Exploring Factual and Perceived Use and Benefits of a Web 2.0-based Knowledge Management Application. The Case References+

Unrestricted © Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2013 All rights reserved. siemens.com/answers

Exploring Factual and Perceived Use and Benefits of a

Web 2.0-based Knowledge Management Application:

The Siemens Case References+

I-KNOW 2013, Graz, Austria, September 4th, 2013

Alexander Stocker

Virtual Vehicle Research Center

Information & Process Management

Graz, Austria

Johannes Müller

Siemens Switzerland Ltd.

Building Technologies Division

Zug, Switzerland

September 4th, 2013

Unrestricted © Siemens Switzerland Ltd. 2013 All rights reserved.

Page 2 Alexander Stocker and Johannes Müller

Corporate, Siemens-Wide and Cross-Sector Departments

Infrastructure & Cities Sector

Energy Sector

Industry Sector

Healthcare Sector

Building

Technologies Rail Systems

Wind Power Solar & Hydro Oil & Gas Energy

Service

Power

Transmission

Fossil Power

Generation

Customer

Services

Drive

Technologies

Clinical

Products Diagnostics

Customer

Solutions

Imaging&The-

rapy Systems

Metal

Technologies

Low and Me-

dium Voltage

Audiology

Solutions

Smart Grid

Industry

Automation

Mobility and

Logistics

Siemens Sectors and Divisions

with Current Focus User Groups

September 4th, 2013



References+ ...

is a Web 2.0 platform for the global

exchange of business-related knowledge,

experiences and best-practices,

is a 'Social Networking' tool, which

networks colleagues and animates them

to communicate to each other,

is intended for internal use (by Siemens

members) only and thus available within

the Siemens intranet,

contains knowledge references (customer

projects, solution/service concepts, etc.)

and suitable documents,

contains several discussion forums (Urgent

Requests, etc.) and a microblog section,

considers its users as global community

(~ 10,000 members located in 79

countries) supporting each other.

September 4th, 2013



Content in References+

Knowledge References

Customer Projects

Solution/Service Concepts

Technology Information

Market Information

External Awards

Business Excellence Cases

Lessons Learned

Forum Postings

Urgent Requests

Solution Talk

News, Trends, Innovations

Fairs and Conferences

BT Academy International

Quality Management

etc.

Content in References+

Networking both Knowledge and People

knowledge and information sharing

people networking

Microblog

Postings

structured

by free

tagging

("Folksonomy")

Member Pages

Name

Portrait Picture

'About me' Text

Phone Numbers

e-Mail Address

Availability Status

Personal Network

September 4th, 2013



User Survey 2009:

Several User Ratings

Period: 3 weeks in September/October 2009

Participation: 1070 responders

more or less helpful for 88%

714 saved days

36% frequent users

64% occasional users

Ø 2.63

Ø 1.96

Ø 1.89

Ø 1.86

several days

several hours

no time savings

very helpful

predomin. helpful

partially helpful

not helpful

one day

September 4th, 2013



User Survey 2009:

Correlation of Perceived Benefit & Usage Frequency

Usage Frequency

(# responders)

sporadic

(401)

monthly

(289)

weekly

(280)

daily

(100)

Ø all

(1070)

Availability* 2.51 2.66 2.71 2.79 2.63

Usability* 1.72 1.99 2.12 2.34 1.96

Functions / Features* 1.62 1.96 2.08 2.31 1.89

Content Quality* 1.65 1.91 1.98 2.17 1.86

Helpfulness** 0.92 1.38 1.55 1.94 1.31

# days saved per year*** 0.32 0.60 0.97 1.40 0.67

Selectable Options:

* very good (3), good (2), average (1), insufficient (0)

** very helpful (3), predominantly helpful (2), partially helpful (1), not helpful (0)

*** several days (3), one day (1), several hours (0.5), nothing (0)

higher benefit for higher usage frequency

September 4th, 2013



User Survey 2011:

Survey Questions

Which organizational unit are you working for?

(list of selected Siemens units)

How often do you use References+?

almost daily

min. one time weekly

min. one time monthly

less than monthly

How helpful is References+ in your daily work?

very helpful

predominantly helpful

partially helpful

not helpful

How much working time did you save (in the last 365

days) by using information found in References+?

several days saved

one day saved

one or several hours saved

no time savings

How much money did you save (in the last 365 days) by

using information found in References+?

more than €10,000 saved

€1,000 … €10,000 saved

€0 … €1,000 saved

no money savings

How much additional business turnover did you generate (in the

last 365 days) by using information found in References+?

more than €1 million in additional turnover

€100,000 … €1 million in additional turnover

€10,000 … €100,000 in additional turnover

€0 … €10,000 in additional turnover

no additional turnover

I cannot directly influence turnover

How many additional customers did you attract (in the last 365

days) by using information found in References+?

3 or more additional customers

2 additional customers

1 additional customer

no additional customers

I don’t have direct contact with customers

What is your overall rating for References+ and the related

administration team?

very good

good

average

insufficient

I don’t want to give a rating.

Feel free to share any comment related to References+

(optional).

