Companies spend a lot of time evaluating different platforms when selecting their enterprise social software, but few take the time to worry about how to effectively put it into production. We'll take a look at best practices for successfully rolling IBM Connections out to users within organizations. I’m not referring to the technical specifications required for setting up and installing the system, I’m referring to the end-user experience. Getting your users to implement and love the new technology, as well as make it part of their daily routine, is the goal.

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7 Keys to a Successful
IBM Connections Deployment
By Denny Russell

2. 7 Keys to a Successful IBM Connections Deployment
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Introduction
Companies spend a lot of time evaluating different platforms when selecting their enterprise social
software, but few take the time to worry about how to effectively put it into production. We'll take a look at
best practices for successfully rolling IBM Connections out to users within organizations. I’m not referring
to the technical specifications required for setting up and installing the system, I’m referring to the end-
user experience. Getting your users to implement and love the new technology, as well as make it part of
their daily routine, is the goal.
Often times, companies will embrace a new technology; the group in charge is fully onboard and excited
about the new product they are rolling out. They spend countless hours setting it up, securing it and
making it just perfect for the users. Shortly after this, however, user adoption is slow and management
doesn’t buy in. Soon, it fades into another project with questionable outcomes, and everyone takes away
a negative experience from the hard work and efforts put into the project.
So what can and should be done? Careful planning of this project needs to happen. Tons of effort will be
placed on the setup and configuration of the project, but spending the same amount of time, if not more,
on planning the rollout to the workforce is very important. The biggest complaint I hear from my customers
when their company takes on a project like this is the lack of training: no one understands what, how or
even why they are given this new resource to use. How are users supposed to take full advantage of their
new resource if they don’t understand what it is, how to use it and most importantly, why to use it? If they
don’t see their managers, the manager of their own manager, and their colleagues using it, why should
they? So let’s break this down to help you understand a little better how to successfully roll out a new
technology such as IBM Connections.
The 7 guidelines for deploying a successful IBM Connections environment:
1. Get management buy-in
2. Build focus group(s)
3. Provide training
4. Encourage the adoption
5. Reward use
6. Follow-up training
7. Prepare for the bumps in the road

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The 7 Guidelines
1. Get management buy-in
Yes, they approved the budget and thought it was a great idea to roll it out to the users – but are they
really buying into the concept of a ‘social’ workforce? If the managers and C-suite aren’t participants
themselves, showing the employees their acceptance and approval of this new technology, the usage will
be on a much smaller scale as employees won’t see it for the valuable resource that it is. One company
using IBM Connections has adopted a ‘no internal email’ policy for anything that is job/project related; if
they do send an email, a return message telling them to “place this message in the appropriate
Community within Connections” is sent back. Now, if the CIO decided to keep sending emails and not
post to the appropriate place in Connections, how long do you think it would take before users started
doing the same and that Community within Connections would fade away?
2. Focus group
Create a small group of forward-thinking employees (or multiple groups). You know who they are: these
are the folks with the latest gadgets and the desire to try new things. They are always talking about their
lives on social media or something they saw on their news feeds (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.). These are
the people to focus on, because they like to provide feedback and interact with others in an online setting.
That’s one key to a really good focus group: if the participants of the focus group do not want to
participate, by providing content and using the technology, find out why. Is it the technology? Or not
understanding the goals of the group?
Train the focus group on what the new platform is and how you need them to be part of the initial rollout.
Let them know you will ask for feedback and their active participation. Set some general expectations so
they know what being part of the program entails (filling out profiles, using xx number of features,
participating in others’ blogs or forums, providing feedback, etc.). Make sure they understand that bugs
are part of this and they need to report anything they find, and always give them a way to opt out before
the pilot program starts. Once the pilot is complete, reward them for their time and effort.
3. Training
Once you have your focus group completed, training for the entire company is in order. I’m not talking
about just an overview of what Connections is and how to input data; while that is important and must be
covered, the user also has to see the value behind it. They have to understand the WHY of using
Connections. How is this going to help them do their job? Make them understand that collaborating in a
one-to-many communication, one that’s shared and searchable by anyone in the community, is much
better than email or instant messages, or even water cooler talk. While those all have their place, the
communication is very closed off to only those directly involved. Have your pilot group talk about their
experience or use examples from other companies that have deployed IBM Connections.
4. Encourage the Adoption
Be careful on the restrictions you set for your users. For someone to truly understand how to use a
technology for their business, they often need to grasp it on a personal level. Don’t restrict them to only
allowing them to use it for business reasons. Have communities where they can share information and
build relationships on a personal level. Maybe you’ve got a group of employees who coach youth sports

