Guide to Measuring
Business Value
Table of Contents
Agenda
I. Introduction
Understand Three Key Themes
Business value is defined by quantitative and qualitative analysis of your network measured
against your vision for enterprise social – a vision inspired by one or more of these three
themes.
Listen.
Adapt.
Grow.
Listen to the conversations
that matter.
Adapt and make smarter
decisions.
Innovate, develop better
products and enhance
customer experience.
Keep Use Cases In Mind
The three themes inspire your company’s vision for enterprise social, and provide context for
identifying high-priority business outcomes and individual use cases.
Identifying use cases enables you to define concrete, actionable outcomes, which you can
measure.
Vision
High-priority business outcomes
Use cases
Understand Outcomes of Conversations
There are three key steps to finding business value in your network.
1. Getting people talking on your network is an important first step, but not knowing what they
are talking about makes it difficult to understand the value.
2. Knowing what people are talking about is helpful, but not knowing the outcomes of the
conversations makes it hard to understand the value.
3. Understanding the outcomes from those conversations is the key to finding business value.
People talking
People talking about sales
People talking about sales,
thereby increasing revenue.
Business
Value
Business Value Depends on Network
Maturity
Remember that connections in a network grow almost exponentially with the number of users on
the network. As a result, it is important to have enough active people on your Yammer network
before focusing on business value.
As your network matures, adjust your goals with respect to business outcomes and business
value. In other words:
In beginning, focus on adoption and other quantitative measures of network health – simply put:
Get people talking on the network.
Next, focus on engagement, which means getting people talking about specific business areas
and topics.
Finally, focus on delivering business value.
Tailor Your Use Cases to Network
Maturity
When considering use cases, keep network maturity in mind. Mature networks are best at
handling sophisticated use cases that drive business value the most.
•
•
•
•
•
•
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Employee Connectedness
Culture Initiatives
Sharing Industry Articles &
News
Replace Meetings
Team & Department FAQ Sharing
Employee Recognition
•
•
Streamlining Any Business-Related
Function or Task
Co-Authoring Content
Sharing Best Practices
Quantitative & Qualitative Measures
Measuring business value requires quantitative and qualitative analysis.
When describing quantitative measures, we are referring to the network statistics obtained from
the Yammer analytics dashboard and data export. These statistics give you a quick snapshot of
network health that is particularly useful for young networks.
When describing qualitative measures, we’re referring to success stories that illustrate the
business value that your Yammer network is delivering. These stories are harder to capture, but
are the most effective way to demonstrate business value because they identify the subject
matter of Yammer interactions, as well as the business outcomes they generate.
II. Qualitative Measures
Qualitative Measures of Business Value
Qualitative measures are the best way to understand the business value of Yammer.
This is because enterprise social networking is like infrastructure, as opposed to a tool. While
tools can be easily measured on ROI, the valuable impact of infrastructure, including social
infrastructure like Yammer, can be hard to predict.
Just think: Would you rather have 100 people on your network just chatting, or 25 people on
your network improving sales revenue by sharing examples of what helped them close their
biggest deals?
The Relevance of Qualitative Measures
Rather than measuring
(which suggests
quantitative data
collection), storytelling in
my view is a much more
powerful way to
demonstrate usefulness,
benefit and ROI. Often,
one success case can
outweigh the cost for an
ESN for a year.
Kai Riemer
At CIO Strategy Summit
The true value of an
enterprise social network
is not reflected in the
measurable data that is
presented to you in a
dashboard, but rather in its
ability to strengthen the
informal social network
that creates interactions
and fosters the completion
of work inside your
company.
CMS Wire
Four Steps to Qualitative Measurement
1.
Remember your vision. Analyse your network by comparing it to your vision for how
Yammer will help your organization listen, adapt and grow.
2.
Take a poll. Use surveys to measure engagement of coworkers and employees. You
might include questions in the annual employee surveys that your company already
prepares.
3.
Track #YamWins. To keep track of good Yammer conversations, create a topic in
Yammer, e.g. #YamWin. Add the topic to any conversations demonstrating business
value so you can easily locate them within the network.
4.
Share stories. Encourage network members to share their own Yammer wins or “a-ha”
moments, so others can learn from their stories.
