Who said implementing Enterprise 2.0 was easy?
In my career, I am lucky enough to meet technologist from all kinds of background, from the geekiest computer scientist to business/IT advisers. Recently, I spoke to a technical architect who commented this – Social software is child’s play, just install it and let employees run wild.
I was pretty shocked when I heard this. I was just thinking, the entire Cisco is banging their bucks on Web 2.0, organisations now are scrambling to understand how this technology can help improve their performance and Forrester / Gartner has dedicated teams trying to understand this fast changing phenomena. All these effort just for installing a software and let employees run wild?
Alot of Enterprise Web 2.0 is not just in the technology itself. I look at the Enterprise 2.0 platform as a car. A car’s objective is to bring people from point A to point B (even though some people buy cars to show off – but that’s not the point). Enterprise 2.0 platform is also the same. It helps brings the organisation to where they want to be – leverage collective intelligence, streamlined communication, real time updates on changes, better knowledge sharing, enhanced collaboration and so on. The benefits are immense! I am not saying that the platform is not important. Just like a car, some people would choose to buy a Toyota / Honda, some will choose to buy a BMW / Audi and some would choose to buy a Porsche / Ferrari. Different car deliver different performance, comfort and features. Different social platform do the same thing too! Its all about how much an organisation is willing to pay, the features they require and the tools that they need.
More importantly, before one purchase a car, one would need to plan their needs, what they want and how much they can afford. There’s a fair amount of planning, requirements gathering and cost calculation involved in the process. Enterprise 2.0 is the same. There are heaps of planning, strategy work, change management and solution design involved. If this is not done properly, the software might not be fit for purpose.
After the purchase of the car, one would need to maintain the car sending it for regular maintenance. Enterprise 2.0 is the same too. Not just the IT support and infrastructure maintenance but also managing virtual teams, information governance and “gardening” the platform. There is a lifecycle around an Enterprise 2.0 implementation. Its NOT just installing a software – its not that simple.
Mike said,
Unfortunately that is a valid perspective from a IT Architect’s perspective, as their concern surrounds more on the fact that software is a “tool”, and that the job is to get the tool into the system for people to use.
To make the equation complete, change strategist will need to get involved once the “tool” is in place to get people in the community to use it
sid said,
First on this post –
1. Web 2.0 i snot about technology or tools. It has more to do with the attitude and culture of organization. If your organization is inherently not interested in sharing and collaboration no tools or technology can help you.
2. You said it right when you said that it has lifecycle around it and its not as simple as giving them the tools. Teach them what is collaboration and why the need to share and then show them the tools that make it easy for them.
I have been reading your blog for quiet some time now, its neat! keep up the good work
Sean Lew said,
@Mike, I totally know where you are coming from. =)
@Sid, Thanks for your compliments. Really appreciate it. Yeah, its all about the culture and attitude. However, I do not believe that if an organization is inherently not interested in sharing and collaboration the Web 2.0 would not help.
First of all, alot of us have a certain way of how sharing and collaboration works – the way Wikipedia, facebook and Linux works. However, there are really alot more to such kinds of sharing and collaboration. If you look the nature of a firm, a firm is a social network and teams share and collaborate. The only difference now is that we are moving online! So there is a place for Web 2.0 in organisations – its a matter of identifying it.
Cheers.
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sid said,
No doubts about the fact taht Web 2.0 can definitely help or I would love to rephrase it to say – Collaboration / sharing / openness can help.
I myself strongly believe in the power of collaboration. web2.0 gives us tools and platforms to take our collaboration to next level. It helps us connect where connections might not be possible in physical world
What i am trying to say is that there are companies that believe in sharing and then there are that simply dont … organizations are social networks however many of them still hesitate to share.
If certain organization doesnt believe in transparency and openess, do you believe web2.0 tools can help? I think for such an org Mike’s change strategist will have one more step even before choosing the tool he will have to convince them on the benefits of collaboration.
I think first question enterprise has to ask is – are we transparent and courageous enough to start open conversation.
Sean Lew said,
Mate, you got it spot on. That’s one of the key questions organisations need to ask themselves before they embark on this exciting web 2.0 journey. I must say alot of organisations just jump into Web 2.0 and “test the waters” but it really doesn’t work that way and you are absolutely correct in transparency and open conversation.
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