(Continued … ) This is Part II from a previous blog post I have put together detailing some of the major highlights from Day Two from the Enterprise 2.0 conference event in Boston. And I will resume those very same highlights with the Launch Pad 2009 session detailed below:
Launch Pad 2009
Arrived late on to this session hosted by Stowe Boyd, so I missed a bit of it, and on top of things the wi-fi was not working for me for a little while, but I had the opportunity to catch up with the final 4 finalists for the Launch Pad and the overall winner was eventually Brainpark (Their Twitter id is here). Thus CONGRATULATIONS, guys!!!
It’s funny, before the Launch Pad session I was not really very much aware of what Brainpark were up to, but, once again, serendipity did the magic and took care of me. On that same dinner I shared with Ben, Greg and a few others I got to know and talk to a couple of folks from Brainpark who gave me a lovely 1:1 private tour of what it does and how it is trying to get some traction in the Enterprise 2.0 space.
My take? Well, not going to say much more, since I am thinking I will be blogging about them soon again, but I can honestly say that for everyone out there who has been doing traditional KM Brainpark is probably the closest representation to what they envision over a decade ago! KM on steroids or the per-used KM 2.0. Capturing knowledge whenever it happens, processing it accordingly, and making it available right away afterwards for further re-use! I tell you, the panacea for everyone doing KM out there and with plenty of social flavours all over the place! (Yes, I know, I will be talking about them again, I am sure!)
Networked: How the 2.0 Enterprise Makes Itself Transparent, Participatory, and Collaborative
With Jeffrey Stamps and Jessica Lipnack; Perhaps one of the sessions I enjoyed the most from Day Two, along with Andy McAfee’s keynote session. Both Jessica and Jeffrey did a great job in helping set the stage on where we are with the 21st organisations and where we should be; and all of that by going through a trip down the memory lane explaining how little things have changed in the last few decades in the corporate environment… How accurate!
Great quotes like "We can’t solve 21st century problems with 19th century organisations" surely had the desired effect of wake-up call for those of us attending the session. Talking about the four ages of organisations was also quite revealing, specially when match acrossed with similar concepts we have been using all along: "nomadic, agricultural, industrial, information (Tribes, Empires, Corporations, Networks) – small group, hierarchy, bureaucracy, network = Complexity!". And even more when Jessica mentioned how neither of them have substituted any of the former ones, but, instead, kept adding further on top! Goodness! Never thought about that one before and so spot on, don’t you think?
I also enjoyed a couple of additional interesting thoughts wrapped up with a superb quote I just thought I would add over here as well; both Jeffrey and Jessica mentioned how various different factors like the econolypse, layoffs, pay cuts, travel bans, global warming awareness, etc. etc. are helping shape organisations into three different types of geographies: Orgsphere, Sociosphere & Geosphere. And here is the priceless quote:
"We’re born to work and play together in teams, but we have to give enough of ourselves to the filaments connect" Rather an interesting one, don’t you think? It looks like, whether we like it or not, we are born to network. It’s just a matter of when, how and with whom we engage in those social networking activities. We will eventually be getting involved! Regardless! So why refuse to engage? Why not embrace altogether? … Plenty of food for thought on that one I can imagine …
Community & Social Network Sites: Think Adoption, Not Deployment
With Mike Gotta, moderating the panel, and with Dan McCall, Erik Johnson and Kishan Mallur as the speakers; this surely was another interesting session since all speakers detailed quite a bit how their own companies have been making progress with the adoption of social software and how in most cases the biggest advantages have been coming through with the participation in communities. Something I am sure most of us could relate to, specially if you have been involved with community building programs for a while now.
The interesting thing from this panel session though was how none of the speakers focused the conversation on the technologies they were using, but on the inherent issues of making use of these social tools; concerns about compliance, security, privacy laws (Specially in European countries), mandating the usage of social software were just a few to mention.
