Reminder: Free Webinar Next Week by Tony Byrne of CMS Watch: Enterprise Social Software: Ready for Prime Time?

Next Thursday, the IT Leadership Forum in association with Tony Byrne, founder of CMS Watch, will present a one-hour long web seminar on Thursday, August 13th from 2:00 - 3:00 PM EDT. Here's a brief description of that web seminar.

You can now find numerous case studies of successful departmental implementations of various social software technologies, such as wikis, blogs, forums, tags, micro-blogs, and so forth. However, extending those projects to enterprise-wide initiatives gets trickier.

Noted independent analyst and evaluation firm CMS Watch will explain how the challenge in enterprise deployments stems partly from immature technology. Many social computing tools – even from large, established vendors – lack key functionality. But the rest of the challenge lies in organizational factors, including common barriers to adoption.

This seminar will assess today’s social software and collaboration marketplace and offer concrete advice about how to select the right tool for your circumstances. It will also share best practices in enterprise deployment and adoption of social technology.

What you will learn by attending:
- Key success factors for enterprise-wide social software roll-outs
- How the enterprise social software marketplace breaks down into six categories
- Strengths and weaknesses of some of the major vendors
- How to pick the right tools for your enterprise
- What the future holds for 2010

Featured Speaker
Tony Byrne, Founder, CMS Watch

Register here: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/345059881
Mention Priority code G1M2114W1BLOG

Free Web Seminar by Tony Byrne of CMS Watch - Enterprise Social Software: Ready for Prime Time?

In anticipation of the IT Leadership Forum this November we are putting on several webinars. This is the 1st in the series in which Tony Bryne from CMS Watch will be presenting "Enterprise Social Software: Ready for Prime Time?" on Thursday August 13th from 2:00pm - 3:00pm EDT. Here's a brief description of the event:

You can now find numerous case studies of successful departmental implementations of various social software technologies, such as wikis, blogs, forums, tags, micro-blogs, and so forth. However, extending those projects to enterprise-wide initiatives gets trickier.

Noted independent analyst and evaluation firm CMS Watch will explain how the challenge in enterprise deployments stems partly from immature technology. Many social computing tools – even from large, established vendors – lack key functionality. But the rest of the challenge lies in organizational factors, including common barriers to adoption.

This seminar will assess today’s social software and collaboration marketplace and offer concrete advice about how to select the right tool for your circumstances. It will also share best practices in enterprise deployment and adoption of social technology.

What you will learn by attending:
- Key success factors for enterprise-wide social software roll-outs
- How the enterprise social software marketplace breaks down into six categories
- Strengths and weaknesses of some of the major vendors
- How to pick the right tools for your enterprise
- What the future holds for 2010

Featured Speaker
Tony Byrne, Founder, CMS Watch

Make sure to mention priority code G1M2114W1BLOG when registering.
Register here: http://bit.ly/1pn1Um

Social Networking Within the Enterprise

Blogs, wikis, social networks is all the latest buzz, but has the enterprise truly caught on? The Burton Group recently conducted a study investigating whether companies are really using web 2.0 technology. Their in-depth research also helps businesses understand the business, organizational, and technical factors to consider when formulating social networking strategies and initiating internal projects.

Read the Burton Group Report

Effective Enterpise Communication Tools

I recently came across this presentation from Oscar Berg on The Content Economy in which he gives us a positioning model for different communication tools used in the enterprise like forums, blogs, and email. Each communication tool in the presentation is positioned differently, so which is the most ideal for use in your enterprise?

Positioning Model for Communication Tools

View more presentations from Oscar Berg. (tags: im blog)

Government Interest in Social Software

I recently came across Michael Idinopulo’s latest post on Transparent Office in which he mentions that there is a lot of buzz and interest in social media in government. One of the first attempts at launching a community within government was Intellipedia, a community based forum that was used for sharing information across different intelligence agencies.

It’s come a long way since Intellipedia, government officials are now using blogs, social networks, and wikis to collaborate within agencies. I’m interested to see if the Obama administration will make social software go mainstream in government.

Enterprise 2.0 Tools Will See Price Drop

Forrester analyst G. Oliver Young, in a new study, has indicated that the cost for business web 2.0 tools will decrease over the next five years. Price drops will be seen across the board for "blogs, wikis, social networking tools, and enterprise RSS." The sole exception is mashups, which Young predicts the cost will double. As quoted from the study, and reported in this article, the reason for the trend is that:

"Traditional software vendors have moved aggressively in the direction of web 2.0 software; however, few are offering standalone products. Instead, most, like Microsoft and SAP, are rolling web 2.0 features into existing software packages; in many cases, they are providing the technology at no extra cost...many will make use of them and offset another purchase in the process."

