eThesis - School of Business electronic theses

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Objectives of the Study:

Globally, the Enterprise Social phenomenon is gaining footage in organizations, transforming them more transparent, communicative and collaborative. In Finland the Enterprise Social Software (ESS) tools behind this transformation are not yet that common, and many companies are currently working on the selection and implementation of these tools. At the same time the ESS implementations in other countries have often failed due to lack of proper implementation efforts. The objectives of this study are two-fold: to form an understanding on the state of ESS in large companies in Finland, and to present a framework on how to best implement these tools within this target group. The intentions on a larger scale are to encourage companies to start the journey to Enterprise Social, and to provide tools and knowledge of ESS implementations overall.

Academic background and methodology:

The academic base on the research is founded on Enterprise Social literature, which has gained popularity recently. The terminology and Enterprise Social background are covered first more broadly to form an understanding on the Enterprise Social field. The main part of the research is based on a literature review on ESS and the best practices for their implementation, synthesizing the results as a preliminary implementation framework. The empirical part consists of 18 interviews and an online survey, and is aimed at comparing the findings from the literature review against the interview insights. A revised framework is developed from the results.

Findings and conclusions:

The findings of this thesis are two-fold; the state of ESS in large companies Finland and the best practices for its implementation. The ESS tools are now at implementation or recently implemented level in many large companies, but the process overall is still at the very beginning concerning the cultural change it requires. As a main derivative, the implementation framework and the necessary steps were formed, combining the results from both the empirical research and the literature review. The key success factors of ESS implementation were identified. The results regarding implementation best practices emphasize the importance of concrete management support, real business cases for the tools, and community manager's as well as product champions' efforts in the implementation process.