Marketing driven organisations like Nike, T Mobile and Intel use collaboration portals to drive marketing initiatives, manage campaigns, provide access to marketing assets, ensure best practice, effect communication consistency, improve clarity, provide instant feedback and communicate campaign success.
T Mobile have implemented MagentaNation, “We created MagentaNation, an online community for our sales team. It allows sales reps to easily connect, find resources, get answers, and share best practices amongst the team.” Jenny Moran, Channel Manager for Business Sales Division.
Similarly at Intel, “Over the next couple of years, we want to drive 50% of Intel's marketing spending online. This is a pretty significant shift.” Rob Rollinger, World Wide Online Marketing Manager.
Nike have developed a collaboration environment called Root focused mainly on the global Marketing Communications teams. Root enables marketing management to provide context to global initiatives, define and ensure best practice and allow access to marketing assets across the globe.
The solution allows Nike’s corporate Marcom department to push campaigns out at a global level and assure communication consistency. Additionally, regional divisions can customise campaigns and share best practices with other divisions allowing successful marketing campaigns to spread across the globe.
It also provides Nike Corporate HQ with real-time visibility of conversations and questions which helps to quickly clarify misinterpretations and unify communications globally.
Root is currently for Nike employees but the company plans to extend functionality to external agencies and customers.
Collaboration portal benefits
Collaboration portals combining social computing (blogs, document sharing, work flow, forums, instant messaging, podcasts, video, wikis, “Facebook” type applications and personalisation), integrated with Sales, Fulfilment, Corporate Communications, Customer Support and external business partners (creative agencies, PR) deliver huge benefits including:
Sales team support - The sales teams can now be better supported simply because of on demand visibility of questions and best practice sharing. Connecting dispersed teams to information and expertise.
Consistent communication - Marketing can push campaigns out at a global level and assure communication is consistent.
Improved communications – Information can be distributed quickly. Sales and marketing teams will have greater awareness of new information, current initiatives, progress and status.
Access marketing assets - Provide access to the array of marketing assets. Employees can comment, share and link to this content from the site. This makes it extremely easy for employees to share best practices for launching campaigns.
Centrally managed - Since portals are centrally managed, management can view discussions that are happening to help assure that corporate communications are unified and clear to the market.
Global Focal Point - Provides latest news, announcements, global standards, new initiatives, policies and procedures. Ensuring everyone is receiving consistent and reliable information.
Productivity gains – Reducing employee time spent looking and searching for information and documentation; by streamlining everyday business processes; faster project delivery with greatly reduced delays.
Reduced information overload – by presenting important information in an easily digestible format; greatly eliminating e-mail ‘noise’ by reducing e-mail duplication and internally-generated spam.
Connect employees to information and expertise – Taking advantage of employee knowledge and expertise across the company through easy and structured access; to share ideas and ask questions of others.
Share best practice - Regional divisions can customize their campaigns and share best practices with other divisions allowing successful marketing campaigns to spread across the globe.
Partner enablement - Enable partners to access information, ask questions, view pricing and much more.
Below, Giovanni Gallucci of Xtrain.com discusses further how intranets (Collaboration Portals) can help the marketing function.
There are many further business benefits to be gained. If you would like more information about collaboration portals then click on the link to contact us.
