At a savings and loan bank in Germany, 6 months of e-Mail data from over 2000 bank employees was collected. To discover the relationship between communication and business performance, we obtained performance indicators such as achievement of objectives, operating profit, benchmarking of tasks, personal evaluation, and self-assessment on the group and individual level by conducting an online survey and getting data from the accounting department.

Central questions addressed were how communication and social network structure influenced revenue, individual and group performance. As a result of the dynamic social network analysis we were able to find indicators of high-performing branch offices, teams, and individuals. We identified different categories of communication patterns typical of managers as well as of other levels of hierarchy. We also were able to find efficient communication patterns for common tasks such as managing meetings, opening a bank account, or selling a mortgage to a customer.