A Holistic Approach to Enabling the Collaborative Enterprise #e20s

Lee Bryant closed the Enterprise 2.0 Summit with a talk about Social Business.

Where's Enterprise 2.0 headed next? It's in the direction of providing real business value.

Enterprise 2.0 has been adopted at least a bit by most organizations. There's a nice spread of use cases, showed by research supported by Headshift.

Lee sees Enterprise 2.0 as a Trojan mice for organizational change. Small but impressive changes to the organization.

Enterprise 2.0 is still in the early phase, patchy and tool-centric (like the KM wave was in the beginning).

We're looking for quantifiable business improvements, like:

• lower operational costs
• networked productivity
• business agility
• effective management (move away from information hostages: businesses run by writing and moving report up and down the ladder)
• customer centricity (Listen! But many companies lack a structure to socialize what you're learned by listening)

Where is business practice going wrong?

1. people, outdated view of motivation, behavior. Do we trust them. Trust is cheaper than control. We still have no real understanding of viral behavior inside organizations.
2. process, an expensive way to orchestrate activity
3. technology, a critique of the IT function. Businesses are spending lots of time on very basic stuff, like ERP/CRM. Light-weight processes with tools so employees can get things done. We used to believe that huge automation would lead to huge productivity improvements, which it did not.

What have we learned that can help here?

• human behavior, spread of influence in networks
• aggregation, flow, network effects, force multipliers
• open, collaborative working contexts
• designing for emergence and evolution

Moving beyond e2.0 adoption:

• social business program
• platform thinking for underlying capabilities (shows a really interesting picture of how this platform adds up technically)
• this will lead to an app store for every enterprise
• use cases and local, situated software
• e.g. better coping tools for information overload

Now he moves over to sharing open data to change behavior. Now the processes to send data up and down the organization is not real-time and not open. If it would be, every employee could change their behavior in increments.

Another future trends is social experience design: energizing networks. Lots of measuring and monitoring and changing on the fly. This could give you loads of information about the amount of engagement there is.

Finally, there are new opportunities for leadership. Leadership is not obsolete, but it will change. Or E2.0 helps business leaders to reach out. Intimacy at scale.

This can create meaningful change in organizations. It's not a full-frontal battle, or it shouldn't be. But it should weave in with the existing networks and structures. From biology we know we only need 5% to create flock!

Great end to the Enterprise 2.0 Summit!

Enterprise 2.0 The Book by @amcafee, A Review

Some time ago I said: Vacation First. I wanted to share my review of professor Andrew McAfee's book Enterprise 2.0 before I went on vacation. That didn't work out. I wish I could have written this review sooner, because the sooner you read this book the better. I'll tell you why.

Andrew McAfee coined the term 'enterprise 2.0' (in 2006) and has been one of the leading thinkers in the space of applying web 2.0 concepts and tools (or 'collaborative media' as McAfee likes to call them) to the workplace. This book summarizes his thinking over the years. Of course he's been blogging and speaking about this topic. So I was wondering if this book would bring me new insights. Well it did. And to me this is why I love books. You know thinking about the topic you're reading about in a book won't stop as soon as the book has been published. But a book does give you a summary of past thinking and concepts for future thinking. And all that in a limited amount of pages (instead of the endless amount of Internet pages...).

I like the way the book starts. It could have started by describing the new social tools and their underlying concepts. But it doesn't. Chapter 2 starts with several real-life cases we can all relate to. These cases make us reflect on information sharing and gathering problems in organizations. How can be solve them? What is the real underlying issue?

The next chapter goes on to explain the big shift. Is Web 2.0 really a paradigm shift or is it an incremental change? Or even just a hype? And how does this shift relate to businesses? Will it have effect only on the Internet or will it also change the way we do business?

Only then does McAfee go back to the issues mentioned in chapter 2. This interesting chapter explains the research on 'tie strength', pointing to Granovetter's work a.o. (which you should read as well!). Subsequently McAfee picks up every case of ch. 2 and shows how Enterprise 2.0 concepts and tools addresses the needs, whereas 1.0 solutions couldn't do the trick. I think this chapter will be an 'Aha moment' for many readers, definitely for those that are new to these concepts.

