The Social Enterprise - What Works, and What Doesn't
Last week in Reston, Virginia, the New New Internet conference took place, and the spotlight was on the adoption
of new social technologies in the enterprise. One morning panel was moderated by
Ryan Carson and featured Brad Feld, the Managing Director at the Foundry Group,
Hans Hwang, VP Advanced Services, Cisco, and myself. During the course of our discussion, Ryan brought up a set of interesting questions:
- Should enterprises embrace blogging?
- What is the impact of Google Docs on the enterprises?
- Do corporations need social networks?
- Can enterprises benefit from social bookmarking and wikis?
The discussion eventually brought us to an even broader question: Why should enterprises go social, and what are the compelling reasons for adoption? On the surface there are immediate benefits, but from experience we know that consumer technologies do not directly map into the enterprise. In this post, we explore the reasons for the social enterprise, look at what social technologies fit and raise various concerns related to adoption.
The Need For Agile Enterprise
As a rule, what is good for individuals is not good for companies and the other way around. This is because both are selfish and it is the tension between the two that drives capitalism. The same is true for technologies; consumer products have not traditionally been needed by companies, with the exception of communication tools. People want bells and whistles, companies need functional tools. Even from the venture perspective, the consumer Internet and enterprise software systems are two completely different markets where different strategies are needed for success.
Lately however, with the increasing speed at which our society operates, we are seeing that companies have had to become more agile in order to compete. The old hierarchical structures are unable to process information quickly enough to make day-to-day business decisions.
Take the software vertical, for example. Because startups can build tools quickly and on the cheap, larger companies are pressured to move quickly too. The same is true with big pharma. Small, biotech startups are moving quickly putting pressure on the big companies. As Games Gleick put it in his book: everything is faster.
Self-Organization in the Enterprise
So how can companies become agile? The answer is from the bottom-up. The hierarchy needs to give way to self-organization. What this means is that instead of control and decisions coming from the top, individual teams need to be empowered to execute. This does not mean chaos and anarchy. It does not mean complete lack of planning. It actually means setting goals globally but enabling the execution locally. Each team within the company needs to have the tools, the motivation, and the mandate to execute at its best.
The main key to building successful companies is communication. Far too often, the corporate structure creates boundaries that preclude people from getting things done. We are all way too familiar with a hierarchy where communication occurs through the management layer. This is the worst way to propagate information because important details get lost. The agile method simply uses managers to establish the need for direct communication and then enables people to talk to each other when necessary, using common sense.
And here is an interesting thing - social web tools encourage and facilitate self-organization. User-generated content, openness and direct communication are all attributes of the recent social web revolution. Can they be applied to enterprises to make them more agile? Lets take a look then at how various social inventions could work in the modern enterprise.
Social Networking in the Enterprise
Corporations have had the precursor of social networks for ages. Corporate pages,
common to nearly all large companies, contain information about every employee.
The problem with these pages is that they are read-only. Passing the management of the pages
to the employees and making the pages writable would actually turn the whole system into a mini social network.
Benefits: Openness, facilitation of contact information sharing and corporate communication.
Social Bookmarking in the Enterprise
Regardless of whether it is a technical or business team, knowledge acquisition and sharing is a challenge.
Often, employees within the same team and even more often across teams, rediscover the same information.
What better way is there to share the valuable information found on the web than a social bookmarking system?
Benefits: Knowledge discovery and sharing.
Wikis in the Enterprise
Wikis provide a very powerful way of documenting corporate know-how and sharing knowledge.
Wikis replace corporate intranets, bringing fresh, read/write character and spirit. By enabling
employees to contribute to wikis, companies establish a self-checking, self-organizing method of
documenting processes and facts about the business. As an example, a typical problem in the enterprise
is the transfer of knowledge. When an old employee leaves, information is often lost to his or her replacement. Wikis are
much less prone to errors than static Word documents, because they are out there in the open, and people can fix them.
Benefits: Self-organizing documentation for business know-how.
