The economic downturn has affected companies of all sizes across all industries. Budgetary constraints, mergers and acquisitions as well as distance, departmental, local and regional priorities present ongoing internal communication challenges. Companies struggle to save money yet keep employees motivated, and creating a common culture and increased sense of “team” becomes increasingly difficult. This whitepaper will help you understand how to: 1. Measure ROI and quantify success 2. Create a connected workforce with unity of purpose 3. Breakdown communication barriers to improve business performance

1. Curb the recession: welcome to the
fast lane of internal social networking
Over the past year, there have been more than 610,000 layoffs at America's 500
largest public companies. 1 The economic downturn has affected companies of all
sizes across all industries. Budgetary constraints, mergers and acquisitions as
well as distance, departmental, local and regional priorities present ongoing
internal communication challenges. Companies struggle to save money yet keep
employees motivated, and creating a common culture and increased sense of
“team” becomes increasingly difficult.
The rising adoption of internal communication tools in organizations introduces the question of
how to derive measurable business value. Now more than ever, companies are seeing tangible
success as a result of establishing a “connected workforce,” and businesses are continuing to
invest in Web 2.0 technologies for internal purposes. Forrester Research predicts that enterprise
spending on Web 2.0 technologies is going to increase dramatically over the next five years, to a
$4.6 billion market by the year 2013.
This whitepaper will introduce you to the benefits of internal social networking, the business
challenges solved by establishing a connected workforce as well as how to measure the ROI.
69 percent of companies report that they have gained measurable business
benefits, including more innovative products and services, more effective
marketing, better access to knowledge, lower cost of doing business, and higher
revenues ... despite the current recession, respondents overwhelmingly say they
will continue to invest. 2
Benefits of internal social networking
Companies across all industries are experiencing the benefits of internal social networking; its
interactivity connects employees with a breadth of valuable resources at a lower cost and faster
speed. When used effectively, employees will share more ideas, make value-add connections,
collaborate on projects, and reduce the costs of communications, travel, and operations.
Companies will retain a greater depth of knowledge, innovate faster, increase loyalty, reduce
attrition, break down geographic and organizational divisions, improve relationships with
customers and stakeholders, and facilitate more effective ongoing communication.
Internal social networking helps companies create a connected workforce with unity of purpose to
solve the business problems of yesterday and prepare for the opportunities of tomorrow.
1 Forbes Layoff Tracker, October 30 2009
2 McKinsey Quarterly June 2009 Global Survey Results: How companies are benefiting from Web 2.0

2. Benefits of Internal
Business challenge ROI
Social Networking
•Greater ability to share ideas •Reduce the costs of
•Improved access to communications, travel, and
Staff changes, budget cuts
knowledge experts operations
•Do more with less
•Win more deals
•Bridge geographical and
organizational divisions •Reduce time to market for
Geographic and •Moving conversations out of products
organizational divisions as email and hallways and into
well as decreases in travel shared spaces •Improve customer
spending •Information is easier to find relationships and sell more
•Deepen the company’s pool products and services
of knowledge
•Increase employee
satisfaction
•Consistent communication
•Ability to network with •Retain employees and
Lost productivity and morale
colleagues decrease recruiting and on-
•Perform jobs better boarding costs
What is the long-term value?
Connectivity drives job satisfaction and retention. Internal social networking enables your
associates to create their networks online, establishing powerful connections that bond your
workforce together and to your organization. The result of your employee network is greater job
satisfaction that leads to increased engagement and retention.
Expert marketing and real-time connections drive productivity and knowledge sharing.
Traditional, static and difficult-to-navigate intranets and collaboration tools are failing to deliver
the interaction and information workers need to do their jobs effectively and efficiently. Profiling,
matching and search features allow employees use the platform to find the specific experts who
have the answers to their questions.
An innovation network can reveal hidden talent and profitable ideas. Some of the best ideas
come from associates who see firsthand how business can be improved. The employee network
stimulates and captures cost-saving and business-boosting innovations and bypasses bureaucratic
roadblocks to make ideas quickly visible to those who can put them into action. Through
discussions, wikis, blogs, polls, file sharing and more, employees can discuss ideas, receive
constructive feedback from the network, and collaborate on ideas.
Curb the recession and get in the fast lane with internal social networking
Try it free now: http://try.leveragesoftware.com

3. Leverage Software provides an industry-leading platform for building private social networks and
online communities. Leverage Software’s customers include industry-leading companies such as
The Home Depot, Ingram Micro, Microsoft, Sun, Alcatel-Lucent, Salesforce.com, and over 275
other organizations. Leverage believes that while social networking can be an incredibly powerful
tool for building connections and driving collaboration, online communities succeed most when
one simple rule is followed: people first, technology second.
To learn more about Leverage Software, its award-winning social software tools, and its
experienced professional services team, please contact us at:
Leverage Software
80 South Park
San Francisco, CA 94107
hello@leveragesoftware.com
(415) 946-6164