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Tieto a Corporate Website Worth a Visit

I believe this is the first consulting services company I have profiled. It is not one of the mega consulting firms, but it sure knows how to tell visitors about itself. The company Tieto is based in Finland and does business across the globe.

Tieto
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A good feature on the uncluttered homepage is that the company tells you what they do (not every company does).

Industries served and their offerings are outlined.

Want to learn more? You only need to click on Industry Expertise and Offerings and you get more information.

Next, the About Us page offers a good menu of links.

I would like to see Corporate Governance here instead of being part of the Investors section. Good that Strategy is listed first and I think other companies would be wise to take note of this. Click on Strategy to see–

Tieto strategy

and related Financial Goals–

Tieto goals

This is a good example of transparency without divulging the “corporate jewels”.

Next the company offers Customer magazines and Other Publications.

Here is a tidbit from the article “Grow your own financial recovery” —

Cheer up…
– some of the benefits of a recession….

1

It forces you to stop being wasteful.

2

It makes you think again about business habits.

3

It accelerates change

4

It encourages you to be more creative

5

It forces you to make tough decisions

6

It thins out the competition

7

It makes you realize that you shouldn’t take anything for granted

8

It brings you back to basics

9

It is an opportunity for a new start

10

It reminds you that business is about people… and ideas

Good advice indeed.  Tieto: a corporate website worth a visit.

Billerud: Corporate Message in Clear Packaging

As part of a research project into the websites of packaging companies, I came across Billerud’s corporate website.

billerud-home-page
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Billerud is smaller than many of the companies whose sites I usually study, but there are many excellent features nonetheless.

The first thing that I noticed was the copy.

The home page is a fairly typical corporate-style box-based site with teasers to lower level pages, but the main focus of the page is on a particular product, with a focus box highlighting images of the new product, and marketing-type language rather than a more corporate style…

“Think smooth, round and natural shapes.
Think striking and creative.
Think environmentally friendly and sustainable”

This is sufficiently different that it stands out from the norm, and the language used elsewhere on the site is also interesting. For example, on the Environment page, the company has chosen to explain why their industry is both important and responsible in ‘layman’ language:

The Swedish forests are expanding at a record rate. Since 1945, they have increased almost 50 per cent. At the same time, every year it has been possible to extract more and more timber from the Swedish forests. The Swedish forest industry replants more forest than it fells, and for every tree felled, 2-4 new ones are planted. We are thus not running out of wood.

And on the products pages:

Containerboard is one of the world’s most used packaging materials. It is strong, durable, lightweight, environment-friendly and cost-effective, which makes it perfect for everything from strong, stiff and impact-resistant transport packaging to smart-looking consumer packaging featuring advanced printing. It’s a fact that 90% of all consumer goods are packed in containerboard cases at some stage during transportation.

Billerud’s containerboard, both the corrugated middle layer (fluting) and the outer layer (lining), is made of 100% primary fibre. That ensures a clean and very strong paper used in the most demanding applications. When there are extra requirements for strength, purity, hygiene and good printing, Billerud’s liner and fluting make an excellent choice.

This kind of language doesn’t use jargon, will be easily understood by most visitors (12.58 on the Gunning Fog Index for all the Billerud text quoted here), explains the benefits of the product, the significance of the industry and reiterates the environmental benefits as well – an important feature for this industry. And it appears trustworthy and authentic.

Why can’t all corporate sites be written this clearly?

Now, this site is clearly multi-purpose, in that it is targeting purchasers as well as the more corporate visitor, but it isn’t just the product pages that are easy to read. A quick look at the Corporate Governance section (usually the most difficult part of a corporate site to read) shows that the links to the usual Terms of Reference documents are rephrased as ‘Work Instructions’. And in the Careers section:

Our attitude to each other and to our environment is characterised by respect, openness and reliability.

Openness, respect and innovation lie at the heart of all activities performed by Billerud. Everything we do must also be of the best quality, and that applies not only for our products but also for external contacts and the work we do internally, such as training, promoting health and safety and working for the environment.

A clear statement of the corporate expectations of their staff, with no corporate jargon. Did you notice the repeated mention of the environment? It clearly matters to this company – enough to be a significant part of their corporate messaging.

This is a multi-purpose site, so the copy has to serve as sales copy as well as corporate copy; which makes me wonder why we usually expect corporate copy to be different from sales copy. Obviously there are topics on the corporate site that have to convey numeric data, need to be conveyed in an objective manner, and which have to comply and conform to various expectations. But wouldn’t it be nicer to read a corporate site if as much as possible was written in a friendly open fashion, as this is?