Remember Your Vision
A clear vision is important because it:
Enables employees to foresee the value that Yammer will bring to the organization and to them
personally
Achieves a clarity of purpose, which helps secure buy-in and support
Broadly defines how Yammer can help clear communication barriers
Reflects the goals of individuals throughout your organization
Take a Poll
One of the easiest ways to find out whether your network is achieving business value is by talking to
your coworkers or network members.
You can create a poll or survey to assess the level of enterprise social adoption, collect feedback and
identify opportunities to improve the network. Here are some sample questions you can ask:
1.
What are some of the primary ways you use Yammer?
2.
How often do you use Yammer?
3.
How often do you use Yammer for business related purposes?
4.
To what degree have you experienced value in using Yammer
as part of your workflow?
Track
#YamWins
Identify conversations demonstrating
cross-functional collaboration and
teamwork.
Tag these conversations with the
topic #YamWin to follow their
progression.
An employee on the
night crew flags a nonroutine problem.
Charleston
Dallas
Other stores across
the country confirm the
problem.
Salt Lake City
Phoenix
Search for the #YamWin topic when
doing an analysis of the network to
quickly locate conversations
demonstrating business value.
An executive
acknowledges the
issue.
The problem is
resolved.
Chicago
Share Stories
Capturing and sharing stories about your network’s successes and #YamWin moments is one of the
best ways to demonstrate business value.
When sharing a story about your Yammer network, be sure to include these details:
Time. The story should begin with a time marker, so the audience knows when it happened.
Characters. The story should feature names, so the audience knows who was involved.
Events. The story should recount the events that took place.
Visuals. The audience should be able to picture what has happened.
Stories about business value can easily be shared internally through a Yammer Success Stories
group in the network. You can also share stories externally with the wider Yammer community via the
Yammer Customer Network.
Examples of Success Stories
Here are some examples of customer success stories. Create a Yammer Success Stories group on
your network to share your own successes with your organization.
When Red Robin introduced the bacon-laden Pig
Out burger, management was disappointed by the
lack of customer feedback on Red Robin’s
Facebook page but learned a great deal from the
considerable buzz on Yammer.
“We have lots of events in our shopping centers,
and Yammer’s mobile functionality makes it easy
for staff on
the ground to post updates and videos, giving the
rest of us a feed of activity as it happens.”
“Managers started talking about ways to tweak the
Pig Out recipe, and four weeks later, we had an
improved, kitchen-tested version to roll out to
restaurants. That’s a process that would have
taken 12 to 18 months before.”
When the winner of The X Factor Australia did a
tour of several centers, “the team did a live feed of
photographs and videos from various locations.
That was phenomenal not only as a way of
sharing the excitement, but it helped us learn and
improve each appearance based on the one
before.”
Chris Laping
CIO
Andy Hedges
Shopping Center Management
Technovision is an annual internal document that
outlines how customers in different sectors can
best deploy technology. It’s put together by a small
number of CTOs, but in 2012, they shared the
preliminary report on Yammer and asked for
feedback.
“Our Technovision reports have always been
based on the experiences of a few very senior,
very clever, technologists… But this year’s
document is even more powerful, because people
across the company were able to see those ideas
and develop them, drawing on examples of client
work around the globe. Yammer helped our CTOs
reﬁne the report by mining the perspective of the
40,000 people on our network – and they did it in
two weeks. You sure couldn’t do that with email.”
Tom Barton
Head of Communications
Further Resources
Check out these resources for further information on measuring business value from a qualitative perspective.
CMS Wire - The Enterprise Social Networking Data Party is Over
Enterprise Social Network Analytics vs. Scoring; Why One Works and the Other Doesn’t
Blog Post - Measuring Business Value
Kai Riemer Keynote on Enterprise Social Network Adoption
III. Quantitative Measures
Importance of Quantitative Measures
Monitoring and tracking the performance of your network allows you to observe its health, keep
track of how your organization is using Yammer and identify opportunities for growth.
Quantitative measurement is particularly relevant for measuring growth in young networks, if
they haven’t yet realized their full potential for business value.
