Changing Culture with Coffee

Something as simple as a cup of coffee can change your company’s culture.

It’s wild to say, but Hootsuite — the Vancouver-based social media management platform — proved they could.

“Anyone who’s worked in a big company knows that, despite best efforts, invisible walls end up going up between teams and departments. Sales and marketing might as well be on different planets...” says Hootsuite CEO, Ryan Holmes.

So how did coffee solve this problem?

At Hootsuite, Random Coffee started as a way to simply connect more with the people you run into in the hallways or at the watercooler every day. And after 2000 coffees, Hootsuite employees began to see how their departments fit together, and how sharing knowledge between them improved everything from product and development to brand and marketing.

"All of this might sound frivolous, but I’d argue that it’s exactly the opposite. Social technologies have transformed our personal lives in the last decade, enabling a kind of intimacy and collaboration hard to imagine before. Ever so slowly, that same spirit — applying technology to bring people closer in real life — is finding its way inside company walls. And, ultimately, human connection is what distinguishes great companies from ordinary ones." Holmes says.

For the first time ever, Hootsuite is bringing this technology outside of their own four walls. Sign up for a #HootsuiteRandomCoffee, and Hootsuite will pair you up with another SXSW attendee. Who knows who you’ll meet!

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Sponsored content and photo provided by Hootsuite