I also wonder if the fact that English is the second language for the site (there are a couple of slightly odd phrasings – ‘actors in the industry’ rather than the more usual ‘players’, for example, though perhaps this is intentional) has made it easier for the writer to avoid falling into the corporate language trap.

I’ll be interested to know what you think; do you like the style of the Billerud site? Do you find it easy to read?

How to be a Useful Expert

I recently invited Josh Hanagarne, World’s Strongest Librarian, to write a guest post for us. Josh is the twitchy giant behind World’s Strongest Librarian, a blog about living with Tourette’s Syndrome, book recommendations, buying pants when you’re 6’8”, old-time strongman training, kettlebells, and much more. Please subscribe to Josh’s RSS Updates to stay in touch.

Over to you, Josh…

How To Be A Useful Expert

Ancient Japanese Proverb

Too many boatmen will run the boat up to the top of the mountain

different-directions

Nothing is more useful than an expert.  Nothing is more useless than an expert that nobody can benefit from.

We turn to experts for answers because they’ve paid their dues to acquire bodies of knowledge that most people don’t have.  Their talents and vision are often needed to Get Things Done.  But I’ve seen groups of experts that have no idea how to work with other people.  When projects need collaborators to be successful, this can be a disaster.  If nobody else can benefit from your talents, what is your expertise really worth? 

I’ve seen this over and over in two worlds: Academics and Business

Academics

The world of academics is full of insecure, brilliant people with multiple PhDs.  Some of them have very big egos and very short fuses.  I’ve seen some very nasty arguments between geniuses about whose realm is more important and should receive more of the money. 

But I get it.  I really do.  If you have paid your dues and reached the top of your niche, it can sting when someone refuses to acknowledge your greatness and majesty. 

Not to be too obvious, but have noticed that not everyone shares the same passion?  You’ve never seen a sadder argument than a botanist trying to convince a literary theorist that botany is the Ultimate Academic Discipline.  Once things are nearing the point of blows being exchanged, the likelihood of productive partnering in the future becomes unlikely.

Whether either one of those fields is important, I’ll leave to you. 

The Private Sector

The Private Sector is no different.  Various CEOs, department heads, and top dogs from all walks of the business can develop a tendency to believe their own specialty is the most important.  Everyone has vanity, ego, and insecurities somewhere inside of them.  That’s one of the costs of being alive. 

But what happens when there is a project to work on and everyone wants to be in charge?  Sometimes you can’t afford to say, “Well, we’re all just fallible humans.  Of course we’re fighting and howling about this!  Please pass me the boxing gloves.”  

How A Cliche becomes A Cliche

I’m not a big fan of acronyms and I like superficial “Rah Rah” corporate-speak even less.  But hidden inside every cliche is something true.  Have you ever heard of TEAM, aka “Together everyone achieves more?”

Don’t roll your eyes just yet if you can help it.  It’s not the fault of the phrase that it’s been spouted around for so long that nobody can hear it without retching.  It is true that the right team can get more done than any of the single players can do alone.

A Simple But Not Simplistic Example

Suppose a corporation wants to start a website.  After the website is built, someone up high hears that these blog things are pretty sweet and now they want a blog for the corporate website.  The person at the top selects the eight department heads and says, “Get a blog going and fill it with content.  Make it work and make it work for us.” 

Now let’s go out on a limb and assume that those eight department heads don’t agree on everything 100% of the time.  How will they figure out what will go on the blog?  Whose department gets the most exposure?  How often?  Who is the best writer?  Who is the worst writer?  Does everyone believe that a blog is actually a good idea?  Does everyone agree on the reasons for why the blog exists? 

There are questions that need to be asked at the beginning of any collaborative effort. 

They don’t always get asked and then–sometimes the best you can do is try to get your mouth guard in before the punching starts.

So What’s The Answer?

People like to feel good about what they know and what they can do.  I’ve never met anyone who does not enjoy the chance to display their own skills and talents. In this example, the useful expert is the one who has something to offer to the project–not the expert who feels the need to constantly remind everyone of how many degrees they have and how much money their talents have made them. 

Maybe that’s the question to ask when a group of competent, smart, but potentially-at-odds people get together to collaborate:

What is everyone good at?  How can each person’s talent be included?  Of course, if you’re putting together a corporate blog for a media conglomerate and someone raises their hand and says, “I’m an elite botanist, give me the reins and I can totally do this!”…

Cooler heads do have their place and should also be given the chance to prevail at times. 

Thanks, Josh!

