France Telecom Boosts Morale, Collaboration with Social Network for 181,000 Employees
"We set out to create a common social network in a complex organization, which could help people get to better know each other, share ideas, and form stronger connections. SharePoint Server 2010 helped us do this." - Thierry Flury, Director of Performance, Process, and Tools for Human Resources, France Telecom-Orange
SUMMARY
France Telecom-Orange provides mobile, Internet, and fixed telecommunications services to 203 million customers. The company wanted to strengthen social connections among employees to keep morale high, encourage collaboration, and improve business. It created an informal social network, called "plazza," using Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 as the foundation. Employees voluntarily join the network, which provides access to people profiles, blogs, wikis, communities, and content sharing. In the first two months after the launch in France, more than 15,000 employees joined the network and 70 percent of their communities focus on work-related topics. Soon, the plazza will be available to all 181,000 France Telecom employees worldwide. Because plazza is based on a flexible, scalable platform, the company can easily add to the social networking services it provides, as the community grows.