How do IKEA use Technology as a Tool for Change?
Overview
IKEA is the world’s largest multinational furniture, appliance and home accessories retailer. With almost 160,000 employees, 365 stores spread across 45 countries. The IKEA concept is achieved by combining function, quality, design, value, with sustainability; with an aim to help more people live a better life at home (IKEA, 2017).
Embedding #Social across the Enterprise
IKEAs goal was to embark upon a programme to interlink their different business units together and to establish social media as a valuable channel throughout the companies regions, departments and applications. Discovering insights in real-time was said to be beneficial to the company and stated the importance of sharing this with their teams. IKEAs Digital Marketing team worked alongside The Socializers to outline a strategy for their socially intelligent operation.
IKEAs social media proved to be inconsistent and its usage varied dramatically between the different markets and departments. It is important to remember that IKEA have achieved tremendous business growth through their use of traditional business techniques; fostering a social media disruptive change is sometimes harder to achieve within a company that is performing well as opposed to a company that is in desperate need of change. Data often remained siloed and communication lacked across the global enterprises. A cultural shift was required around sharing and governance to ensure that the successful and innovative practices were being broadcasted internally to benefit all departments.
IKEA and The Socializers chose Brandwatch Vizia to power the proposed hub. The customisable platform enabled the team to build a social media command centre within the Listening Hub to create real space for sharing, detecting and distributing insights across the organisation. The Listening Hub would be a physical space, positioned into the Inter IKEA systems HQ where senior staff and other teams could engage with the centre.
The Listening Hub
The Listening Hub enabled key stakeholders to view what customers were saying. The work in which the Digital Development team and The Socializers undertook helped prove to the organisation that social data can have countless beneficial applications and encouraged positive change across the workforce. One insight was that US customer service complaints on Facebook took up 36.5%, whereas just 5% in the UK in 2014. Sharing these insights with the departments, enabled a greater understanding of where their customers are and which channels they use in certain circumstances.
Key Results
- Engaged multiple departments in a wide program of sharing best practice in social
- Delivered 19 actionable reports to teams across the organisation
- Achieved senior management buy-in for further investment and implementation of social technologies and processes
The Future
- Understanding of the value and importance of social media has improved
- Information is being shared and directed to the appropriate department
- A tangible culture of wisdom and experience sharing is emerging
Take Aways
The three month programme has allowed IKEA to have a better understanding of their consumers and will allow them to take the necessary steps to implement future change. The insights have really filled the gap from IKEAs perspective and they are now prepared take even further action. Who knows what the future holds for IKEA, but we can be sure that sharing insights in invaluable to such a company and is sure to keep successfully strengthening their social intelligence. I learnt from this case study that even multinational companies are willing to become more social intelligent, even if they are well known for their traditional business techniques.
Find out more about IKEA, The Socialisers & Brandwatch
First time blogger, student studying Digital Marketing at University of Brighton
References
Tregear. H (2014) IKEA & The Socializers: Building Social into the Heart of a Global Business [Blog]
https://www.brandwatch.com/blog/ikea-assembling-a-listening-hub/ [Accessed 18 October 2017]
IKEA (2017) IKEA About Us [Website] http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/this-is-ikea/the-ikea-concept/ [Accessed 18 October 2017]