Russia’s Norilsk Nickel

I’ve written reviews of many corporate websites around the world, but none in one of the largest countries–Russia. I found a worthy site in Norilsk Nickel —

While not as refined as many corporate websites, the Home Page has useful content. Some observations–

1. Quick access to equity information

2. Internet resources links to a nice site for young people (adults might find this useful) and a corporate blog (Russian only, perhaps they will add other languages in the future)

3. Updated News

4. Corporate presentations, current available in HTML

5. Upper right navigation includes Nickel Advantages, a series of videos that are very instructive.

Next navigate to the Operations section–

The company provides summary displays of where they have a presence. This section also includes information about production and quality.

A few more noteworthy features include —

  • Norilsk displays extensive historical credit ratings
  • On the bottom of the Downloads page, which contains access to many company reports, there are two videos: a movie about the company, and one about ecology.

In sum, what Norilsk Nickel website may lack in glitz, it more than makes up for in offering useful information content.

UniCredit Group–Homepage and Integrity

Seems that more companies are using their homepage to grab visitors. I found this to be the case for Italy based UniCredit Group.

UniCredit packs the homepage with effective content–

  • Right on top are hard to miss testimonials. These are one of the most effective methods to establish credibility.
  • Access to press releases and news is available.
  • Share price and chart.
  • At the bottom, a series of links to what the company is doing to help clients and strengthen their financial base.
  • And finally a link to one of the best “at a glance” sections I have seen.

Well done. Next the About Us page–

Before getting to the comprehensive About US menu on the upper left, you see a strong corporate statement and a signed CEO letter. This is another effective website technique–prominently displaying the top manager with a short message enhances the the idea that the company is interested in the needs of visitors.

Next a visit to additional sections of About Us. I found the Values section to be unique —

Items of note–

  • Note the value chain of linking values to stakeholders, first time I have seen this technique
  • Integrity is a key element of the Values proposition

Also on this page is a further explanation regarding how the Values are related to stakeholder groups.

The Integrity Charter, as noted, is amply used in the discussion of Values. On The Integrity Charter page is —

With the aim to guarantee the proper application of the Integrity Charter, we have designed the Restorative Justice System. This System promotes individual responsibility and the voluntary resolution of matters between parties and it is supported by a Groupwide “Ombudsman” network that works to resolve matters in which the Values of the Integrity Charter may have been compromised.

The Ombudsmen are internal appointees completely independent who report directly to the Group’s Chairman, and they are responsible for assessing the validity of the claims in each case.

Every year all people who work for UniCredit Group are involved in the Integrity Charter Day, the annual Group event devoted to remember and discuss about the importance of the Integrity Charter and of its implications in every day working life.

Note the Ombudsman approach and the Integrity Charter Day. Now that is how to implement integrity. The Integrity Charter is only available as a PDF but is well worth a read. Within this document is a benchmark display of associating values and integrity to stakeholder groups–

Click to enlarge

I’ve seen enough and am ready to do business with UniCredit Group.

Belgium’s Bekaert — Engaging Home Page

Corporate websites continue to improve their ability to capture the attention of visitors. You might think that the best are those that offer consumer products. Well, I found a corporate website that —

is a global market leader in drawn steel wire products and applications and a technological leader in its two core competences: advanced metal transformation and advanced materials and coatings.

The company is Bekaert and it has been in business since 1880: a remarkable achievement.

The company must have realized that the above description might need a little expansion, so they also said —

You might know us for example as a supplier of steel cord products for tire reinforcement – one in every four tires in the world runs on Bekaert steel cord. Or maybe you know our Dramix® steel fibers, used to reinforce over five million cubic meters of concrete every year. But we also offer significant added value for various businesses in all kinds of markets, from automotive to construction and from utilities to the heavy equipment sector.

Somebody is on the ball, offering an informal translation. OK, on to the Home Page —

Bekaert goes right to the task. Information about the company is readily available.

1., 2. On the upper left is Bekaert in a nutshell; click on More About Us to obtain a well done summary of what the company does.

3. The Annual Report is prominently displayed. Click on the image and you get a easy to navigate online version. No PDFs here.

4. The company provides a search capability to find out more about their offerings. This is useful to a number of stakeholders, including potential customers, investors and the media.

5. Continuing on the theme in #4, the company offers stakeholders a more focused approach to match their products to industries.

6. News and share price and no need to go to Investors and more clicks unless you need more information.

7. Bekaert provides visitors with an easy to navigate map of the global locations. Click on the map and the home page shows the map in place of the Annual Report.

Another good feature is this graphic on pages that you navigate to from the Home Page (see right) —

An example of effective use of a corporate website for stakeholder communications. Bekaert’s website is a good example of using the Home Page for quick visitor communications.