This book contains information for people in different stages of understanding and implementing Enterprise 2.0. The book describes 'technologies and technology based communities' like blogs, Facebook, etc. For many there is nothing new here. But what I like about the book is McAfee's honesty. McAfee describes how he got interested in Web 2.0 and how his thinking about Enterprise 2.0 started. He didn't 'get it' from the start, but slowly and steadily started to understand and research it. I think this applies to most people in this space. Almost none can say: I understood it from the start. Most experts in this field started out as sceptics. But then made the leap and started blogging, for instance, and by using social media started to understand and be excited about them. This fact is inspiring to all who just learned about Web 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0. It will hopefully get them started more quickly.

This also relates to one of the last chapters of the book: Red Herrings and Long Hauls. Many think Enterprise 2.0 is an instant success. You just set up a (micro)blog and your organization will change and speed up dramatically. McAfee warns us for this and clearly shows we should organize for the long haul. I think this also underlines the need for management and strategic choices to reap the long term benefits of Enterprise 2.0. Enterprise 2.0 requires deep changes in thinking about organizations, management, employees (users) and tools. Take time to help the organization understand these new concepts and tools.

Furthermore he also points to interesting research telling us that new tools have to be 10 times better than the tools we're using for them to be adopted. So, how much better is microblogging than email? Patience is necessary. Evangelizing, demonstrating, training and explaining as well.

This chapter also addresses the main obstacles (red herrings) to Enterprise 2.0 adoption. One topic I'd like to mention here is McAfee's research shows that "most people know how to act professionally in job-related environments, including digital ones". And therefore he has hardly seen Enterprise 2.0 adoption lead to security breaches like employees sharing IP sensitive information. He also points to the CIA using Enterprise 2.0 concepts and tools. They concluded "that the benefits of better and wider sharing of intelligence information outweigh the risks."

I love the way McAfee advises us to work on the adoption of Enterprise 2.0 concepts and tools. He starts out by saying we should connect with believers. Employees already convinced of the importance of social media and their use for organizations. Have them help educate and evangelize. Another important point he makes is to connect to the existing tool set. We use email a lot. So start there.

This book definitely calls for a follow-up! Topics for the next book could be about the following:

1. There's lots of discussion about how the social tools relate to formal business and information processes. How this can be done and companies are actually doing it, is a great topic to systematically write down in a book. This would extend what McAfee says about 'in the flow' and 'above the flow' on page 184.
2. There's some debate about what comes after Web 2.0. O'Reilly and Battelle call it 'Web Squared'. What does this mean for Enterprise 2.0? What would Enterprise Squared be? Or is it already there? Lots of thinking is being done on this topic as well. Again, this thinking could be summarized in a book as well.

This is not a complete summary. I picked out things I found very interesting. Just to show you I really enjoyed reading this book. I have advised many to read this book and hope this review will get you to do so as well.

Thank you for writing this book and sharing your insights, Andrew McAfee!

Note: This review has also been posted on Amazon in the review section of the book.

Use Social Media to Understand Them

Absolutely great post by Chris Dixon about experiencing social media. Just go ahead and read it. It's short, but good.

This is exactly the reason I like to tell people about what I get from social media, but stopped to push them into this space. They have to do that on their own. Experience them. Give them some time. And dismiss them then if you like.

Scoren met Social Media [Dutch]

Er wordt veel gepraat en gesproken over social media. Maar wat is social media? Of is het: wat zijn social media? Waarom zou ik dit moeten weten en wat kan ik ermee in mijn dagelijkse praktijk? En als ik het zelf gebruik, is het misschien ook mogelijk om het zakelijk te gebruiken? Hoe zou het bedrijf waar ik voor werk social media kunnen inzetten?

Om deze vragen te beantwoorden heeft het bedrijf Entopic Internet expert Erwin Boogert gevraagd om een boek te schrijven. Onlangs is het boek verschenen en het heeft als titel 'Scoren met social media'. Het is te bestellen via Entopic of boekhandel.

Boogert is er goed in geslaagd om er een leesbaar en leerzaam boek van te maken. Leerzaam, ook qua praktische spits. Het boek wil de lezer echt aan het werk zetten, persoonlijk en zakelijk. De lezer wordt hierdoor aangespoord door alle praktijk cases die verwerkt zijn in het boek en het gedeelte van het boek wat wil helpen om te komen tot een social media strategie.