Then it came the realisation of how people share knowledge because they want to share their know-how, their experiences, their lessons learned, not because something or someone asks them to, which resulted in helping break down the silos and hierarchical structures allowing employees and top management to be on the same scale, i.e. on the same level, everyone collaborating and sharing knowledge openly and much more transparently.
Thought it was interesting as well how the panel ended with a final thought of having Social Computing Policy and Guidelines in place to help make good progress over time, as opposed to have to deal with plenty of additional headaches. And there it came another validation point on what I have been exposed to since way back in 2005! Way cool!!
Privacy, Data Ownership and Identity in an Increasingly Social World
With Irwin Lazar, moderating the panel, and with Kailash Ambwami, Many Gill and Sam Curry as the speakers; this was, perhaps, the session where I had set up the highest expectations, since it is a topic that has grabbed my interest quite a bit as of late, yet those expectations were not met. Yes, there was plenty of commentary around identity, and data ownership, but I was rather concerned about how little privacy was part of the conversation.
Yes, it was mentioned as part of the privacy issues with external social networking sites, but apparently there doesn’t seem to be that same keen interest when those social networking sites are behind the firewall, because most folks think that it’s not a problem since it is behind the firewall. Well, not very accurate.
The biggest hurdle that social networking is going to have in the corporate world, believe it or not it’s already happening!, is with privacy, specially with privacy issues and the corresponding privacy laws, mainly in European countries like Germany, France, Austria, Italy, even Spain!, where, if not looked at properly, and thinking about them thoroughly finding the best of solutions, they can shut down your entire efforts in providing that social software strategy employees could benefit from.
Yet, it wasn’t identified as an issue and somehow I feel that businesses need to wake up to this reality with privacy while at work, because it is a completely different game than out there in the consumer Web 2.0 space, and surely becomes much more of a touch issue inside the corporate firewall. And if not, do a quick search through Google on security and social software and you will be up to some really interesting reading!
I do hope folks realise about the kind of impact privacy is having with social software deployment efforts, because if we don’t look after those privacy issues carefully we are bound to have plenty of stories that would be everything but success stories. Quite the opposite. So if your business hasn’t started working through the privacy issues while at work using social software, don’t waste any more time, start today! Better late than never!
Phew! That was it! Those are some of the major key highlights from myself from the Enterprise 2.0 conference event in Boston a few weeks back for Day Two. Yes, I realise they are a couple of long blog posts, but, as you would be able to see, plenty of food for thought with some golden nuggets on key things I learned throughout the day that I hope will inspire you just as much as they did to me. Hope you had a chance to enjoy that cup of coffee (Or two!) as well and let’s get ready for the highlights article of Day Three!
Coming up shortly …
Tags: e2conf, Enterprise 2.0 Conference, Boston, Agenda, Conference Events, Events, Conferences, Reality Check, Twitter, Enterprise 2.0, Social Software, Social Networking, Social Computing, Social Media, Collaboration, Communities, Learning, Knowledge Sharing, KM, Knowledge Management, Remote Collaboration, Innovation, Networking, Social Networks, Conversations, Dialogue, Communication, Connections, Relationships, Productivity, Launch Pad, Stowe Boyd, Brainpark, KM 2.0, Knowledge Management 2.0, Transparency, Participation, Jeffrey Stamps, Jessica Lipnack, Organisations, Nomads, Agriculture, Industry, Information, Tribes, Empires, Corporations, Networks, Hierarchies, Groups, Bureaucracy, Complexity, Econolypse, Orgsphere, Sociosphere, Geosphere, Social Software Adoption, Born to Network, Dan McCall, Erik Johnson, Kishan Mallur, Compliance, Security, Privacy, Privacy Laws, European Union, Works’ Council, Social Computing Guidelines, Policy, Irwin Lazar, Kailash Ambwami, Many Gill, Sam Curry, Identity, Data Protection, Data Ownership, Corporate Privacy Issues, Trust, Self-Governance, Governance