LinkedIn joins forces with CNBC

Recently, CNBC announced its alliance with LinkedIn. This new partnership will allow networking functions to be integrated into CNBC and news and information shared on LinkedIn to create a forum for people to discuss current news with their professional contacts. LinkedIn will remain independent and look to grow their current user base beyond 27 million. LinkedIn will contribute consumer generated content to CNBC such as polls, and LinkedIn will have access to CNBC’s programming, articles, blogs, financial data and video content according to this article at eWeek.

Portal 2.0 and Beyond

Over the last few years, we’ve seen the evolution of portals within the enterprise to become more personalized to specific information needs of users, but what does the future hold in store for the portal universe? I came across this post on builder au in which Lana Kovacevic notes a couple of points from Gene Phifer in a recent conversation about the direction that portals are heading into.

Here are several characteristics Gene lists that the “portal of the future” will have:

1. Portals like iGoogle and MyYahoo already aggregate content, but portals of the future will facilitate content aggregation making it even more personalized.
2. Portals fabrics will evolve to the idea of the “follow me portal”, in which the look and feel of the portal will transform based on your location. This especially will be increasingly popular as the enterprise is experiencing a surge in mobile browsing on smartphones.
3. Social Web 2.0 functionalities are here to stay. Portals will continue to make use of technologies such as social networks, wikis, forums, and blogs.
4. Portals will fully integrate with all social networks. Plaxo is a good example of an integrated portal that aggregates updates from sites like Flickr, Twitter, and Digg. The “portal of the future” will be able to aggregate updates from these social applications as well as other networks like Facebook, LinkedIn, and Xing.
5. Collaboration is key in the enterprise; portals will play a part in improving the overall user experience.
6. The ability to aggregate mashed up content from more than one individual websites will be facilitated by future enterprise portals.

So you’ve seen Gene’s description of future portals, but what components and functionalities will your ideal “portal of the future” have?

Wachovia Effectively Uses Enterprise 2.0

At InternetNews Realtime, they discuss yet another company who has seen the positive effects of the use of Web 2.0 tools. Wachovia Bank began using Enterprise 2.0 tools in 2006. Into their corporate internet, they began to introduce blogs, wikis, collaborative environments and IMs. The bank saw it as a way to connect their 120,000 employees across the world.

One of the major problems with the wiki according to Pete Fields, the Vice President of the E Commerce division was, "They know it's relevant, but they don't know why it is relevant," he admitted.”

So Wachovia set out to make a point as to why this information was relevant for everyone. They found that virtual communities result in real and relational environments exactly like actual communities. Many companies not the same problem: they find it hard for their employees to relate to and find it difficult to use, however, given a few guidelines, they can adapt to the system and they can start using the system for its original purpose: to increase collaboration.

Enterprise 2.0 Still Growing

Enterprise 2.0 technologies are certainly still growing within companies, however, not without concerns of the managers or IT personnel. According to this article at EWeek, security and liability are still the most common concerns when implementing web 2.0.

Of those who have increased the use of Web 2.0 tools in their companies, 71% of those surveyed cited that they’ve started using Web 2.0 tools because of the increased and improved collaboration and communication between their staff. In addition, 46% of the users cited increased collaboration and communication with their consumers.

What are the most used tools according to this study? It’s still the common ones we’ve been addressing here at E3, which are: blogs (49% usage), wikis (48% usage), and in third place are the RSS feeds (at 43% usage). Falling farther behind was social networking, as there is a 27% usage rage.

Security concerns rank as one of the biggest problems with implementing Web 2.0 tools, as 41% of managers are worried about the security risk that the tools can bring in. The other major concern among managers was the tools would result in the leaking of sensitive information, 35% of those surveyed were concerned about that.

Innovation is another concern for those participating in the implementation process. The article takes time to point out that many of these applications can be put together quickly, and often times without the knowledge of IT. This can create issues as the tools are not fully integrated within the IT environment and increase IT managements concerns for security.

Next Step in Enterprise 2.0 looks to Prediction Markets

The current tools used for enterprise 2.0 are blogs and wikis. As reported in the New York Times on April 16th, there is a new tool coming about: Prediction Markets.

A prediction market is a new web 2.0 tool that allows members in the company to bid on future events occurring. With a fake currency, they bid on the event they actually think will happen, and the person closest to the real outcome wins a small prize, such as an IPod. Companies now using this approach: Intercontinental Hotels, GE, Hewlett Packard, and Best Buy.

