Supernova Award Category
The Problem
The ever-changing needs of both residents and employees presented an opportunity to evolve collaborative technologies. One of Equity Residential's key priorities is to "own great apartment communities in great cities, run by great people who care about customers and each other." They sought to redefine learning and create a platform where everyone could contribute - from customers, sales people and service managers - knowing that the organization could benefit tremendously from the combined knowledge. Equity Residential was looking for one solution in a modern, easy-to-use platform.
The Solution
Equity Residential successfully implemented Saba Cloud to create a single, “irresistible” knowledge management platform to let their 3,600 employees' “genius be heard." In doing so, Equity Residential replaced four different systems (including their web conferenicng platform, learning management system, corporate intranet, and collaboration sites), all with Saba Cloud, enabling them to connect and collect insights from its team in many creative formats from video to avatars and animations, bringing its business brand to life.
The results
Saba Cloud enables effective transformation, change management and organizational alignment of business goals across various teams. It has further accelerated collaboration across virtual teams, created a transparent environment with clear accountability and increased levels of engagement for employees across the globe. Saba Cloud also brought meetings, learning management systems, the intranet, social knowledge sharing and collaboration sites together in one tool for the very first time.
Metrics
For Equity Residential, talent management strategy is all about supporting the business through employees and the created culture - and it is not an understatement to say they are obsessive about their people and culture. The connected one-knowledge platform that Saba Cloud enabled ultimately teaches self-reliance – showing employees what they need to be successful, and how to learn and grow. Under this powerful platform, Equity Residential was able to connect employees and subject matter experts in a way that wasn't possible through outdated methods.
The unified real-time collaboration capabilities (Saba Meeting) helped connect Equity Residential employees all over the company - whether it was somebody needing legal guidance, a team working together to price apartments, or even a service manager needing guidance on how to glaze a bathtub. Employees are able to hold interactive webinars and training sessions online, and distance barriers are no longer a problem due to Saba Cloud's ability to connect employees with clients who were not located in the surrounding Chicago area.
The Technology
Saba Cloud is a next generation, people-centric talent management solution that uses intuitive social, mobile and collaborative tools - along with machine learning algorithms that intelligently curate and recommend content, connections and courses - to transform traditional processes. It uses both social and real-time collaboration capabilities throughout its unified talent management solution to provide a personalized, relevant and engaging user experience for managers and employees.
Disruptive Factor
Previous methods contained basic information-centric tools designed to collect and manage data from standardized programs. While traditional succession planning and talent collaboration processes are critical to building a leadership pipeline, sometimes executives and managers may not have the full picture of who the most influential employees are and where the organization's roadblocks lie.
Earlier technology couldn’t accurately produce a highly personalized, relevant and useful user experience when it comes to learning and collaborating. Gaps existed and this type of approach lacked the social, mobile and collaborative technologies needed for today's workforce.
Shining Moment