How a 'huddle' helped Lib Dems to spread their message

At a time when public and private sector organisations are seeking to do more with less, being socially enabled has never been more important. The impact of cloud computing, consumer mobile and social networking technologies are transforming how organisations drive efficiency, maintain innovation and increase motivation. However, being socially enabled means far more than simply leveraging the convergence of these tools for short term productivity gains. It involves being part of a broader organisational, cultural and behavioural shift towards allowing individuals more self-direction and creativity in their work. It also means being realistic regarding the behavioural trends inside an organisation and the new external challenges they pose. Part of this is being open to low investment private Software as a Service (SaaS) platforms, such as Huddle, that redress the balance between corporate governance and consumer expectation. For the Liberal Democrats, embracing and taking advantage of Web 2.0 technology represented a step change in the way the party manages its communications. Entering a new era for government with Web 2.0 Recognising that our internal IT system was struggling to cope with the volume of email and our extranet was no longer sufficient for cross-team communication, the Liberal Democrats decided to explore the use of innovative social tools to improve collaboration. By using these tools, we hoped to improve communications, not just within our headquarters and across the party, but also with external volunteers and conference organisers. We needed technology that could be tailored to different teams' requirements and, while Huddle was initially deployed for file sharing, we quickly realised that it has multiple other functions. The online collaboration platform enables us to strike a balance between enterprise and consumer tools and groups across the party are using Huddle to manage projects, organise conferences and have discussions. For example, our Federal Conference Committee, which is responsible for running our two annual conferences, uses Huddle to manage and organise these events with external support staff. Two-way communication Effective communication is always important. However, in the run up to and during the general election, we placed Web 2.0 at the centre of party communications. Using Huddle, we connected more than 1,500 party campaigners and volunteers at a local level so that they could spread the party's messages and help candidates get elected. By logging into the online workspaces, they could share campaign materials, work securely with other people, and access training documents and artwork. To ensure that everyone in the party could view the media's response to our campaign efforts, the Liberal Democrats' Media Intelligence Unit, set up by the party's press office, established a 24-hour media monitoring rota. Stored securely online, all press coverage could be analysed and media feedback recorded. For our parliamentary candidates, the Policy Response Unit also set up an online workspace from which they could access and search for required policy information. A workspace has also been established to meet the specific needs of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, so that members have access to Scottish policy briefings and responses. In the run up to the general election, there were more than 46,500 document viewings in the party's online workspaces. From experience, we have realised that social tools have the ability to change work environments into something not only more effective but also more enjoyable. Web 2.0 technology proved to be invaluable for collaboration during the general election and, as we strive to increase efficiencies, the adoption of social tools within the party is set to become more widespread. Sam Lockwood is web & e-communications technology manager for the Liberal Democrats