This new innovative product can help corporations see what can happen in the future. In the article they discuss how workers at Best Buy participated in this, betting on whether or not their first store in China would open early. Most participates bid no, and so Best Buy was able to prepare themselves financially when the store didn’t actually open on time.

This new, innovative enterprise 2.0 service is gradually catching on in the mainstream markets. Best Buy plans to expand the bidding process to more of its employees for other future events and efforts. So how can this help your company? The possibilities seem widespread. It will lead to collaboration among employees that you can directly measure against and help executives in their forecasts and planning. Of course, just as with other enterprise 2.0 tools, it's value depends on creating the optimal experience that gives participants a chance to feel they have a direct impact and can truly provide insight and feedback on future event. But when all of this is considered predictive markets can be a powerful tool could be an even more powerful tool with direct results to the bottom line.

Is too much content a bad thing?

As we all see on the internet, everything posted is for the taking. In an article at ReadWrite Web, they point out how the information posted on blogs has become subject to much the same problems. Same goes for the content you are posting on your enterprise's websites. How are you supposed to keep the value of the content high if everyone else uses your content?

Once your blog with your intellectual information is posted on the internet, control over your content is lost. You officially have no control over it. This may be a good thing because a brilliant idea can spread like wildfire. However, many times that represents the chance for someone else to take the content and conversation from your blog and use it on theirs. This provides for a great opportunity to collaborate all over the internet. Although someone is borrowing your information, more people see it so more people could come up different solutions for your enterprise problems.

As we all learned in economics, once there is an abundance of something, the value dramatically drops. So how are you going to add value to the content you are posting for your enterprise?

Wire-Frames and Collaboration

Does effective communication between design teams come easy in your organization? Quite often design teams are faced with the dilemma of scrapping projects that they have been working on for weeks. This can be directly accounted for by lack of communication during the initial stages between teams. Oscar Berg’s explains how wire-frames can often by misused in his latest post on the Content Economy.

I wholeheartedly agree with Oscar, wire-frames applications have often been used by in-house design teams internally, without external involvement. What does this lead to? More money wasted, more time wasted, more energy wasted, and added frustration. If feedback was given at the beginning stages of design development, it would reduce the time it takes to successfully complete a project.

So the next time your design team decides to start its design project from scratch, think of the reasons WHY. Wire-frames should be used as a collaboration tool between all teams within the enterprise.

Are you in need of some new RSS feeds?

In a recent post at ReadWrite Web, they review the new site Toluu. This new sites is a feed aggregator, but also provides some community as well as some recommendations of posts you might like. ReadWrite Web recently listed the top ten reasons you’re going to love it, I’ll share a few with you.

2. It’s Easy. All you have to do once you’ve uploaded your RSS feeds is read. Then you can begin reading.

3. Collaborative filtering helps Toluu learn. As you begin to read your RSS feeds through Toluu and mark your favorites, the engine will begin to pull in other feeds that fit your preferences.

7. It’s not trying to replace your RSS reader. It’s trying to find new feeds that it believes you would be interested in.

8. The Feeds – There are tons of blogs out there with information you’re looking for. Why not make it easier on yourself and have another search engine do it for you?

Have you had experience with Toluu? What has your impression been? RSS feeds have quickly risen to a place of importance in the Enterprise 2.0 world. I think constantly having new recommended blogs that give new perspectives can be very valuable.

Comments all around

Recently at ReadWrite Web, they address the common issue of comments on blogs. They’re uncommon these days and rarely promote conversation on the actual blog. However, as Sarah Perez points out, they’ve many times moved to other sites. It’s very common for a comment conversation to start up on another website like Digg. So how does a blogger keep track of where these conversations take place? RSS feeds are the key.

Where do you commonly make your comments about articles? After reading this article, I did notice the abundance of comments on this particular article. If you are using your corporate blog to interact with the customers, are you worried about promoting conversations outside of your blog comments? Or is this something to be encouraged by because you’re giving them something to talk about?

The Fear of the Unknown

At The Content Economy, they recently posted about the fear that accompanied emails when they first came into existence in enterprises. Back then, bosses feared that productivity would be lost when employees spent all day emailing their family and friends. But, now, we see a common oversaturation of emails. And we have to ask ourselves if that is the best way to communicate through out the enterprise.

So much of what we focus on in this blog could be a great alternative, such as: blogs, wikis, instant messaging, web conferencing and social software. These also bring up worries and concerns about improper use of these technologies. We ignore what these tools could be used for. As the Content Economy points out, what would have happened if bosses feared employees writing poems when the word processor first came out?

