Social Networking and the Enterprise - Part 2 : Why should we bother?

We've already established relevant definitions and put together a visual fabric about how Enterprise 2.0, ECM, Enterprise Social Software and Social Web stitch together.

Although the point of this exercise is to determine how regulated entities should incorporate Social Networking strategy, we should first establish the 'why' and 'if'.

So, why is it important to consider Social Networking as part of an organization's information sharing and collaboration strategy? Let's look at some top-level drivers:

1. Technology Populism: This really puts pressure on organizations to act and to give their knowledge workers the tools they require to share and collaborate. Although somewhat dependent on the demographics - and by extension the culture - of the organization, people are increasingly finding or using their own solutions. If your organization doesn't have an in-house IM application, guess what? They’re going to use their own MSN. No online collaboration spaces? Maybe your employees will start using a solution like Google Docs or TeamViewer.

2. Enterprise Software meets UEX and Social Networking: Many Content Management Systems (Red Dot, MOSS, etc.) are now shipping with built-in Social Networking apps - better integration and Usability make these a reasonable option with easier adoption

3. Cloud Computing and the virtual desktop: Innovations in cloud computing are making the virtual desktop the norm thus reducing the cost of connecting workers and thereby increasing the potential reach of corporate social networks.

It’s not all sunshine, however. A recently released survey by eMarketer reveals that 45% of Social Media Marketers think that Social Media is not effective at improving internal communications.

Taken from a Forrester paper “Facebook for the Enterprise”: Catchy Phrase or a Strategy for Collaboration”, there are other considerations as well.

1. “Notifications” and “tweets’ assume more connectivity is better. I don’t regularly use our internal IM application and I have trouble keeping up with Twitter.

2. Interruptions sap information work productivity. Research suggests that it takes workers 25 minutes to return to what they were working on.

3. Professional capital needs identity, reputation and objectivity. Translated: I can pretend to be anyone on Facebook or Twitter (although this is changing with vanity URLs), but within an organization, identities need to be verifiable. This is where Identity Management and Role Based Access Control Lists becomes critical.

There are also legal and Intellectual Property issues to consider. Even with safeguards in place, employees will find ways to let knowledge walk out the door. And, the ill-timed release of sensitive information can land companies in trouble with regulators.

So, there are things to consider on both the positive and negative side of the equation. With the ‘Why’ out of the way, it’s time to move onto the ‘if’. Before we even consider how an organization, particularly a regulated one, should implement a Social Networking strategy, we need to ask if they should even bother. That’s next in Part 3.

Social Networking and the Enterprise - Part 1: Definitions and Mapping

Strap in, this is going too be long and come in four parts.

Earlier, I mentioned that I'm scheduled to speak at the AIIM Western Canada conference.

My topic is, Social Web: Cutting through the clutter. How to use Social Networks and other tools to enable appropriate information sharing and collaboration within your organization.

So, I've got a little leeway, but was also struggling on how to approach it. I spent some time doing research and have come up with an outline for the talk.

1. Definitions: First, it was important for me to understand what all these terms mean.

Enterprise 2.0: According to AIIM, this can be defined as a system of web-based technologies that provide rapid and agile collaboration, information sharing, emergence and integration capabilities WITHIN the extended enterprise. In other words, Web 2.0 for the enterprise.

Enterprise Content Management: ECM can be referred to as the strategies, methods, and technologies (tools) used to Capture, Manage, Store, Preserve and Deliver content and documents related to organization processes - they permit the management of an organization's unstructured information, wherever it may exist. (emphasis is mine).

For the majority of users within the enterpise, it's the Manage component (which can be further broken down into DM, Collaboration, WCM, RM and Workflow) that they spend the most time with, so emphasis should be placed here.

Enterprise Social Software: A subset of E2.0, it comprises social software utilized in a business context. Applications such as internal blogs, wikis, feeds and internal social bookmarking - all often bolted onto an existing Intranet - live in this space.

Finally, you've got good old-fashioned Social Web (including Social Networking and User-Generated Content - Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, personal blogs, Youtube, Flickr, etc.).

So, the business question is how all of these fit together for enterprise context, particularly for heavily regulated verticals such as Oil & Gas, Big Pharma and Government.

