Social Networks Made Easy

Six Apart just released Movable Type 4.2 that makes building social networks easy. For corporations, these tools have value since they could be used to create company specific social networks without a hassle. ReadWriteWeb announced that this new product:

“provides DIY tools for building your own social networking platform which includes member profiles, forums, friending capabilities, rating of content, and more”

WordPress, a competitor of Six Apart is also set to launch their own version of this tool, called BuddyPress, soon as well. So, as the article asks:

Is this the future of web publishing altogether?

What are your thoughts on this? Do you think that the ease of these tools will help to introduce more web 2.0 tools into the enterprise?

Implementation of Web 2.0 in the Enterprise

I recently came across this study released from The McKinsey Quarterly titled: Building the Web2.0 Enterprise. The study itself reveals that organizations are using these tools mainly for internal use, change management practices, and organizational structures. Also IT and senior management need to be proponents for these new tools for a company to have any success at implementation.

This post from Social Media discusses the author’s opinions of this study

- Organizations are changing and may look the same externally but will operate very differently on the inside once social technology adoption reaches critical mass (i.e. a majority of employees using these tools for work purposes)

- In the near term, this may be a case where the irresistible force (i.e. web 2.0) meets the immovable object (i.e. senior management). Adoption of social computing correlates higher with younger generations...and Gen Xers aren't yet running Fortune 500 enterprises.

- Marketing, IT, HR, and Finance all need to get along...but any department's role as an order taker will be justified unless it can tie itself to business goals and objectives.

Cost of Enterprise 2.0

William Buist, president of BlackStar life community for Ecademy, made this important point as mentioned by this article from WhatPC.

“With the current economic climate, cost will return to the corporate equation. Therefore, finding the right partner at the right cost makes collaboration even more important,” he says. “Big businesses need to understand exactly how to collaborate effectively, both internally and externally.”

Communication is a key ingredient when it comes to collaboration, and as noted by many experts, enterprise networking sites are starting to change the dynamic of the traditional business communication style. As researchers at Forrester Research have already noted, blogs, wikis, rss, and other web 2.0 tools, have become the biggest buzz words in business and it doesn’t look to be just a current craze that will soon die out. Instead it looks to be what will be considered the norm of tomorrow. Oliver Young, analyst for Forrester, made this interesting statement, however, that

“Until now, IT Departments have resisted Web 2.0 tools, often viewing them as consumer grade”

This soon may no longer be an option since as mentioned above, with the current stated of the economy, companies simply may not be able to afford this type of thinking.

Building the Web 2.0 Enterprise

The McKinsey Quarterly recently surveyed executives on the business use of web 2.0 technology within the enterprise in their second annual survey Building the Web 2.0 Enterprise. An interesting notion that this survey brings up is the fact that use of web 2.0 technology is changing. The survey details that users are stepping away from web services and mashups from the previous year, and they are instead focusing on social networks, podcasts, blogs, RSS, and wikis altogether. Another important finding the survey brings is that the majority of employees are satisfied with the way companies are adopting web 2.0 technologies, whether it be to develop new products and services, internal recruiting, enhancing company culture, training, or managing knowledge. Browse through this revealing article, and see how your compare how your company stands with the results given in this latest enterprise survey.

Tips for Improving Collaboration Within the Enterprise

Peter Burris, a principle analyst for Forrester research reveals some useful tips in this article regarding Web 2.0 technologies in the workplace to foster collaboration. As he points out many businesses understand the need for these technologies in the new enterprise 2.0 workplace, but sill have little understanding of how to execute. Below are five tips that he recommends:

1. Trust matters: The key to collaborative applications is to keep providing information regarding the status of participants.
2. Encourage simple methods: Technology implementation is never automatic, but successfully applications of collaboration technologies inevitably start with a well-articulated set of simple objectives
3. Let change bubble up: The most successful principles for collaboration system design, implementation and operation have emerged from highly decentralized systems.
4. Intercept and guide: “Radical maintenance”, which involves overhauling a system without disrupting it, is a critical competence for any Web 2.0 technology specialist – and must be mastered by IT professionals.
5. Leave your systems open: An open approach affords greater flexibility in use and agility in implementation

Do you have any tips that could be added to this list?

IT Department role in Enterprise 2.0

Many organizations have implemented web 2.0 technologies, and while for some companies the idea is new, industry wide these concepts are starting to become a necessity instead of simply a competitive advantage. A new research study from Forrester announced that IT departments have increased their role in implementing these initiatives. As Oliver Young, writer of the Forrester research study, mentioned, in the past marketing as well as communication departments were mostly responsible for the use of Web 2.0 in the workplace since many of the web 2.0 initiatives dealt with communication, however, IT departments are now becoming the leaders of this change in corporations. As the executive summary states

“our recent Web 2.0 survey shows IT departments taking a more active role in the acquisition and deployment of Web 2.0 technologies. Budgetary controls, the need for integration and technical skills, and the growing importance of Web 2.0 tools are all putting IT departments in the driver's seat.”