Agile Project Management in the Enterprise
Traditionally, enterprises have used Microsoft Project as their management tool. A lighter family of web-based
tools emerged recently, most notably Basecamp from 37Signals. The main difference is that Basecamp takes core concepts found in
all projects - People, Tasks, Milestones, etc. - and puts them in the spotlight. It is easy to use, but the question is really about which method of managing projects
is more effective in the enterprise?
Basecamp takes a hands off approach, letting the user drive it and fill in the right stuff. It is light weight, so you can not do much wrong by it. However, at this point it does lack some features that would be a show stopper for enterprises - calendar and email integration are just a few. Yet, Basecamp would probably be more effective for most teams within large companies than Microsoft Project because of its refreshing simplicity. Playing along with the self-organization theme, Basecamp simply allows people to collaborate on the project in a distributed way.
Benefits: Simplicity, agility, and a distributed, web-based setup.
Web Office for the Enterprise
Google is making a major push into corporate environments with its online office apps. Why? Likely to
eat more of Microsoft's lunch. By making tools that are agile, cheap, and functional, Google is starting to march into Microsoft's territory. But what really matters is utility. Are Google's tools and approach better? If you've spent time using Google tools you
are likely to answer yes. Of course they are buggy, and still not
as smooth, but they are simple, they focus on collaboration and they are web based.
Benefits: Simple, cheap, focused on collaboration and web-based.
Blogging for the Enterprise
A big question being asked around the enterprise right now is should corporations blog? The reason the question is hard to
answer is because it is vague. The better question asks when and who should blog for a company. Like any targeted marketing
(and blogging for companies is marketing), it needs to be thought through, organized and delivered consistently.
A variety of blog formats could be successful. For example, if we are talking about a product company, then the
product managers can start a blog to engage the audience. Through this blog they can bounce ideas, pick up beta testers,
get feedback and genuinely leverage their users to build a better product.
Another example of corporate blogging is the executive blog. Such a blog could be successful if it explains the competitive landscape and discusses high-level plans and positioning. A third corporate blogging example is a blog used to share insights about running the company. By sharing what you learn and showing good will you are likely to create a good reputation and drive talent to your company.
Benefits: Marketing, PR, product development, user feedback, image building, and recruiting.
Wait, What About Security and Secrecy?
Clearly there are benefits in taking social technologies to the enterprise, but there are also big challenges.
The first one is security. Companies are obsessed with it, for better or worse. It might not make sense, it might be silly,
but companies always want to know: What about security? Not everyone in the company should have access to all kinds of information.
That is obvious as well, but how do you get this done?
Speaking broadly, the social toolset needs to be overlayed with a layer of security. This layer needs to ensure that information is viewable by only those authorized to see it, across the entire suite of tools, across the whole enterprise.
The second issue is secrecy. Apple, for instance, is known to be very secretive about its plans. Does it give them a competetive edge? Likely yes. How does the introduction of blogging and open social tools to the enterprise impact that? More leaks are likely to occur. Information has an amazing tendency to find its way forward through the human network. The challenge then, is to define a set of policies and rules that ensure that nothing classified gets out. This is not simple.
Conclusion
New social tools can enable companies to be more agile and self-organizing. The have a chance to break down the walls of complex, ineffective hierarchies and to empower employees to get things done. These tools are simple, fun, engaging, and inspirational. Bringing fresh winds of change to the stale corporate mentality is a good thing and should be welcomed.
If you work for a large company, we would like to hear from you. What social tools are you discussing or using today? What benefits did you find? What are your concerns and challenges? Let us know in the comments below.
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I would imagine most of your readership has already accepted these the need and these tools as important. The bigger question is what do all the pieces you itemized add up to?
I know that most of our customers see all these disparate solutions as part of the problem. Social technology has sprung up all over their company and now there are even more silos causing more disconnected pain. Valuable content now lives in various department's wikis, blogs, forums, and docs. Employees are no closer to working more effectively with each other. Social networking software won't solve it either, as it's just another piece of the puzzle. Executive management is looking for a comprehensive solution built with departments and I.T. in mind.