(free text input)

September 4th, 2013



User Survey 2011:

Survey Results

731 saved days

Period: 4 weeks in September 2011

Participation: 1479 responders

€ 190,000 saved money

€ 5.3 mio. additional turn-over

Accumulated annual figures

for these 1479 responders:

361 new customers

(minimum calculation)

(minimum calculation)

September 4th, 2013



User Survey 2011:

Research Question

How do survey results on perceived use and benefits of

a Web 2.0-based knowledge management platform

match the factual use of this platform?

survey

replies

(subjective, perceived)

usage

data

(objective, factual)

user (account)

data

(objective, factual)

September 4th, 2013



Available User and Usage Data

Present status of user and user account (as of March 2013):

office location (city, country)

organizational unit

date of registration in References+

date of last visit

account active (true/false)

photo uploaded (true/false)

number of characters in “About me” field

number of other internal Social Media platforms, where user is registered

Usage data (during April 2010 – September 2011):

number of days with access to References+

number of visited Knowledge References

number of contributions

(i.e. Knowledge References, feedbacks, forum postings, microblog postings)

number of followers and followed colleagues

September 4th, 2013



Correlation of Usage Data and Survey Results

Perceived vs. Factual Usage

Respondents with a perceived high usage frequency are exhibiting higher

factual usage, but are not necessarily the most active factual contributors.

Higher factual use for higher perceived use

Perceived "Usage frequency"

daily weekly monthly seldom

# respondents 140 341 371 627

Ø activity days 33.18 29.77 17.44 13.07

Ø visited KRs 21.11 16.74 8.78 3.01

Ø contributions 3.11 3.26 1.05 0.56

Ø followers 2.19 1.82 1.18 0.74

September 4th, 2013




Helpfulness vs. Factual Usage

Respondents with a perceived high helpfulness of References+ are

exhibiting higher factual usage, i.e. they visit more Knowledge References,

generate more content, and have more followers.

Higher factual use for higher perceived helpfulness

very predom. partially not

helpful helpful helpful helpful

# respondents 146 222 805 306

Ø activity days 26.53 27.39 19.07 13.59

Ø visited KRs 25.88 20.39 5.90 2.45


Ø followers 2.10 1.47 1.23 0.66

Perceived "Helpfulness"

September 4th, 2013




Type of Benfits vs. Factual Usage

Respondents with perceived high time savings and perceived high money

savings are not necessarily the most factual active users.

Respondents with perceived high generation of turnover visit more

knowledge references.

Employees with perceived higher number of customers have more activity

days and visit more knowledge references.

September 4th, 2013




Overall Rating vs. Factual Usage

Respondents with a high overall rating of References+ have more average

activity days, visit more Knowledge References, make more contributions,

and have more followers.

Higher factual use for higher overall rating

very good good average insufficient

# respondents 281 610 231 57

Ø activity days 29.96 22.11 13.29 10.05

Ø visited KRs 15.51 11.79 6.19 2.93


Ø followers 2.60 1.10 0.83 0.67

Perceived "Overall rating"

September 4th, 2013



Conclusion and Discussion (1)

Research Scope

Whether and how do survey results on perceived use and benefits of a Web

2.0-based knowledge management platform match data on factual use of the

platform?

References+ users with perceived higher benefits (i.e. helpfulness, saved time,

saved money, new turnover, new customers) are by trend factual Reference+

users.

Study results show a relationship between perceived benefits

of References+ and factual use of References+.

September 4th, 2013




Suggestions for practice

Users with high intrinsic motivation use Web 2.0 platforms more often than less

motivated colleagues.

Hence, the probability of perceiving any related benefit might be higher for

frequent users since they are more active and thus able to explore a higher

number of potentially positive aspects of the platform.

Therefore, factual and perceived benefits are among the most important and

sustainable motivation factors for using a Web 2.0-based platform such as

References+.

The authors suggest provision of immediate benefits for users

as most crucial success factor for an Enterprise 2.0 initiative.

September 4th, 2013




Contribution

Survey results reflect the subjective views of the respondents. By using a high

number of survey replies, a tendency can be derived by calculating average or

median values.

User surveys can be very helpful and effective in developing user-centered IT

features and community coverage: The results show the basic needs of the user

community, which helps avoid fundamentally undesirable developments. In

addition, the results help clarify questions such as the following:

Why are employees motivated to participate and contribute in online

communities?

What do employees expect from Web 2.0-based platforms? What do they miss

in the currently available platform?

Is there any correlation between objective use or contribution frequency and

subjectively perceived individual benefits?

September 4th, 2013



More Information about References+

Would you like to learn more about

References+?

Feel free to visit the presentation at the

I-KNOW Poster & Demo Session.

Thursday, September 5th, 3:30-5:30 pm

(German or English spoken on demand)

September 4th, 2013



Contact for Questions and Feedback

Dr. Alexander Stocker

Virtual Vehicle Research Center

Information & Process Management

Graz, Austria

e-Mail: [email protected]

https://www.xing.com/profile/Alexander_Stocker

Dr. Johannes Müller

Siemens Switzerland Ltd.

Building Technologies Division

Zug, Switzerland

e-Mail: [email protected]

https://www.xing.com/profile/Johannes_Mueller47

https://www.xing.com/profile/Alexander_Stocker

https://www.xing.com/profile/Johannes_Mueller47

Exploring Factual and Perceived Use and Benefits of a Web 2.0-based Knowledge Management Application. The Case References+

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johannes mller

process management

johannes mller

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survey replies