Saxbee Consultants & Other-Mother
marketingandcommunicationconsultants.com)
Email :-saxbeeconsultants@gmail.com
Mobile No. +91-9818308353
Address:-First Floor G-20(A), Kirti Nagar, New Delhi India Postal Code-110015