Voices from the Service Sector

How do you tackle some of the world’s most challenging and pressing service issues related to cross-sector partnerships, sustainability of programs and integration of technology? If you’re IBM and one of the 15,000 participants who “jammed out” this past weekend at the company’s Service Jam, then the answer is nothing simpler than by sharing ideas.

So what was the Service Jam? IBM created an online venue where everyone from executives, students, philanthropists, innovators and volunteers logged on to share ideas about service as a solution and service as a means to create positive change. Special guests included our CEO, Jean Case, along with high-profile thought leaders in the service sector such as George H. W. Bush, 41st President of the U.S., Ray Chambers, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for Malaria and Lord Nat Wei, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister, The Big Society, UK. The free, three-day event was open to anyone who wanted to participate and was designed to “take the pulse” of the participants on innovative service solutions.

The Service Jam focused on eight key themes, including:

• Quantum Leaps in Service: Groundbreaking innovations fueling the service movement
• The Digital Revolution in Service: Transforming the service sector through technology
• Empowering the Individual: Personalizing civic engagement for the individual
• Increasing Value & Impact of Service: Maximizing resources within an organization
• Scaling Impact: Replicating effective solutions to broaden social impact
• Measuring Social Impact: Maximizing and sustaining change through metrics
• Progress through Collaboration: Building cross-sector partnerships critical to success
• Global Challenges, Local Action: Customizing solutions to solve world issues

As part of her participation in the Service Jam, Jean Case shared her thoughts related to technology in the service sector. This dialogue led to an enlightening discussion with participants about the evolving intersection between service, social innovation and technology and what that means for the service sector.

Here are several excerpts from her posts:

Leveraging Localization:

In a FORTUNE panel just this past week, CEOs of Yahoo, Kraft and Pepsi said that the most significant consumer trends impacting their businesses [includes] the desire for "localization" in marketing and the overall trend to find more value through coupon/discounts. For nonprofits looking for unique ways to build donor (consumer) rewards, I would recommend that they look closely at two trends in social media—geolocation applications [and] local group coupon companies.

Motivating Individuals to Donate Using Popular Platforms and New Technology:

There is no doubt that mobile and smart phones provide all kinds of new and innovative ways to engage volunteers and donors during popular events or as part of TV viewing. Industry leaders predict that in 2012 smart phones will overtake the number of shipments of PCs and laptops combined. That's a big opportunity! The combination of rich media offered with new devices (iPad, mobile, etc.) and the interactivity and personal nature they can bring do represent some great opportunities to try some new volunteer or donor pilots… Push technology via mobile is another area that nonprofits could explore for regular updates on events and news. Taken together, the opportunity to connect with donors leveraging popular events and programs seems limitless.

Return on Investment in Social Media:

At a conference I attended this week, Coke said that fans on Facebook spend $69 more on Coke than non-fans. This kind of clear measurement is an ideal standard for nonprofits to follow—what is the average donation of a Facebook fan versus others? How much incremental revenue came from Twitter activity? These are the measurements that we should start to see as social media becomes more integrated in the work of nonprofits but we aren't there yet but it is important to measure other brand and awareness developments, too.

The conversation conducted in each of the forums was engaging and we hope will ultimately help spur the development of creative solutions from which we can all benefit. IBM will use the information, comments, and feedback provided from the Service Jam to produce a white paper summarizing key findings, and highlighting creative ideas and social solutions. The company intends for this document to provide insights into key trends in social innovation and serve as a guide to help organizations improve their own service programs. In the meantime, you can visit the site and read all of the conversations that took place through October 31, 2010.