We offer a number of tools to assist with quantitative measurement. In the following slides, we
explain how these tools help you analyse network data:
Analytics Dashboard
Data Export
Data Export API
Third-Party Applications
Quantitative Metrics Highlight
Opportunities
Quantitative metrics highlight areas for growth in your network, so you can take action to boost
adoption and engagement company wide. For example:
If files and notes usage is low, organize training sessions on collaborating using these tools.
If mobile usage is low, launch a campaign to raise awareness and promote usage.
If a particular group is popular, invite the group admins to share best practices for keeping the
group active.
How Do I Start Measuring?
After reviewing the resources in this section of the deck, start analyzing quantitative metrics in your
network by:
Examining your Analytics Dashboard
Planning a Data Export schedule
Performing a Data Export
Creating a pivot table in Excel using your data
Sharing what kind of report you’ve created (and how you created it) in the Yammer Customer Network
A. Analytics Dashboard
Using Your Dashboard
The Yammer Analytics Dashboard provides certain statistics on network activity that can help in
gauging network health, especially in young networks. These statistics are great for illustrating
the growth of your network and confirming that the network is active. For example, an upward
trend in the number of posts indicates that the network is active and that employees are
engaging with the network.
The following slides explain the key metrics, which include:
Number of members
Number of likes
Number of posts
Number of groups
Overview Your Network Analytics
TIP
To analyze how a launch event
affects engagement levels, compare
the overview metrics before and after
the event.
Toggle to see network activity for the
past 7 or 28 days.
Quantify Engaged Members
TIP
Analyze the number of engaged
members vs. total members.
An engaged member has:
Sent a private message, started a
thread, replied to a thread, liked or
shared a conversation.
Viewed a full conversation, or clicked
to expand a post.
Understand Message Volume
TIP
Analyze the number of messages
posted in a group vs. in a private
message.
Measure the number of monthly
messages posted in the past 6
months.
Analyze Group Activity
TIP
Review the percentage of active
groups on the network.
If a particular group is popular, invite
the group admins to share their best
practices for keeping a group active.
Quantify File Sharing
TIP
View the total number of files that
have been uploaded to the network
over time.
If files usage is low, organize a
training session on collaboration best
practices.
Understand Notes Usage
TIP
Analyze the number of notes that
have been created over time and the
number of unique note edits and
views.
If notes usage is low, organize a
training session on collaboration best
practices.
Understand Notes Usage
TIP
Analyze how your members are
using notes based on the number of
views and purpose of the note (e.g.,
business- or project-related notes vs.
water-cooler conversation).
Identify Login Access Points
TIP
Identify how your members are
accessing Yammer, e.g., via web,
mobile, desktop or SharePoint.
Are there opportunities to raise
awareness about certain access
points?
Analyze Mobile Devices Usage
TIP
Identify which mobile platforms your
users are using. Then, host a mobile
app training for the most popular
platform.
If mobile app usage is low, organize
a campaign to promote using
Yammer on mobile devices.
B. Data Export
What Can I Export From Yammer?
The Yammer Data Export will package and export all messages (public and private), notes,
files, topics, users and groups. The Yammer Data Export is available to Verified Admins only.
Data will be exported into separate .CSV files. The .CSV files will contain details of each data
type, such as message ID, time stamps, participants, group names, etc.
Files will be in their native format, and notes will be exported in .html format. Exports will only
contain files and notes created or modified during the time period specified for the export.
What Can I Do With My Data?
Create a PivotTable, a Microsoft Excel feature which allows you to aggregate and visualize the
exported data.
By analysing the Messages.csv file, you can:
Find the Top 10 groups based on posts or conversations; drill down to see the breakdown by
day.
Find the Top 10 posters; drill down to see the breakdown by day.
By analysing the Topics.csv file, you can:
Break down the number of topics created by day.
Comparing Dashboard & Data Export
The Yammer Analytics Dashboard and Data Export give you access to different metrics.
Yammer Dashboard
Data Export & Excel
Network growth, weekly or monthly
Using formulas, search for keywords, like a
specific campaign or project name
Engaged members
Number of messages posted
Using pivot tables, drill down or aggregate
your data at a deeper level, such as:
Number of groups, total and active
Network growth at a daily level
Number of files, total and uploaded
Number of messages posted per
day, week or month
Number of notes, total and created
Top notes and files
How your organization is accessing Yammer
Mobile devices used
Number of messages posted in
each group
Create charts and graphs to display
analytics
C. Data Export API
What is the Data Export API?