Het boek is opgedeeld in verschillende hoofdstukken:

1. Het eerste hoofdstuk geeft een definitie en overzicht over social media. Boogert kiest een wat ruimere definitie van social media dan ik zou kiezen. Deze insteek is wel goed om mensen te laten zien dat social media in een context geplaatst kan worden van oudere internettechnologie. Social media is niet uit de hemel komen vallen. En ik vind dat hij wat snel met praktijk cases komt. Ik had even daarmee gewacht. Ik merk dat mensen eerst de definitie en concepten van social media goed moeten begrijpen. Als je met praktijkvoorbeelden komt, verliezen mensen zich daar snel in of gaan ze die cases bekritiseren (ja, we leven in Nederland...). Dit neemt niet weg dat ik de vele voorbeelden heel verhelderend en inspirerend vind. Mensen en bedrijven kunnen zich eraan spiegelen.
2. Hoofdstuk 2 gaat over het voorbereiden van een social media strategie. Het gaat hier vooral over de organisatie van social media in bedrijven. Wie kan er het beste verantwoordelijkheid voor nemen? Welke afdeling past het beste of heeft het meeste aan social media? Voor het antwoord, moet u het boek lezen!
3. Hoofdstuk 3 gaat vervolgens over het formuleren en uitvoeren van een social media strategie. Hoofdstuk 2, 3 en 4 zijn lekker praktisch. Het helpt stap-voor-stap om verder te komen. Ik vind het bijzonder goed dat Boogert een objectieve, meetbare insteek kiest. Dat hoeft niet perse, maar is wel uitdagend. Stel jezelf doelen, meet die in de praktijk, stuur bij, etc.
4. En hoofdstuk 4 gaat terug naar het persoonlijke gebruik van social media. In overzichtelijke tabellen word je geholpen om de social media te kiezen die passen bij je doelen/mogelijkheden.

Ik heb dit boek met plezier gelezen en kan het iedereen aanraden. De ervaren social media man/vrouw zal niet heel veel leren (alhoewel...). Maar dit boek is goed om bij de hand te hebben om door te geven aan mensen die vragen over social media hebben en graag handvatten willen hebben om te beginnen.

Disclaimer: Ik ga binnenkort voor Entopic werken. En ik hoop als Entopic medewerker workshops te geven op dit gebied. Ik ben echter niet betrokken geweest bij het schrijven en publiceren van dit boek.

The Problem with (Enterprise) Social Bookmarking?

The Dachis Group recently shared a really nice overview of "The 2010 Social Business Landscape", written by Dion Hinchcliffe. One of the tools I missed in his overview is 'social tagging' or 'social bookmarking'.

Based the research being done by my student, Arzu Yucekaya, on social bookmarking, I've thinking about and discussing with her why social bookmarking adoption seems to be harder than, for instance, the adoption of enterprise microblogging. At least, in the company I work for...

I'd like to share a citation from a (preliminary) version of her literature research. This citation relates to the adoption of knowledge sharing tools in organizations in general. She writes:

In the context of knowledge sharing systems, public good nature of knowledge introduces two major challenges that organization face (Prasarnphanich & Wagner, 2008):

1. The start-up problems (achieving critical mass)

2. Discontinuity problem (sustainability of actively contributing user base)

Critical mass is a small core of people who are willing to contribute at the expense of low returns in order to overcome the start-up costs and to create conditions for more widespread contributions (Prasarnphanich & Wagner, 2008). Critical mass theory concerns the joint action of groups that provide “collective good” or “public good”. The success of communities or social networks depends on two parameters: the shape of the production function of collective good and the heterogeneity of resources and interests across the potential contributors (Prasarnphanich & Wagner, 2008). Communities which consist of individuals with different backgrounds, interests and resources will maintain the attractiveness and will likely produce more public goods (Arakji, Benbunan-Fich, & Koufaris, 2009). (Arakji, Benbunan-Fich, & Koufaris, 2009) argued that the nature and contribution mechanism of web 2.0 communities is different due to their “low-barrier” characteristics; consequently, achieving critical mass is easier. (Millen, Feinberg, & Kerr, 2006) confirmed that the ability to reach critical mass does not present a problem as the marginal cost of bookmarking an existing resources is low. Following these arguments, the focus is on the second challenge in this thesis.

