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From blogs to social networks to innovation pads, the Mahindra group is redefining the way its employees collaborate. The result—over 400 ideas generated, a meltdown in existing cultural barriers and a phenomenal boost in peer networking and knowledge sharing
By Srikanth RP
How do you disseminate information to a group that contains over 100 diverse companies, and has more than one lakh employees across the globe? How do you ensure that every employee shares the same kind of cultural bonding even if individual companies are vastly different in nature and profile? More importantly, how do you ensure that knowledge embedded in every department or employee percolates to the rest of the organization?
The top management at the Mahindra group contemplated such questions. Their goal was to find out how they could enable two way-interactive communication between the senior management and the group employees, and between the employees of diverse companies within the group.
As the Mahindra group has nine industry verticals ranging from automotive, information technology, holiday resorts and financial services, this diversity made it difficult to conceptualize a common platform that could bring everyone together to exchange views.
 “Although IT professionals and new-generation employees are well-versed with using the Internet and other web-based platforms, this may not be true for employees from the older generation. Our main challenge was to bring everyone on the same platform, and break down possible cultural barriers that existed between companies and employees,” explains Arvind Tawde, Senior VP and CIO, Mahindra & Mahindra.
While Tawde and his team contemplated the right technology option to adopt, Tawde observed a major trend that was sweeping the Internet—the huge growth and popularity of social networking and Web 2.0 tools. Tawde sensed an opportunity of using social networking tools within the enterprise to boost collaboration.
Cultural icebreakers
“For a group as diverse as ours, Web 2.0 tools were the perfect cultural icebreakers. Our focus was on encouraging business networking using the same ethos of openness and innovation that Web 2.0 tools encourage,” says Tawde. The team at Mahindra soon began a series of evaluations on the type of Web 2.0 applications that could foster business productivity.
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The Mahindra group’s Web 2.0 toolkit
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MahiSpace: A personal page where employees can display their profile and areas of expertise
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Ask Mahindra: A forum where Mahindra employees can ask questions and receive answers from colleagues across the group
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Innovation Pad: A platform where users can put forward innovative ideas and have the opportunity to have their ideas implemented
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After extensively researching popular social networking forums such as LinkedIn, Orkut and Facebook, Tawde’s team zeroed in on three applications that could deliver phenomenal results, if properly harnessed. These applications include MahiSpace (a personal page where employees can display their profiles and areas of expertise), Ask Mahindra (a forum where employees can ask questions and receive answers from colleagues across the Mahindra group) and Innovation Pad (a platform where users can put forward innovative ideas and have the opportunity to have them implemented).
The group’s goal was clear—to position their Intranet One Mahindra as a group-wide employee networking portal which could help employees showcase their skills, expertise and domain knowledge.
In a short span of six months since the Web 2.0 tools were introduced, the company observed extremely encouraging results. For example, once Satyam was acquired by the Mahindra group, several Satyam employees were naturally keen to know more about the new parent company. The One Mahindra portal and Ask Mahindra forum was perfect for Satyam employees (now Mahindra Satyam) to seek answers on any question they had about the group—and there was no better option than asking peers. Soon Satyam employees became the most active users of this forum, testifying that they felt closer to the Mahindra group since its launch. This is a clear indication of the success of the forum.
100 communities and over 400 ideas
The results of the Web 2.0 exercise have been spectacular not only because employees have been allowed to freely express their opinions, but also because the Mahindra group has carefully chosen the right type of Web 2.0 applications. For example, profiles filled by employees in MahiSpace have helped the company to discover several domain experts in fields such as embedded technology, automotive or even office productivity tools such as Excel. This initiative has helped the group in unleashing the hidden potential embedded in every employee.
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The Web 2.0 Effect
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- The One Mahindra platform has over 8,000 employee profiles, 100 focused communities, and more than 3,000 questions and answers posted on one platform.
- The Web 2.0 platform played a pivotal role in breaking cultural barriers faced by Satyam employees once Satyam was acquired by Tech Mahindra. Today, employees from Satyam are the most active users of the Ask Mahindra forum.
- Since the launch of the Innovation Pad, over 400 ideas have been shared, and many of them are being actively used or considered within the organization. For example, a new multimedia solution suggested by an employee at Tech Mahindra is being actively assessed as a possible business solution by CanvasM, one of the subsidiaries of Tech Mahindra.
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Innovation Pad is another stellar example of the results organizations can achieve when they encourage employees to innovate. Since its launch, over 400 ideas have been shared, and many of them are being actively used or considered within the organization. For example, a new multimedia solution suggested by an employee at Tech Mahindra is now being actively assessed as a possible business solution by CanvasM, one of the subsidiaries of Tech Mahindra.
This cross pollination of ideas has also helped the company to share best practices and cut costs. One of the group companies had a focused objective in mind—cost reduction. As part of this cost-reduction drive, the company invited ideas from all its employees—including workmen. The ideas captured at the shop floor were entered in the Innovation Pad forum and checked for feasibility. As a result, all these cost reduction ideas are now available for the other group companies through the same forum.
Today, the One Mahindra platform has over 8,000 employee profiles, 100 focused communities, and more than 3,000 questions and answers posted. The rich diversity of the group has turned out to be a blessing in disguise since each company possesses complementary skills that other companies in the group can emulate. Tawde cites the example of the automotive sector or the IT services sector that can learn best practices in customer service from say, a company in the hospitality sector.
At a time when most CIOs are grappling with the challenge of using social networking tools to their advantage, the Mahindra group’s usage of Web 2.0 tools is noteworthy—the company has successfully integrated these tools in the workflow of its employees.
CIO Arwind Tawde with his team
A crucible of innovation
Going forward, employees expect the One Mahindra platform to be a crucible of innovation for the group. Employees will assist the group in providing directions on delivering more innovative products and services, discovering new markets, and achieving more profits.
For example, while some employees might comment on how the rear design of a particular vehicle should appear, others might contribute ideas on saving costs related to energy or transportation. These insights are extremely valuable and can even prove to be game changers, if harnessed properly. By encouraging bottom-up innovation and transforming it into collective intelligence, the Mahindra group has demonstrated that if Web 2.0 tools are leveraged appropriately, the impact can be truly transformational in nature.
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