In the past, knowledge sharing wasn’t so hard. Think of having your team all in one office, all working from 9-5. But this isn’t the reality for businesses today. Workers are remote and on their devices, teams are dispersed and subsequently, time zones are mismatched. For many, having everyone in the one place at the one time just isn’t a reality.

In this environment, how can you share and find knowledge effectively? How can you leverage the expertise of Janet; the French speaking, excel whiz, HR manager? Or Doug; the analytical, mathematical, finance guy?

Once upon a time, you might have tried via email. And if you tried, you’ll know it does not work the way it did before information overloaded our inboxes. International research, consultancy and management services company; Ecorys, faced this same issue. Having consulted to The World Bank and Asian Development Bank (amongst many others), this team are seriously, well, knowledgeable. They knew there was so much they could learn from one another, but there was no easy way.

“Previously, you could be working on a project in Bangladesh, and there could be someone in another office with expertise. Normally, you’d never know. It was too annoying to send an email out to everyone in the company.” – Ecorys IT Manager

GreenOrbit #Channels are communities of interest, based on the topics that are meaningful to you and your staff. They provide a centralized, engaging system for communication and knowledge sharing. As opposed to email, employees turn to this content for information that is categorized and allows for group collaboration. As evidenced by Ecorys, conversations via #Channels results in multiplied knowledge and real business outcomes.

“Someone in the UK posted to a #Channel that their client needed to conduct an interview with a particular type of expert. Up until then, they could not find anyone and the project was in jeopardy. Once it was posted to #Channels, an expert in the Netherlands popped up by commenting on the post. So the reporters came to the Netherlands to carry out the interview. Normally we would have just lost the opportunity, but we made a profit.” – Ecorys IT Manager

And that’s just the beginning. Read the full Ecorys Case Study to learn more about digital collaboration and how it delivers business-wins.

Ecorys Case Study