Tags: Enterprise 2.0, Enterprise 2.0 Debate, Tom Davenport, Andrew McAfee, Web 2.0, Social Computing, Social Networking, Social Media, Social Software, Collaboration, Communities, Knowledge Management, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Learning, Fringe, Axel Magard, People, IBM, Corporate Blogging, Enterprise Blogging, Definitions
Today was one of those busy days that starts very very quiet and then it keeps piling up throughout the whole day and just about midday you realised that you are just as busy as any other Monday. Sigh. In between meetings and conference calls (And declaring some more expenses from recent trips, too!) I thought about, finally, creating a weblog post around the subject of the so-called Enterprise 2.0 debate between Tom Davenport and Andrew McAfee, that I have mentioned in the past, but alas here we are, towards the end of my day and not a single chance to listen to it properly and read some of the buzz that has been going about it. I guess it will have to wait.
However, I did want to share with you today something that when I bumped into it on Friday I thought it was just so good that I had to share it. So I did in my behind-the-firewall blog, but just this afternoon I got the heads up from the person I am going to talk about to share it publicly, out there, with everyone. Yes, that is right, I am just going to quote one of my fellow IBM colleagues on a weblog post he created on Friday and which resonated in me quite a bit for various multiple reasons.
But first, let’s go on with the credit where it is due. His name is Axel Magard and he is currently working as a Project Manager in IBM Germany and apart from being a very active weblogger, behind the firewall, he is just like you and me: a passionate knowledge worker who realises the true potential of social computing within the Enterprise.
Right, well, on Friday, there was another colleague from IBM Systems and Technology (The hardware division) who was wondering what all of the fuss around Web 2.0 was and if it would be worth while diving into it, specially in the area where he was. And while I was on my way to share a thought or two about it on why he should be paying attention to it, no matter in which business you would work for, Axel went ahead of us all and share a fantastic weblog post with a trackback to his own internal weblog with a final quote that is just *so* good that I took it and weblogged about it myself internally and also added as part of my Fringe profile.
And I still enjoy it so much that I have decided to ask for permission to him earlier on today and see if I could share it over here. He kindly agreed to it and I am really glad to see that he is ok with it, because this is, perhaps, just one of the best quotes that explains Web 2.0 (And Enterprise 2.0 for that matter!) and I doubt I would ever be able to come up with something better than that, so simple, yet so effective in its meaning. And if not judge for yourself:
"Web 2.0 is good for all of us, it doesn’t matter whether we do sales, consultancy, support, development, project management, design or manufacturing. No matter what we do – we all need information for our work – and the greatest source of information is: people. Empowering people to deliver information and giving them the right tools to create, organize, find and use information is the best we can do to improve all aspects of our business" (Emphasis mine) – by Axel Magard, someone just like you and me!
And if you exchange "information" for "knowledge", then it is probably as well one of the best Knowledge Management definitions I have seen lately. Simple, effective, straight to the point … beautiful!
Thanks ever so much, Axel, for such inspirational quote! Just brilliant!