The Data Export API allows an IT administrator to set up and customize automatic, recurring
exports for your network. This allows greater control, flexibility and customization.
URL: https://www.yammer.com/api/v1/export
Method: GET
Authentication: OAuth 2 access token, user must be a verified admin. See the Yammer
Developer Network for generating an access token.
Query Parameters
access_token – The OAuth bearer token of a verified admin.
model - Indicates which models to be exported. All available models will be exported if no model is specified. Multiple models may be specified with multiple
parameters with the 'model' name. Available models include:
User
Group
Message
Topic
UploadedFileVersion
DocumentVersion
since - Indicates the start date of the export. All exported changes will have occurred on or after this date. Must be encoded as an ISO-8601 date.
include – Defines whether to include file attachments or not. Options are ‘csv’ (no attachments) or ‘all’ (include attachments).
network – Which network(s) you wish to export. Must be accessible using the provided OAuth bearer token. i.e. the network associated with the token, or
associated external networks.
include_ens – If ‘true’, automatically include all external networks related to the network associated with the OAuth bearer token.
D. Third-Party
Applications
GoodData
What is it? GoodData is a Yammer Partner Application which allows the verified admin to
extract and analyze data exported via the API. It is an analytics and reporting app built around
best practices and key performance indicators for measuring Yammer networks. The app sits on
top of GoodData’s powerful business intelligence platform and consists of prepackaged
dashboards.
What can it do? Key areas of analytic focus include group activity tracking, identification of
influencers and champions, trending topics and virality analytics. GoodData can:
Easily be extended and customized to meet your organization’s unique needs.
Include other data sources to provide a complete view of your organization’s social investments,
including sources such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+, other enterprise social networks or
internal data sources.
Track and analyze internal Yammer usage and adoption, ensuring that your organization makes
the most out of its investment in enterprise social.
ViewPoint Enterprise
ViewPoint Enterprise is a Yammer Partner Application which provides federated visibility of your
company’s Yammer and SharePoint platforms. With ViewPoint, you can:
Watch changes in user and group adoption over time.
See which groups and sites are most and least active – by posts, likes, shares, documents and
more.
Identify your most influential users across the enterprise.
For more information about ViewPoint Enterprise, see ViewDo Labs: http://www.viewdolabs.com/
Appendix
Example Data Export API Queries
Export all data since February 9, 2012:
https://www.yammer.com/api/v1/export?since=2012-0209T00:00:00+00:00&access_token=WOOT8377DHL
Export all data since February 9, 2012 but exclude file attachments:
https://www.yammer.com/api/v1/export?since=2012-0209T00:00:00+00:00&include=csv&access_token=WOOT8377DHL
Export message data since February 9, 2012 and exclude attachments:
https://www.yammer.com/api/v1/export?since=2012-029T00:00:00+00:00&model=Message&include=csv&access_token=WOOT8377DHL
Tips for creating a Pivot Table
Make a copy of your .CSV files
Expand all columns
Separate your date columns (“created_at”, “deleted_at”, etc.) into just a Date column
In an empty column, call it “Date” and include this formula in the adjacent row:
"=CONCATENATE(LEFT(X#,10))" where "X#" is a date/time cell for that row.
For example, in the Messages.csv file:
In cell U1, title it, “Create Date”
In cell U2, enter the formula, “=CONCATENATE(LEFT(S2,10))"
Add a column for # of days since the last activity occurred, include this formula:
“=TODAY()-X#” where “X#” is the resulting cell from above.
Pivot Table Resources
Here are some great resources from the Microsoft Office Team on getting started with PivotTables:
Create a PivotTable to Analyze Worksheet Data
Use the Field List to arrange fields in an PivotTable
Update (refresh) data in a PivotTable
Filter data in a PivotTable
Sort data in a PivotTable
Delete a PivotTable
GoodData Resources
For pricing information please contact [email protected].
For other information, check out:
GoodData for Yammer
GoodData Group in the YCN Network