Clark focuses on process improvements like these as benchmarks for success. "The metrics around collaboration are always difficult in terms of dollars and cents," he says. "I tend to focus more on how it improves particular processes."

Within a few years--Clark won't give an exact timeline--all employees will have Office Communicator, which will act as an instant messaging client, soft phone, and gateway to Web and videoconferencing. "The vision is the ability to escalate to different levels of communication," he says, adding that the technology to do this is already in various stages of rollout, from proof of concept to pilot to production. Cisco CallManager and Microsoft Office Communications Server will allow Monsanto to integrate presence and click-to-call into Office apps, Outlook, SharePoint, blogs, and eventually, Monsanto's other business systems.

BLOGS AND WIKIS
What's next for Monsanto's SharePoint deployment? Blogs and wikis. One Monsanto research group that acted as a guinea pig for these now has 800 people using them. The group's portal has multiple blogs, Clark says, and it's made RSS feed setup easier. New corporate communications blogs also are being deployed.

"It's still evolving, and we're still learning how to use it effectively," Clark says of the new channels, adding that many Monsanto employees are learning exactly what blogs and wikis are.

Monsanto hired Rob Cross, a University of Virginia professor, to perform social network analysis on the company. Cross, who's also worked with Microsoft and Procter & Gamble, is helping identify key influencers and information bottlenecks, detail how disparate locations communicate, and generally uncover the network of employee relationships at Monsanto.

The company will use that information to share best practices on getting new employees involved in the corporate culture, using information brokers as mentors, and spreading responsibility when certain employees become logjams. The information could also be used by IT, Showers says. "It's a way to identify key influencers and grease the skids in terms of adoption of new tools," he says.

Plans include using BlackBerrys and Windows Mobile phones to mobilize the collaboration infrastructure. SharePoint, Showers says, has "just scratched the surface" on how it can be used as a social networking tool. There are kinks to be worked out, he admits, in terms of shifting the corporate culture toward new technologies that may seem foreign to workers. But if Monsanto knows anything, it's how to encourage growth.

Illustration by Brian Stauffer

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