So, Arzu will focus on the second problem, because the bookmarking tool is easy to use, we just have to promote it more.

I agree we have to promote the bookmarking tool more and explain to colleagues why it's so useful. But these two problems bug me a bit. Are these really the fundamental reasons why knowledge sharing systems are not adopted and used over time? Or is there a more fundamental reason. For instance, if you don't understand the concept of sharing and the value of sharing, you'll never use tools that support sharing. Maybe this is a bit far-fetched, but I see this in practice. Just remember the 'knowledge is power' paradigm, which is still very prevalent in many companies. Or does this group of 'non-sharers' have no influence on the critical mass and therefore the adoption of these tools?

To make things more complicated: I'd use a blog and/or a bookmarking tool even if I was the only one using them. There's no critical mass there; I'm the only user. (Of course I understand bookmarking and blogging is more valuable and interesting in a network of bloggers/bookmarkers.)

So, what is the deal here? What is the real problem we are addressing? This is food for my thoughts and hopefully yours as well. I'd love to hear your ideas/remarks on this topic. And we'll definitely get back to you when Arzu comes up with more interesting insights!

Focus on Social Media Philosophy

Luis Suarez, one of IBM's well-known social media evangelists and email killer, has a really nice post titled "Forget social strategy, think social philosophy: Hippie 2.0". I hope you go ahead and read it. I'd love to hear your thoughts about his post (by leaving your comments on Luis' blog). I'll insert my thoughts here (that don't only apply to social media, by the way):

Nice post, Luis! I agree talking about the underlying philosophy and/or concepts of social media is insightful and helpful. I find talking in this way to employees and managers helps. As an IT manager in the company I work for said: "When deciding to do an IT investment let's not talk about money/ROI first, but first make a decision based on the story." In your terms: The philosophy should make sense and be understood first.

Océ's Social Media Guidelines

Recently Luis Suarez pointed to this nice overview of the different social media policies companies have (- Thanks Luis!). It's nice also from the perspective that it shows which and how many companies are taking social media seriously.

However, Océ's social media policy hasn't been shared yet... We'll here it is! As you may notice our policy has been inspired by IBM's. So, thanks for leading us IBM!

Océ Social Computing Guidelines

1. Océ encourages all employees to communicate open and transparent, for the benefit of Océ, your colleagues worldwide and yourself. With regards to participation in social media on behalf of Océ, it is required to obtain management approval in advance and to focus your contributions on topics related to your position.
2. Every Océ employee has signed a contract with Océ. Act according to the guidelines provided in this contract. These guidelines also apply when communicating on-line.
3. Every employee is personally responsible for the content they publish on blogs, wikis or any other form of user-generated media internally and externally.
4. Identify yourself- name and, when relevant, role at Océ, when you discuss Océ or Océ related matter externally and write in the first person. You must make it clear that you are speaking for yourself and not on behalf of Océ. You can use a disclaimer such as: the postings on this site are my own and don’t necessarily represent Océ’s position, strategies or opinions.
5. Respect copyright, fair use and financial disclosure laws.
6. Don’t provide any confidential information or information that is meant to be private or confidential to Océ.
7. Don’t cite or refer to clients, partners, colleagues or suppliers without their approval.
8. Respect your audience. Don’t engage in any conduct that would not be acceptable in Océ’s workplaces.
9. Try to add value. Provide worthwhile information and perspective.
   Oce’s brand is best represented by its people and what you publish will reflect on Oce’s brand, your colleagues and yourself.
10. Don’t talk about our competitors.
11. Stop publishing if your manager says so.

Well, that's it. What do you think? Like it?

Tags van Technorati: social media,social computing,guidelines,oce

Stop Using E-mail

Nice presentation (9 min.) by Luis Suarez to whom I've been pointing regularly on my blog. This is his presentation at the Web 2.0 Expo in Berlin (added in below). It gives a good overview of how he's trying to stop using e-mail for the wrong reasons and what he experiences doing this.

I've asked the question before, but I'd really like to hear more from Luis about the time he used to spend on email and the time he now spends on email and the social tools. (Something for the Sweettt podcast, Luis?!)

Also relate to his posts on day 1, day 2 and day 3 of the Expo.

Tags van Technorati: email,information overload,web2.0,enterprise2.0