Corporate Social Network Contact Inference Engine
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In large organizations, employees face difficulties in finding the right contact for specific tasks due to incomplete and outdated information in corporate directories, and existing social networks are insufficient for capturing diverse relationships needed in a corporate environment.
Innovation Solution
A corporate social network that allows nodes representing employees and links representing various relationships, with an inferencing engine that searches along dimensions like location, department, and employee-type to suggest probable contacts based on the properties of the requesting employee.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a centralized approach is used to maintain contact information, then contact information can be systematically organized, but it requires dedicated personnel and is difficult to keep updated when job responsibilities change frequently
Solution Approach 1:
The system enables employees to self-update their own contact information and job responsibilities through the social network profile system. When employees change roles or responsibilities, they can directly update their profiles, eliminating the need for dedicated personnel to manually update contact directories. This self-service mechanism ensures contact information remains current without increasing system maintenance complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The system incorporates feedback mechanisms where employees can verify and confirm contact information through social network interactions. When employees interact through the system, their contact information is automatically validated and updated based on actual usage patterns, creating a feedback loop that maintains accuracy without requiring manual intervention.
2Ease of manufacture
If expertise directories are maintained by individual employees, then information can be easily updated, but the information is often incomplete and out-of-date because employees don't always fill in details
Solution Approach 1:
The system merges the expertise directory function with the social network platform. Instead of maintaining separate expertise directories that rely on employee input, the system combines contact information, expertise, and social relationships into a unified profile system. This integration ensures that information is both easy to update (through the familiar social network interface) and complete (because it leverages existing social network data).
Solution Approach 2:
The social network profile serves multiple functions simultaneously: it stores contact information, tracks expertise and skills, maps organizational relationships, and enables collaboration. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate expertise directories while ensuring comprehensive information collection through a single unified system that employees already use for social networking.
3Loss of information
If traditional corporate directories are used, then contact information and position details are provided, but they lack the ability to infer the right contact for specific tasks based on relationships and context
Solution Approach 1:
The system adds a new dimension to contact information by incorporating social network relationships and contextual data. Instead of simply listing contact details and positions, the system maps multi-dimensional relationships including organizational hierarchy, project collaborations, expertise areas, and interaction patterns. This dimensional expansion enables the system to infer the right contact for specific tasks by analyzing relationships across multiple dimensions rather than relying on static directory entries.
Solution Approach 2:
The system introduces an inferencing engine as an intermediary between the employee and the contact directory. This intermediary analyzes social network data, organizational relationships, and task requirements to automatically infer and suggest the most appropriate contact for specific tasks. The inferencing engine mediates between the available contact information and the employee's need, transforming static directory data into dynamic, context-aware contact recommendations.
4Adaptability or versatility
If informal social networks are used, then information is created and maintained in a collaborative and distributed manner, but they only allow relationships based on friendship and are not sufficient for corporate environments
Solution Approach 1:
The system dynamically adapts relationship types based on corporate context while maintaining the collaborative nature of social networks. Instead of allowing only static friendship relationships, the system dynamically creates and recognizes multiple relationship types including professional collaborations, project teams, mentorship relationships, and organizational hierarchies. This dynamic relationship modeling enables the system to accurately represent corporate environments while preserving the distributed, collaborative information maintenance benefits of social networks.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention provides a method, system, and computer program product for enhancing collaboration using a corporate social network to infer contacts. A method in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention includes: providing a social network for an organization, the social network including a plurality of nodes and links, wherein each node represents a member of the organization, and wherein each link represents a relationship between a pair of the nodes; receiving a request by a requesting member of the organization for a required type of contact; and inferring a contact to the requesting member by searching the social network along a plurality of dimensions from the node representing the requesting member.