How consulting firms can make money out of Enterprise 2.0?
Enterprise 2.0 has never been about the technology. In simplistic terms, its just a web application and its not rocket science. The concept of getting groups of people to collaborate, share, communicate and connect however, is extremely powerful. The most difficult part about an Enterprise 2.0 implementation is change management. Good consulting firms can implement the technical aspects of an Enterprise 2.0 platform easily. I have done a few myself. However, getting people on board to use it is a long, tedious and complex process. This is where consulting firms comes in.
Consulting firms must be able to formulate a rigorous methodology to approach Enterprise 2.0 change management effectively. Potential areas that needs to be covered are like strategy, communication plan, C-level adoption, integration of current business process and many more. This is where consulting firms can make money as quite a substantial amount of time needs to be spent at the client side to work things through with the client. Consulting firms have a presence in many firms and that’s the best place to start.
Consulting firms should formulate a strategy, business plan, objectives and impact analysis of the Enterprise 2.0 platform for their clients. They can then do a technical product selection based on the requirements, implement the solution and move the change team into the organisation. Pilot teams could potentially start with the combined team between the consulting firm and the client, however, this could not be ideal depending on the situation and environment.
Selling Enterprise 2.0 to existing clients has a few benefits.
1) Since consulting firms have a presence within the client, there is a better understanding of the issues the client is facing and there are some levels of trust that is already established. Trust within a Enterprise 2.0 platform is critical for its success. Consultants can then show the client teams how to use it and demonstrate the many benefits of Enterprise 2.0.
2) With a presence within the client firm has another advantage where change consultants can act as champions and provide initial support for the clients.
3) Consultants on the ground also have the ability to identify areas where the platform needs to be modified and changed so that the platform constantly evolves to meet the client changing needs.
4) Lastly, when the implementation is successful, there will be greater rapport and trust built between the two parties.
Since Enterprise 2.0 is a rather new technology and concept within the organisational context, many clients do not understand what they can have and what they can’t. Many clients also do not know what and how to do stuff on the platform (i.e. when should I write a write a wiki page versus a blog?). I feel that that professional advice needs to be provided for the successful implementation of such projects. The last thing that should happen is the misuse of the platform (i.e. using the wiki as a document repository and a dumping ground). Consultants on the ground has the power to walk to most of the different scenarios that the client organisation is facing and tackle them one by one.
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