Interactive communities bring increased engagement and revenue to numerous industries
MILWAUKEE (March 7, 2014) – 7Summits, a leading social business solutions provider, has become a trailblazer in social business gamification, thanks to their pioneering work with several Fortune 500 companies. 7Summits recently implemented a successful gamification strategy with Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) and has published a white paper on the subject.
Gamification, the application of game-like elements to non-game environments, was one of the top business trends of 2013, and it is continuing to gain momentum in 2014. With a focus on incentivizing customer or employee behavior, many gamification models feature badges, leaderboards and points systems to keep participants engaged, drawing on tactics popularized in gaming. These tactics comprise a larger opportunity for driving change and transformation in organizations.
While game-like incentives have a long history in various industries, such as customer loyalty cards and frequent flyer miles, it was only recently that the trend began to take off as a major business trend across all industries. Today’s popularity of gamification is due in part to Generation Y coming of age after growing up amid exposure to more complex game elements, as detailed in 7Summits’ white paper, Critical Elements of Gamification.
While traditional forms of marketing have begun to lose effectiveness, gamification succeeds by providing users with immersive and interactive experiences. Gamification is capable of driving business results by transforming customers into brand advocates, building buzz for the brand and increasing employee retention and productivity for businesses in any industry. 7Summits approaches gamification with an eye for business results.
“7Summits has developed comprehensive social strategies that include gamification to drive significant business results,” said Rob Murray, Senior Vice President of Business Development for 7Summits. “We help organizations align their gamification strategies to a specific business objective, instead of just trying it because it’s the latest fad.”
Employees are often slow to adopt any major change to an organization, leading to a lag in productivity. This lag is where gamification works best.
“Companies should capitalize on people’s natural proclivity for competition to generate stronger results in user adoption,” said Paul Stillmank, CEO of 7Summits. “7Summits can enable rapid adoption of any business process with these techniques, minimizing productivity loss.”
Gamification gives employees the incentive to make this change, keeps them engaged, and thus, increases productivity in times of flux. 7Summits did just that when creating two social communities for Hitachi Data Systems, using gamification to enhance the interactive experience for employees and customers. The internal community features employee missions and digital badges that encourage interaction, and the external community incentivizes customers to help each other with support issues, lowering customer support costs for HDS.
Download the white paper to learn more about the critical elements of gamification and how 7Summits can implement a gamification strategy for your organization.
About 7Summits
7Summits LLC is a social business solutions provider founded in 2009 to help companies engage customers, partners and employees to help grow their businesses. 7Summits delivers top line revenue growth and bottom-line productivity improvement by focusing on both consumer influence and employee collaboration. The company works with dozens of Fortune 500 brands to transform key business processes and become more fully networked enterprises. 7Summits offers deep expertise in social business strategy, community experience design, platform development and integration, as well as community activation. 7Summits is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. For more information, please visit
http://www.7summitsagency.com/.
