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2022 Annual IBM Community Survey

By Marius Ciortea posted Wed June 01, 2022 12:00 AM

  

Each year the IBM Community team runs a community survey to gather feedback from Community members. This year, the 2022 Annual IBM Community Survey ran for one month, from February 8 to March 7, 2022. Our goal for the annual survey was to hear from our global community members about their experience and take away actionable insights to implement and improve the IBM Community. It’s important that we hear from you, our valued members about what’s working, what isn’t, and where we should focus our efforts.

With over 300K members, the IBM Community is the place to interact with product users and experts, share information, and learn from one another. We’re committed to making the IBM Community the #1 place for product users - a thriving global network for individuals who use IBM solutions to share their experiences, learn from each other, and do more with IBM products and solutions. With this mission – listening to feedback from community members, bringing everyone together, and a focus on continued improvement is at the forefront.

We had 2,512 Total Survey Respondents this year, up 50% from 2021. Take a look at our takeaways and what we discovered below:

Survey Results

One of the first questions we asked these respondents was "In an ideal world, the IBM Community would enable me to..."

The top 3 responses were:

  1. Develop new skills or expertise (75.36%)
  2. Engage with IBM subject matter experts (61.28%)
  3. Get answers to my most pressing questions (57.45%)



We also wanted to get an idea of how easy it is for members to find resources and navigate the site. We asked “To what degree do you agree with the sentiments on the IBM Community stated below (please rate from 1-5; one being strongly disagree, five being strongly agree in these 4 areas: 1) Is it easy to find opportunities for interaction with other users? 2) Is it easy to find resources and information? 3) Is it easy to navigate through the IBM Community site?  4) Is it easy to find and register for events?

As you can see below there is room for improvement and we’ve already taken steps to improve easy access to resources and overall navigation of the site.



Our opened ended survey question was “What would make the IBM Community more relevant to you?”

Based on open ended survey responses, the majority of responses fell within these top 3 categories:

  1. Content (types of content members want to see in the community - ex: Technical, demos/videos, best practices, entry level, tips and tricks)
  2. Technology (navigation, search/ general UX, language/translation)
  3. Support (access to opportunities, SMEs, and overall guidance)

 

Content

You told us you would like more documentation and technical resources including case studies, releases, real world use cases/examples, demos/videos, and best practices/ tips & tricks. We want you to know the IBM Community team is committed to working closely with IBM product managers and tech sellers to ensure the most in depth and up to date product information is accessible throughout the IBM Community.


Technology

Based on feedback from our 2021 survey one of our top goals was improving site navigation. In the 3rd quarter of 2021 we implemented a site-wide navigation “mega-menu” on the top level of the IBM Community:



From comparing open ended survey results from 2021 to 2022, we found that feedback related to Navigation/Search decreased by 62%. While there’s still room for improvement, we’re very pleased with the strides we’ve made in ensuring that members can easily find the information they are looking for, get answers to their questions, and access to quality information.



Support & Skills Development

Survey responses this year also showed a 10% increase in comments related to skills development such as an interest in “opportunities to undergo training courses with certification” and “industry recognized certifications for cloud, AI and other subject matter areas.”

Increasing opportunities for skills development is one of our top goals this year and we’re committed to creating compelling and impactful learning paths that enable members to reach their business and career goals with IBM.

As Covid restrictions have relaxed this year, members also indicated a desire for increased events in 2022 compared to last year. Members want to see more webinars, including webinars held in international time zones, and a desire to get back to in person events.

We are committed to hosting more events this year; for example, we host a bi-monthly virtual community social hour. Our latest social hour was on May 17th - inspired by IBM’s new slogan, “Let’s Create…” we highlighted the creative pursuits of IBM Community members (users, customers, partners, and IBMers). View our “How Do You Create?” thread for more information.

We also have 330+ user groups in the IBM Community. Many have resumed hosting in-person meetings in 2022. To find and join a user group in your area, from the main navigation menu click into the business unit that you are interested in. For example, choose “Business Automation” and you see “User Groups” on the right-hand side. The user groups listed on the site are open to join; please join the user groups that are applicable to you:



We also received interest from community members on career support (job opportunities and internships); for example, a desire for “more opportunities for individuals who are looking for a career change, specifically individuals who are looking to retool their skills after early retirement from other industries.”

We have some exciting announcements that we will share with the community around increased career support and resources coming soon.

Thank you again to everyone who participated in the 2022 Survey. Your feedback helps make the IBM Community better for all members and we look forward to sharing more ways we’ve implemented your feedback this year – so stay tuned!  

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