Blogs: Successful with Business Travelers

In a recent article in the New York Times, the popularity of business travel blogs is revealed. Some of the travel companies that have their own blogs are: Starwood Hotels and Resorts, Marriott International, Delta Air Lines and Southwest Airlines. According to Jane Levere of the New York Times, these corporations have introduced blogs to promote both products and brand images.

Research has shown that 21% of all business travelers read blogs on the internet. This includes business blogs and others including finance, sports and others. These new blogs geared towards the business traveler provide many uses, from where to flu shots in airports to the best places to eat in a new city.

The overall theme of each blog started was that it allowed each company to connect with its customers.

One of the most popular blogs is written by J.W. Marriott JU, who is the chairman of Marriott International. He has a blog called “Marriott on the Move.” His blog has gotten 345,000 since it launched. He commented:

“I love it. I read an awful lot of responses we’re getting,” he said. “It gives us a chance to communicate with the world and a chance for people to communicate back.”

At Southwest, after starting their blog, they changed company policy about when customers could purchase their tickets. These blogs not only allow for readers to gain insight to what’s going on in the company, but also to allow the employees of the company to communicate. On many of these blogs listed above, the employees are the people who post. This allows them to share open communication as a team, and find out what the rest of their company is doing aside from their department. This level of communication allows companies to expand and grow as more collaboration takes place, both between the employees themselves and a business to customer perspective.

How has your corporate blog help expand your use of Enterprise 2.0? Does allowing customers to make comments on your current projects help your business expand?

Businesses turning to blogs for promotion

In a recent article by Bill Ives, he discusses how many businesses are turning to new media to advertise. He references Steve Rubel who points out that every company can effectively market on the Internet if they put some resources into the effort. But the most important reason companies are turning to blogs is because customers are trying to avoid advertising and now have the tools to do this such as TiVos, DVRs, and satellite radio.

This is where the blogs are the most effective. This is where users solicit the enterprise for a specific purpose. It is a perfect place to start a blog and communicate with your community exactly what your company stands for and what your can contribute. A recent post in the Content Economy has recently listed the key things that need to be in place for an enterprise to effectively start running a corporate blog: easy access, ease of use, single point of administration, freedom of choice, mobility, and tagging. Is one of these things holding your corporate blog back?

Let’s Get Corporate Blogging Up and Running!

Enterprise blogging is an effective way to collaborate between teams and share vital information. There are though, some pre-requisites organizations must take before firing up a blogging platform. I came across an interesting post on The Content Economy which highlights essential aspects that a blogging platform must adhere to. Here are a few:


1. The blogs and blog tools like RSS feeds must be easy to access from any computer as well as any mobile device.
2. The blogging platform should be easy to use; there should be huge buttons for editing, creating, and publishing posts. Employees should have no trouble on the blog site.
3. Employees should be able to administer all of their blogs from one single point.
4. There must be freedom of choice when it comes to selecting a RSS reader. If an internal RSS reader is used, it must allow subscription to an external RSS reader.
5. Since most employees are always on the go, they must be able to publish and create posts via e-mail and text messaging from their mobile devices.
6. Lastly, tagging is essential for employees to manage their blog posts and allow users to search by interest areas.

Keep your employees on board: Uncap the power of Enterprise 2.0

A recent story in the CIO takes an in-depth look at how enterprises in the UK are dealing with social networks in the work place and also how to harness their power and use it to recruit a better workforce.

The first point the article makes is that it should be a company’s priority to attract and keep the brightest young workers. How is this to be done? Have the best internal systems by embracing web 2.0 also known as blogs, wikis and social networks. The problem a company has with fully embracing allowing employees to access this: over 233 million hours are lost a month because employees are not working. This leaves a company with two options: go with the flow and hope employees will see what they can do or harness the technology and ban employees from accessing it at work. Gartner embraced the new technology which has led to what they call a high performance workplace. They looked at the matter from a staff standpoint.

They have two very different internal departments that see the benefits of this technology. The HR department sees it as a way to recruit, manage, motivate and retain the best work force. IT sees it as a way to provide the best people in the work force with the best tools so that these employees can perform to their highest potential.

With all the best employees working together, many opportunities appear. Since collaboration can happen between two people that never meet, as well as people that span a continent, innovation is more likely to occur.

The new workforce expects this technology to be available in the workplace. If your company can’t provide it for them, they will find another workplace that they feel is better suited for their lifestyle. This leads to the problem of retention. If you retain your staff, they can use to fully utilize all the Web 2.0 tools that you provide for them. So, if you find high performance people, and use the capabilities of Web 2.0 to encourage them to stay at your company, then it is possible to have a highly collaborative workplace that uses this technology for the growth of you enterprise.