Companies should not attempt to jump into gamification all at once. Here are four specific applications that are excellent places to start your gamification program.

1. Call Centers

Leaderboards are just the start of what companies can do to gamify call centers to improve morale and results.

"For call centers and IT support desks, gamification can provide real-time dashboards in a fun and engaging manner," says Siddhesh Bhobe, associate vice president at Persistent Systems, a global software product development company. The result, he says, is better productivity.

Gamification of the enterprise

2. Social media and knowledge sharing

Participating in corporate social media networks isn't usually as much fun as consumer-oriented social networks, where people can see pictures of their grandkids, check on high school crushes, and catch up on the latest puppy videos. And employees might need some incentives to share information and expertise that they previously hoarded.

For example, Bluewolf, a management consulting firm in New York City, uses Salesforce.com's Chatter platform as its internal social network. At the beginning of the year, the platform was gamified, with employees getting points when they post comments - and more points if that comment sparks a conversation. They also get points for sharing reports to their outside social networks, or publishing a blog post, or making presentations on weekly knowledge management calls.

Employees earn points, says Natasha Oxenburgh, Bluewolf's social programs manager, which can be redeemed for flight upgrades, lunch with the CEO, and trips to the Salesforce.com annual conference.

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