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or a group that is following a certain type of diet. Let them talk about it and share their experiences. If they
learn how to do this on a personal level, doing so with their project teams becomes more natural.
I’m not saying there should be no guidelines – set rules for what is ‘non-business’ appropriate. Vulgar
language and offensive materials should never be allowed. Also, set the expectations of what the
consequences would be if they fail to comply.
5. Reward Use
While the word seems to be highly overused, gamification may be the best approach. Place the
employees in cross department teams with people they may not normally engage. Provide a reward
system for using Connections and contributing and collaborating. By placing users on teams, it will do a
couple of things;
1. It will give all employees a chance to win as their teammates may help the employee who is a
little shy or unsure about participating.
2. As they see others on the team contributing, they will want to participate as well so they don’t
disappoint their teammates.
Ask for ideas for rewards, and don’t assume you always know what motivates your employees. Use this
as a way to listen to what they want and what motivates everyone. Use the Ideation tool within the
platform to gain feedback and ideas for rewards.
6. Follow-Up Training
Once the initial training is complete and the employees are using Connections, provide follow-up sessions
where users can provide feedback and ask questions. During the initial training, it will be all new so they
won’t know what questions to ask. These follow-up sessions will allow them to better understand and
encourage them to keep using the resources they are given.
Another option is to provide a community for them to ask questions, provide feedback and learn more.
Why not use the technology you have at your disposal to teach the end users?
7. Prepare for the Bumps in the Road
There are going to be some road bumps along the way. You may have numerous technical problems;
even the best implementations have issues from time to time. You need to keep your technical teams on
top of it, working hard to fix problems as efficiently as possible. If Connections is not working or has
developed problems in certain areas, the momentum will fade, as will the trust and enthusiasm for the
product amongst employees – which is a hard fix. This is where an active focus group should help iron
out these small issues before the final rollout.
You will have users who don’t ‘get it’ or don’t see the value behind it. These employees will push back
and have no desire to participate, which requires you to find ways to encourage them and gain their trust.
This is where management buy-in should help. When they see the people all around them benefitting
from using the technology, they too should start to come around.

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You may also want to have one (or multiple people, depending on department size) expert in each
department who is the go-to person to answer questions, provide further training and be the advocate for
IBM Connections within the group. Having someone that employees know and work with on a daily basis
will make them feel comfortable when to asking questions and seeking help.
Learn More
Following these steps will help facilitate an environment that encourages users to participate and
collaborate for a better social experience at work.
If you'd like to learn more, please contact a Sherpa representative at information@sherpasoftware.com
or use the information below.
Sherpa Software Group
456 Washington Avenue - Suite 2
Bridgeville, PA 15017
Toll-free: 800.255.5155
Direct: 412.206.0005
Fax: 412.206.0018
Email: information@sherpasoftware.com
About the Author
Denny Russell, Product Manager – Social Business Solutions
@DennyRussell
As the product manager of social business solutions at Sherpa
Software, Denny guides the future direction of the products from
an enterprise social networking point of view. You’ll find him
contributing to the company’s blog as a writer and thought
leader; his topics of interest include and just about anything to
do with social business and the latest collaboration tools.