Many organizations are aware of concepts such as enterprise 2.0, but don’t fully understand how they can be utilized to perform specific functions. For example, when social networking benefits are understood and a clear strategy is implemented, it can become a valuable asset that can increase a company’s efficiency and decrease immediate and long-term expenses.

Synaptics, a developer of human interface solutions such as notebook PCs, digital music players and mobile phones for the mobile computing, communications and entertainment industries, was able to do just that. As in most companies, finding and retaining a talented workforce is essential for its survival. Further, as Synaptics is a high-tech company, locating talent with the appropriate technical abilities can be difficult. To increase the odds of finding the best employees, the company reaches out to a global candidate pool, which also can be challenging. Then, once secured, it can be difficult and expensive to quickly train and on-board new hires.

Due to normal turnover, many employees move on to other companies, though they often remain in good standing with their former colleagues. To take advantage of these still-warm relationships, it can be beneficial to remain in contact with former employees, paving the way for new opportunities and long-term business relationships. On top of all of the aforementioned issues, Synaptics has to deal with the challenges and costs associated with human resources: health care, development and employee queries that can strain the HR department.

Jim Harrington, Synaptics’ global director of human resources, said he recognized the need for a single solution that could deal with all of these challenges. Realizing the tools and infrastructure used by social networks such as Facebook also could be used by organizations, Harrington opted to implement an enterprise 2.0 solution: the BroadVision Clearvale Ecosystems for HR. This allowed Synaptics to create multiple networks to enable communication and collaboration among internal departments, partners, clients, potential customers and job candidates.

Choosing an access portal with an interface that is familiar to anyone who has used Facebook, LinkedIn or any other popular social network is beneficial as it creates a moderate learning curve, allowing talent managers to easily connect with employees. An unfamiliar interface can be daunting and can encourage employees to return to default tools such as e-mail, which does not foster collaboration.