2. Mind Map: A visual representation of the space.

To begin to answer how these fit together, I came up with the visual above. The X - axis represents the number of users - few vs. many. The Y - axis talks about the amount of control an organization can exert over information - the higher and to the up and right you go, the more difficult it is to 'control the collaboration'. As a reaction, some organizations just shut everything down. I'll get to this when we talk about Jeremiah Owyang's thoughts on "How to Organize Your Company For Social Computing".

What's also interesting is how a company's Intranet and email applications fit into the mix. Email is often overlooked as a 'social network' but that's exactly what it is and it's still the most popular platform.

With these definitions and framework in place, I'll next examine the emerging trends and key business drivers behind enterprise Social Network adoption (or lack thereof). Then, I'll look at a model that helps to determine in which direction an organization should move. Finally, I'll take a stab at some key conclusions and direction.

UPDATE: I asked my friend and colleague Greg Clark from C3 Associates, who is an ECM and E2.0 ninja, to vet this model for me. I got a passing grade, but he raised an interesting and valid point. To quote:

"One thing that jumped out at me is your comment about the importance/focus of the “Manage” portion of ECM. To me this is where a lot of implementations fall down; infrastructure geeks in black Nine Inch Nails t-shirts sitting in windowless server rooms spin up an ECM app and call it a strategy. Don’t need to tell you this is bad. The “Deliver” portion is where things get interesting from an E2.0 perspective. Marrying up these two (with a side benefit of some subversive records management to handle the end of the information lifecycle) is where it’s at."

So, I forgot the 'Deliver' aspect which is used to present information from the 'Manage', 'Store', and 'Preserve' components.

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The 'Why, If, and, How questions are next.

Pushbutton Ecosystem

An interesting post by Anil Dash (via Tyler) about the evolving ability to deliver realtime messages to a large audience using an open-source (read non-proprietary) plaftorm that he's calling Pushbutton.

Currently, it's mostly an asynchronous Push-Pull model. I update my blog, and then if you subscribe to my RSS feed, you get an ALERT that I've updated, but not the message itself. You, as a user have to go and physically get the message (either manually or via a Social Networking platform such as Facebook or Twitter).

!n the Pushbutton model, it's Push - Push. "...it proactively delivers not just the notification that there's a new message but the content of the message itself." In other words, it saves the user a step in receiving information - and it happens in near realtime.

A cool concept based on existing and expanding technologies.

On a bike...with milk

No, not "On a Boat". (NSFW).
Out with friends today and I related a story. Perhaps, as I approach my own personal moon launch anniversary, I'm feeling a bit nostalgic. This isn't anywhere near pasteurized, nor approaching a proper memoir, but needed to be captured while still fresh.

Set-up: Summer 1979. On the way home from the store, a quart of milk in one hand, the other on the handlebars of my new 10-speed.
Story: I was a block away from our house, across from the park where my brother and I used to play baseball and brawl with each other, often in parallel. A white van is creeping up on me in the Playground Zone. We're all going slow, as dictated by the laws of pedaling and civil obedience. I decide it's safest to go up on the sidewalk. I managed to negotiate the suburb curb without a hitch...

And, then a glitch. "Crap" or "Poop", I must have said in my 10 year-old head. Little did I know that there was a lawn equipment barricade strewn all over said sidewalk.
A reactionary veer to the left, left me smashed into the side of said van.
Dazed, scraped - I spun to find nuns fluttering over me...yes nuns.
They weren't in full garb, but you could still tell their habits.(Apologies for the rhymes and puns). After a careful inspection of me, my bike, and the still-intact milk (and a few Hail Mary's), I was permitted to go home.
But, they followed me.
Embarrassed, I scurried my bike around the corner and down the driveway to the back of the house and uttered, likely implored: "Mom! Don't answer the door! Don't answer the door!"
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I didn't hear the conversation that they had. I was sitting in the kitchen having a glass of milk.

Social Web and the Organization

Snappy title, I know. I'm due to give a talk in September at the AIIM conference.

Working Title: Social Web: Cutting through the clutter. How to use Social Networks and other tools to enable appropriate information sharing and collaboration within your organization.

Wow, what did I get myself into? I've been struggling with how to adequately frame my talk. Today, I found that framework. Thanks to Jeremiah!

UPDATE: Had a bit of an epihphany yesterday - will update with a Part 2 shortly.

Mr. Short Attention Span

I seem to be suffering from Social Web ADHD.
Too much information and ideas are blasted my way these days via Twitter, Stumble and other feeds. Perhaps I need a hardware/software upgrade?
At least I don't espouse to be an 'expert'.