The real value comes when all these disparate solutions are connected into a single system. The faster we move from the individual contribution model and connect all of this activity together, the faster we'll be working as an "enterprise city" which will give not only much greater efficiency to employees, but will offer enterprises a whole new dashboard for social productivity.
Note I didn't say "ROI" though you can look at it that way, too. Once these social pieces are unified, system-level metrics can be put in place to gain visibility never before achievable. As well, these social productivity systems will need to integrate into core business applications so that they don't become "content bubbles" isolated from the rest of the business.
Great post summing up in a nice and concise way the key features and benefits for corporates. Well done.
This article evangelises the use of socialised data very well. I would like to see an exploration of socialising forms of data other than those mentioned in the article, such as archetectual designs, standardised processes, engineering blueprints, interface schematics etc, etc; the sorts of data that may be useful for non-managers to share. I would also like to see more about the sharing of data between organisations, eg marketing personel from separate organisations sharing ideas with each other, or designs or even digitalised assets.
Good summation, some sub-themes are:
enterprise 2.0 tools engender some transparent management, and therefore are good governance
microblogging tools allow multiple media to merge (IM,email, web,phone) around status updates; excellent for projects and using a lifestream for the office
Knowledge management (KM) was a vague 90s notion. Social bookmarking is a manifestation thereof and extremely powerful. Imagine getting an email saying "great link" and some non-intuitive http and copied to a disparate group: you file it away. Cf with enterprise bookmarks like Cogenc
@Sam: Sharepoint, SAP and IBM have all moved in incorporating most of these into their ERM releases and have done so or made suitable noises thereto
This is the best overview I've read on the subject. Thanks for writing this, which gets some key concepts out to the general public. We'll point people here.
Another great post, Alex. I generally agree with you. In fact, I recently heard Carly Fiorina speak and she communicated a similar message about the need for organizations to be agile. You can read more about Fiorina's perspective on my blog at http://abovethenoise.blogspot.com/2007/10/carly-fiorina-on-change-google-and-al.html.
The one area where I have a slight disagreement with you, and like I mentioned to you last night at the Defrag reception, is I feel that the "knowledge acquisition and sharing" problem requires more than a social bookmarking solution.
I thought that all communication was done the agile way, but maybe that's just me.
The film, The Corporation, that the logo is borrowed from up top of this post is a really good one. I mean really good, if you haven't seen it you should. The full film was uploaded apparently by its makers to Google Video at http://tinyurl.com/2cvv7m
A good overview of the possibilities, pitfalls, and benefits of social media in the traditional commercial enterprise. Many of the benefits and concerns also apply in the efforts of nonprofits. For those interested, a discussion of social media in the association sector, for instance, is under way on the American Society of Association Executive's blog at:
http://blogs.asaecenter.org/Acronym/2007/11/welcome_to_social_media_month.html
Good post!
> What social tools are you discussing or using today?
At Nokia:
Publicly: blogs, wikis, discussion boards, digg-like voting systems (e.g. users submitting and ranking improvement suggestions), podcasting.
Internally: same as above + a corporate-wide jam, podcasts&videocasts, social bookmarking (this hasn't caught as much fire as the others), commenting everywhere, RSS everywhere, etc.
During the last 2 years, things have changed quite dramatically.
Some thoughts here:
http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2007/tc20070312_476504.htm
This an important post that serves as a larger theme with which organizations continue to struggle: communication across the enterprise
There is a dizzying range of tools and applications; should you go with hosted solutions or run on your own servers? Organizations simply have not evolved to the point where decision makers understand and respect the value proposition of these new ways of connecting. We are probably 5 years away from a broader adoption of these tools as mainstream (sorry folks, mass adoption just doesn't happen that fast).
There is not a strong sense of clarity on how to get the most value out of these applications and how they will improve performance. But once the case is simple, clear, compelling and in plain english, look out!
Alex -- you've done it again. Great work. How the heck do you do this when you're here at Defrag, and even presenting, too?
