Housing Associations should embrace Workplace by Facebook
For the last couple of years Facebook has been working on launching an enterprise level system. Originally rumoured to be called Facebook at Work (and thought to be aimed at LinkedIn) it has released Workplace.
Workplace by Facebook in simple terms is a walled off version of Facebook that is locked down to your organisation. Everything you can do on Facebook you can do on Workplace. Create project groups, instant messaging, live chat, video conferencing, news feed, sharing pictures; documents and files, even live broadcasting.
If you are a Facebook user you begin to realise how powerful this is in the workplace. With Facebook it is incredibly easy to stay up to date on news and events, leave comments, express your reactions and communicate. That last word is key. Facebook have spent years perfecting a way for people to communicate with each other socially. With Workplace that translates perfectly into the workplace (see what I did).
Why should HA’s adopt Workplace?
Organisations often suffer from getting staff and board members to adopt any kind of technology system. Every system I have seen aimed at enterprise has the same thing in common; they are ugly. The ugliness often makes them look difficult to use and understand.
Workplace looks, feels and works in the same way as Facebook. That means the learning curve is practically non-existent. In the UK 1 in 2 people use Facebook. There are no official numbers but looking at working age people who use Facebook (2 in 3) I would easily suggest 3 in 4 of those in work currently use Facebook. Imagine how easy and cheap it is to introduce software to an organisation where 75% of your staff already know how it works.
Many people are already using Facebook for work in an unofficial capacity. Messaging each other, organising get togethers and staff events. Adopting that approach across the company will make communication flow more spontaneous, more natural and most likely reduce that dreaded email volume.
If you look at the existing systems in use many of them are “enterprise grade” but haven’t made any significant innovations or changes in years. Look at Yammer and ask what Microsoft has done to improve it in the last 2 years? Workplace is going to become a core offering from Facebook. It has a dedicated team and frankly millions of free public users it can test on before bring stable results to Workplace.
What about the actual cost? Free for Non-Profits.
Why will HA’s not adopt Workplace?
Nobody will want to be first. Across the housing sector, in terms of IT, the majority of HA’s are followers. They watch trends in the housing sector and the private sector and wait. The phrase often repeated in large organisations: “Nobody got fired for buying Microsoft” simply because that is what everyone else did.
Just do it
I see Workplace as a real solution for organisations and an opportunity to make a huge impact on efficiencies and VFM.
