Connect,communicate,collaborate and create

Abstract

KPMG has introduced an internal social collaboration platform called the Hub with the aim of further enabling effective team working across the organization and providing a further enabler to the delivery of the firm’s Knowledge strategy. Specifically the Hub aims to help KPMG professionals connect, communicate, collaborate and create more effectively together. The Hub is being implemented across KPMG member firms and has executive support from the international senior partner group but also meets the demands of staff wanting to introduce the benefits of social collaboration to their business processes, some of whom were beginning to experiment with the use of free versions of popular social collaboration technology, thereby introducing their own unofficial pilot projects. KPMG operates in a highly regulated environment and, in order to respect this, the introduction of the Hub is accompanied by a very comprehensive and robust user guidance programme and a real time monitoring and moderation process. This introduces an additional complexity to an already multifaceted project as the appropriate steps must be taken to protect confidential data while continuing to encourage widespread adoption and use of a disruptive collaborative technology enabler. The first in a two-part article focuses on the aims of the implementation and the learning from an initial proof of concept exercise, which shaped the design and delivery of the Hub and its supporting adoption and guidance programme.