In my role as communication consultant in private and public organizations, I have seen many situations where it was  difficult to give a voice to staff or stakeholders. Even at times of reorganization or crisis, tools at  disposal were not allowing to engage properly and efficiently. So, in a silent agreement with the management, without proper tools and too much uncertainty about how to handle these new communication flaws, we were not really trying to give a voice.

When I discovered digital tools available to businesses, I saw the potential they would have to facilitate fluid conversations at all levels. Idea generation, crowdsourcing or serendipity were finally reachable. It was with both excitement and hope that I began to invest technology at the workplace.

Luckily, efforts were not that important at breaking down barriers to adoption. I was a firm believer that my initiative was right as long as risks were smaller than benefits. And I started this adventure, step by step, without any massive adoption campaign. I managed to find the right people, those who would allow me to develop impactful use cases. My idea was not to promote technologies alone, but to bring out good practices leading to more efficiency and innovation.

And it worked. Quickly, great practices spread around the organization, making them impossible to avoid. I organized events, wrote articles, made webinars and training activities at central and local levels to promote them. I  was also invited as speaker at international conferences to share my experience.

I feel really proud about the impact this work has had on a large organization, and grateful to many co-workers for the quality of their initiatives, be they for pensioners, strategic partners or employees. I have listed a number of successes that would never have been achieved without digital.

While I am certain of the benefits to widely deploy platforms for collaboration and exchange inside any organization, I am also sure that this confidence instilled in collaborators, which drives participation and entrepreneurship, provides a great satisfaction and obviously a noticeable return on investment. There is huge profit to be made in being more open, more transparent and more collaborative. Digital technologies now at disposal give more opportunities to deploy talents. We must seize all opportunities and take the time to explore their potential for us.