It will be interesting to see how this change in leadership will affect industry wide practices. Do you agree with IT playing a lead role for the future?

IT Departments Growing Relationship with Web 2.0 Tools

With the proliferation of web 2.0 in the enterprise it comes as no surprise that a study from Forrester Research confirms that IT departments are paying more attention to the potential of these tools. Computerworld reported that of the IT professionals that were surveyed by Forrester, 63% have a firm belief that web 2.0 will have a significant impact on their business in the upcoming three years. The study also revealed that younger IT professionals were the most enthusiastic, where as more seasoned professionals were still a little more cautious about adopting these tools. Forrester analyst in charge of the report, G. Oliver Young, made this statement about the findings.

"It is a growing familiarity of the tools up and down the organization. Just a couple of years ago, a lot of these tools were very foreign. IT departments and professionals are increasingly using these tools for their own use."

While there is a tide shifting towards the utilization of web 2.0, IT departments remain concerned about risks associated with employees using the tools in ways not approved by the company. The Forrester Research study stated that 31% of survey participants said they were very concerned about this, and 48% said that they were slightly worried, while 2% said that they were not at all.

Collaboration is Vital in Enterprise Survival

I came across this video on YouTube where Bjoern Brauel, CTO and Vice President of the WebMethods business of Software AG, sheds some light about the importance of adopting Web 2.0 technologies within enterprise organizations.

An idea that seems to come up several times during this 7-minute video is when asked what web 2.0 at the end of the day is all about, Bjoern answers:

“One specific thing comes on top…and it’s Collaboration”

Take a look at this video to see how Web 2.0 software and SOA infrastructure can improve efficiency and help leverage existing skills within an organization.

A 12 Step Guide to the benefits of Web 2.0

In a recent article at CIO Australia, they address the challenge of bringing Web 2.0 tools into Australia. Since this country is showing that they aren’t adapting web 2.0 as fast as the rest of the world, they give tweleve simple steps in order to encourage the adaption.

There are many reasons that CIOs are failing to adopt this process, but the magazine states one very important thing:

Organizations must increase their Web 2.0 awareness and capabilities now to prepare for the storm of innovation to come."

It only takes a few changes in the company in order to bring this huge collaborative machine into the picture, and CIO sees it:

"I believe the most important challenge for the CIO is to make the key decision makers in the company aware and to ensure Web 2.0 becomes increasingly embedded in their current and future strategy," Relihan says.

Training is not difficult, most of the tools used are already in common practice outside the workplace, and are seen as time wasters.

"If you want to find out what tools your staff are finding most useful at the moment, just go and see what your IT department is blocking."

The twelve guide to getting the most out of Web 2.0 into your enterprise are:

1. Wake Up Call at the Top – CIOs need to acknowledge that this is the computing and collaboration of the future.

2. Settle the Ownership question – Who calls the shots? Is it the upper level management or the IT department?

3. Borderless creativity – The value of these tools is still emerging and letting itself be seen. It can foster creativity throughout the organization whether the employees are sitting across the world from each other or on two separate continents.

4. If you’re not blogging how will you know what people say behind your back?

5. Consider the dark blog -- Companies are still figuring out how to control the blogs safely behind the firewalls. But employees can be the most valuable source of the information that flows from the blog

6. Push Co-Creation – According to this article, many CIOs see social networking as a waste of time. With the power of Web 2.0 tools, companies can be aided in inventing, developing and sending to new products to market faster due to the fact that they can communicate with other companies to see what they have done to make their enterprise work.

7. Beware of the stealth attack and stay alert – Know excalty which tool are correct for your business. If the wrong social networking tool is used, it could cause many problems throughout the enterprise.

8. Know what mashups will mess you up – Since two different web sources are combining in order to create one piece of information, the wrong source of information released could cause trouble. This could be a source of security problems, therefore it is important to know exactly what to use in these powerful tools.

9. Use web 2.0 for talent attraction and retention -- Most companies block these tools on the internet because they believe it is a great way for employees to waste time. But, if older generations and younger generations come together to work on these applications together, the possibilities are endless.

10. Use it for green computing—These tools allow people to access information faster, leading to a reduction in the need of power for computers. The carbon emissions dramatically decrease if computers are used right.

11. Use it to fix enterprise search – Many times, employees find it easier to find the information online than on the intranet. These tools can correct that.

12. Accept That Good Governance Reduces Exposure – The board and upper level management are the key to the success of these tools. With the correct guidance and exposure, these tools can lead to massive amounts of collaboration and innovation that could not otherwised be found without web 2.0 tools.