:-) I'm gonna link to it on my post on the SN session yesterday...
Alex, thanks for the post about how social networking can be used in the enterprise.
As mentioned above about microblogging, it will be interesting to see how micromedia/media snacking (per Jeremiah Owyang) will be leveraged by companies. I see the benefit of Twitter, Utterz and other tools to help faciliate information in real-time, especially from a marketing and customer communication perspective.
Interesting take on security. I suppose it true that to an extent these social sites needs to secure data to the "need to know" audience BUT Sam Walton always said you never know where a good idea will come from, who is to say Apple isn't, in effect, losing millions of dollars a year by NOT sharing things across the organization with everyone?
I think of ideas as rolling balls. As they roll down hill they get added too until they reach critical mass where they turn into something " tangible ".
Who is to say, that by not sharing information out side of the "need to know" crowd that you are missing opportunities to add to the "idea ball"
I enjoyed reading your article, but must admit, felt a little deflated by the end. Does a corporation need online Read/Write tools to excel? Aren't these tools only useful and good in capable hands? I would be curious to know how corporations besides, say, the blue chips have used social networking applications to make their enterprise more efficient, more nimble, more flexible. Obviously, one size will not fit all, so in the end, your article provides a nice reference to get the conversation started. Assuming people in large enterprises read this.
You definitely have a valuable book in the making.
I suggest that you might want to begin analyzing the literature and research associated with the topics presented. Or it might be easier to get a team of colleagues to read over the Harvard Business Review from the past thirty years and see if anything clicks.
Keep up the good work.
-c-
The past 5 years have been dire ones for IT professionals -- even the name has taken on the dreary tone of yesteryear compared to Bloggers and Mash Up Artists.
Yet, I feel that it was due in large part to the reaction of the Old Guard, who sought to raise themselves up higher than their talents warranted through outsourcing, centralized application servers and various management legerdemain.
There is a serious imbalance in power, net worth, salary, talent and work done in most organizations -- especially IT.
That's why I cite CEO and management salaries are yet another "bubble" that will be burst by socio-organizing in the workplace.
While we are thinking of the consequences of social enterprise, Oracle already has a product ready for it. It's called Webcenter. It's got
* Wiki
* Forums
* Social relationships
* Events
* Web conferencing
* Mail services
* Instant messaging & presence
* To-do & worklist
* Notes
* Document repository
* Personalized Rss
* Recent activity feed
* Secure search
* Groups spaces
It also has the ability to add custom java portlets and it supports customization to the extremes. And all of this is made enterprise centric. How's that for innovation?
Don't miss this strategy video featuring Thomas Kurien,
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=202200302
You can read more about this interesting product at:
http://www.oracle.com/products/middleware/webcenter.html
Can't argue much when they claim, "...Oracle WebCenter brings Web 2.0 to the enterprise through the industry's most integrated, comprehensive, and standards-compliant user experience platform..."
Forgot to add the Thomas Kurien webcast link:
http://www.oracle.com/webapps/dialogue/dlgpage.jsp?p_dlg_id=5913412&src=5757599&Act=22
Great article. The key issues are certainly security and privacy of (corporate) data. What I don't see in the commentary is folks who might have solved these aspects.
Cheers.
Social Networks DO NOT ALWAYS WORK.
The only real trick is getting enough people to join one.
The most interesting arena right now is following how Google's new program OpenSocial (http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=466&doc_id=137979) to see if the Giant can pull something off in the Social Networking arena.
Why does it seem like every year somebody recasts the Cluetrain Manifesto with the latest jargon du jour?
Dave here from the REA Group. Thanks for the great post.
We've got teams spread across 10 countries and working on 16 different real estate portal brands.
We recently launched a new intranet that includes a forum, which I know isn't on your list. However, it has proved to be an invaluable tool or starting conversations among team members on different continents, many of whom have been in the company (much) less than a year.
We are also decentralizing control of our business information down to the teams that create it, so they themselves can share it with the rest of the business.
