Enterprise Social Networks And Online Communities: Enabling Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing Within Organizations

Facilitating Onboarding and Mobility

New joiners can quickly get up to speed by leveraging previous conversations and learnings documented on the ESN while mobile employees stay connected to projects regardless of physical location.

Popular Features of Enterprise Social Networks And Online Communities
Some commonly available features in modern enterprise social networks include:

Profiles and Expertise Directories: Detailed employee profiles highlight skills, work history, projects, and social graph. These aid discovering talent within the organization.

Microblogging/Status Updates: Like Twitter, these streams allow sharing quick updates, thoughts and questions with the network.

Bookmarks and Links: Employees bookmark and annotate interesting internal/external resources to share knowledge.

Forums and Discussion Boards: Topic-centric online discussions help crowdsource ideas and answers from colleagues.

File and Document Sharing: Secure internal file sharing systems facilitate distributing and commenting on work products.

Wikis and Blogs: These collaborative content types enable documenting institutional memory and expertise.

Stream and Activity Feeds: Centrally surfaced feeds keep employees aware of organizational updates and peer activity.

Messages and Chats: Secure internal private/group messaging and chat services offer real-time collaboration.

Analytics and Reporting: Dashboards provide insight into ESN usage patterns and knowledge flows within the organization.

Integrations: ESNs integrate with common Office/G-Suite productivity tools and third-party business applications.

Mobile Support: Dedicated mobile apps complement the web interface for accessing ESN workflows on-the-go.

Success Depends on Organizational Culture and Adoption Strategies
While enterprise social networks and online communities platforms provide many collaboration advantages over email and legacy intranets on paper, realizing the full benefits requires thoughtful change management and ongoing engagement strategies to drive meaningful adoption across departments and locations.