Collaborative Performance Management

 

One of the most significant applications of Web 2.0 collaboration tools in the enterprise is to use them in combination with traditional business intelligence for driving operational excellence. This revolutionary combination is changing the effectiveness and hence the future of BI itself. The BI component of the combined solution highlights where the problem is and the collaboration component helps to tackle the same faster and better. Thus the 2.0 tools multiply the value of BI based performance management solutions and accelerate the ROI dramatically. These tools serve as quick and effective delivery vehicle for the static data stuck in silos to every targeted user.

 

CollabWorks platform from Metrica provides this ideal marriage between Web 2.0 and traditional BI technologies. It extends the ease of use and interactivity of next generation web collaboration technologies to the complex BI systems. The BI component of CollabWorks highlights where the problem is and the collaboration component helps to tackle the same faster and better. CollabWorks makes collaboration a part of end user’s daily work life by becoming the preferred ‘ workplace’ for them. It makes BI a pervasive business practice by leveraging Web 2.0 in a purposeful manner.

 

The following are the key solutions provided by CollabWorks:

 

Actionable Insights and Execution Workflow

 

Discovering actionable data and deriving an action plan to execute are the two most important parts of performance management. Advanced analytics tools help discover the useful data from large volumes of raw data. Tools such as multi-dimensional drill-down reports, KPIs, dashboards, alerts, trend analysis etc equip managers with actionable data. Tools such as wiki, knowledge base, forums, discussions, blogs etc help execute the action plan.

 

For example, the VP-Sales or Contact Center manager can publish the company’s daily, weekly or monthly Contact center targets in a discussion forum and alert his team. They can also simply copy paste a dashboard or a mashup that indicates the current undesirable trend and invite their teams to discuss root-cause and action plan. In extremely critical situations, they can highlight the issue or plan of action as a slide show on the home page to get everyone’s attention. The managers can monitor performance in-real-time via dashboards, reports and KPI alerts.

Wiki for Collaborative Work Culture

 

The Wiki module makes the end users create / edit any content on their own and participate in open knowledge sharing. This module enables the team to ‘socialize’ internally by acting on the work related information directly. Direct editing of content by several users collaboratively is necessary to alter the same text when correcting errors, improving clarity and flow, and adding new information.

 

Articles, training notes, FAQ, knowledge base, expert comments, documentation etc are a few of the wiki applications that directly drive performance.

Mashups

 

Mashups bring together internal performance data and contextual info from public web. There are numerous applications for mashups. One popular example is embedding location-wise sales and contact center statistics on a Google map. Using mashups, any power user can create visualizations that improve understanding by adding context to the information or juxtapose it with real-time collaboration in the form of text and comments.  Mashups can get the right information to the right people at the right time so they can get their job done efficiently and make the best informed business decisions.

 

Mashups save time, increase productivity and communication at all levels of the organization.

Training Calendar

 

Share group calendars for easy training, event and project scheduling with the convenience of a web-based, online calendar. Disseminate training information throughout the organization and facilitate student registration for offered courses.

 

Calendars streamline events & team activity planning.

 

Advanced Analytics

 

Analytics is the most important component of performance management. Embedded multi-dimensional OLAP engine can integrate data from various disparate systems and presents a single page view of the workforce and business processes performance. KPIs, alerts, reports scheduling, ad-hoc reporting etc help keep a sharp focus on performance management. Collaborative visualization help people understand the data and respond immediately.

 

Backend systems that can be integrated are: CRM, ACD, Dialer, WFM, IVR, Quality Mgmt, ERP and other unstructured data sources.

Personal Dashboards

 

Personalized dashboards increase efficiencies and revenues by quickly highlighting problem areas to the right people. They help identify opportunities amongst the teams and processes to improve business performance.

 

Various advanced data visualization techniques help users instantly interpret & feel the impact of the data they are looking at.

Widgets

 

Widgets allow personalization of content and help teams to focus on the info that is relevant to their work. A widget based iGoogle style personal homepage can be populated with personal dashboards, blog/RSS/FAQ pages etc by simple drag & drop without much help from IT team.

 

Widgets save time, enhance focus and improve productivity at all levels of the organization.

 

 

Knowledge Base, FAQ & Search

 

Knowledge base helps the front-end teams find answers to the frequently asked questions. A repository of frequently asked questions and answers, documents and other knowledge commonly needed by the CSRs helps them perform their duties better.

Blogs, Discussions and RSS

 

Blogs, message boards, forums, memberships etc help building interactions, relationships and bonding within and across the teams.

 

Stakeholders can discuss problems, root-causes, new ideas, action plan etc transparently and collectively work towards strategic goals. RSS can alert teams about an update or new content posted by a subject matter expert.

Polls & Surveys

 

Polls & surveys keep the team involved in business decision making.

Messaging

 

Check who is online and send an instant message which they'll see immediately.

 

Useful in tracking performance, escalations, expert help etc in real-time.