We'll see what happens in the end, but some of my priorities for the next stage are greater employee control of personal data and greater customization according to user needs.
Great article Alex...
We are bound to see a lot more of the Agile communication which you mentioned. One significant requirement of such a solution which you seem to have missed is its ability to integrate enterprise-wide high quality search and sophisticated BI and reporting tools across the system.
One solution which provides all the mentioned social networking, project management,document management,calendaring and collaboration tools along with great search and reporting is the Enterprise Social Platform by Krawler Networks.
http://www.krawlernetworks.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KPbzAkm5xZ0
hey buddy such a good website but i am surprised that why i did't know about your website i think u never post your stories on www.laadi.com my all friends use laadi.com to search for new and latest stories anyway good work Keep it up i will tell all my friends about this.
Have you used Google docs? I'm not a champion of Microsoft. I love Google's tools. I use Google docs regularly to collaborate with colleagues. However, to say Google docs is better than say, MS Word, is a joke. The functionality of Google docs is pathetic compared to Word. Try creating an outline in Google docs with multiple indented bullet points underneath a main point (1, a, i). It simply doesn't work. Its sole, and massive advantage over Word, is that it's a web app. Let's be honest with one another when we critique products and leave our biases towards one company or another at the door. It makes for a more compelling argument.
"As a rule, what is good for individuals is not good for companies and the other way around. This is because both are selfish and it is the tension between the two that drives capitalism."
That is the craziest premise with nothing even close to any syllogistic proof, let alone citations or examples, I almost dismiss the entire article fullstop right there. Is this what MBAs are taught? No wonder we're in such trouble as a species.
I work for a relatively big company and it was so hard to introduce Wrike to the IT department. They simple didn't want to listen that the tool is actually useful and that it saves time. So I just started to use it on my own and involved a couple of colleagues. The application spread kind of viral in our company. First we were using free account only, now the top management is thinking of buying a professional subscription.
Interesting read. Social Network certainly has it's benefit for large Corporation. But lets not forgot the other main point that was neglected. One that always makes IT and management think twice -- Maintainance --.
For the I.T staff this includes constant watch over the system. Since social network is driven by users ( in this case employee). there is a great deal of ensuring the data are accurate and reasonable. Having employee publish content without approval and use these content at the management/executive level will not revile accurate data.
Manager will also have to sort through the overwhelmed information given my social network. Often time. These social networking tools will become the logs of the employee, and with daily update to logs, time will play and essence. With today's high-paced competitive world, social networking tools will only force longer making decision from management as they will spend their time shuffle through all the information provided my their staff.
Social networking tools as it name suggest is meant to be SOCIAL. Examples in the web shows just that. Enterprise will need to adapt a new level of social tool in which it improves on productivity as appose to delaying it.
I work for a relatively large company and am getting ready to launch a new, "rich-media" Web site. After reading your article, I'm checking out Basecamp (the free version) to see how it might help me manage this project. I saw the comment on here about an Oracle tool, but honestly all those features are just a little overwhelming. I'll try to remember to check back with you in a few months to let you know how it goes : ) I'm excited about Basecamp, it looks promising.
Grand article and a great introduction to "Enterprise 2.0"
As is usual with Read/Write Web the tone of the article comes from a technical slant, and I wouldn't expect/want it any other way. However in my experience (currently implementing all of the above for a client having done the same for quite a few over the passed few years) it is rarely, if ever, about the technology. Of course, the technology has to work, be easy ("don't make me think" - the hidden attribute to Web 2.0) but once it's passed that it's about how it supports what the business wants to do - does it support/deliver on the business outcomes required?
There is usually a bit of tweaking of the technology but more often there are people's fears/changes/old habits and general "having to learn new stuff" that is the main obstacles.
I would also echo Ted Coiner's comment and say (again, in my experience) that those with seemingly the most to lose and have the hardest with the introduction of "enterprise 2.0" is the IT Department - they need special coaching to get through this because if they don't they can be a major road block.
Good luck to all embarking on giving the power back to the users!