E L S U A ~ A KM Blog Thinking Outside The Inbox by Luis Suarez

Enterprise 2.0 vs. Social Business – The Final 2.0 Transformation

Continuing further with wrapping up 2010, there are plenty of things I am really excited about for 2011, both at work and on a personal level, but there is one in particular that I just can’t wait for it to unleash its full potential, as it has already started to happen during the course of 2010, specially, the second half of the year, although somewhat timidly, despite some folks been busy with it for the last couple of years. Of course, I am referring to the transition we are all, finally, making towards Social Business vs. just Enterprise 2.0. Can you see how we are, at long last!, shifting gears from that technology focus only from over the course of the years with Enterprise 1.0, 2.0, etc. into purely a business related one with Social Business? Indeed, finally, we are all coming together to what a few visionaries detailed over 15 years ago when Knowledge Management first came about. The thing though that is different now is how we are not placing a specific focus on either technology, or processes, nor people, but, instead, we keep thriving to strike that balance between (social) tools, (social) business processes AND people. Yes, WELCOME to a new era, folks! Welcome to Knowledge Management 2.0 … done right! Welcome to Social Business!!

I am usually not that kind of person who is keen on writing year-in-review or highlights blog posts from a year that’s about to end, or to put together some predictions for that new year that’s about to start in a few days, but I think, for this time around, I am going to make an exception and share with you folks a good number of the various different articles I have bumped into over the course of the last few weeks and which basically touch base on this much anticipated transition into Social Business we are witnessing at the moment and which I think is going to help prepare, for most businesses, *the* final transformation into a successful 2.0 business that thrives on knowledge sharing, collaboration and innovation, right at the core, that a bunch of us have been longing for all along. Yes, I do realise there are plenty of great links that I am sharing on this entry and I am hoping you will excuse the, perhaps excessive cross-linking itself, but then again I think it’s a good exercise to read through some of those to get a glimpse of how that transition has started and how there is no way back, which is perhaps the part I am most excited about, just as well as eternally grateful to Enterprise 2.0 for helping make it a reality for all of us for 2011 and beyond …

Out of all of those various links I have mentioned above, there are a couple of them though (Read Kevin’s thoughts on where the real focus needs to be … It’s *not* on Enterprise 2.0, by the way!) that resonate the most with what we are about to witness as the next phase for Enterprise 2.0 within the corporate world, which is basically provoke an opportunity for that profound transformation for companies out there, willing to listen and engage, to become themselves altogether social businesses that truly believe they should behave that very same way as well. In Social Means Business my good friend, and 2.0 extraordinaire, Susan Scrupski, reflects a bit on that very same fact:

“[...] I caution all our members to keep their eye on the bigger picture.  The [2.0 Adoption] Council is expanding to embrace all facets of social business.  Going forward, it will not be possible to separate where social media initiatives begin and e20 ends.  And, every customer will tell you they rarely use any jargon when they’re presenting business cases to their executives.  The language they use is rooted in the benefits of social collaboration, not the features.  This is typically different for every company too, and becoming more and more strategic” [Emphasis mine]

Rather notable remarks, don’t you think? I thought so, too, indeed! In fact, that blog post by Susan reminded me of the wonderful, and rather thought provoking, summary blog post, and I can certainly recommend you all to have a look and read further in detail, by the incredibly smart Lee Bryant about the Enterprise 2.0 Summit event a bunch of us attended in Frankfurt by the end of October, where he talked extensively about the whole concept behind Trojan Mice; in this context, obviously, Enterprise 2.0 itself, and how it needs to move into the next challenge: facilitate the transition for companies to become successful social businesses.

Or, as Susan herself puts together rather nicely on that article with this other noteworthy quote, worth while remembering as we enter 2011 as well:

“This next phase of the evolution of the social business market is about integration. Social Integration of people, process, and technology. Integration of Work, Society, and Technology. Integration of the past with the future“

Like I said, I would strongly recommend you have a look into the rather long, but, very insightful, blog post put together by Lee to see how that integration of people, (social) business processes and technology (i.e. Enterprise 2.0) will be coming together to mark the birth of the Social Business in the Knowledge Economy of the 21st century. If you have been reading this blog for a while, you will realise how this may not be that new after all, nor different from the main premises of how Knowledge Management came about over 15 years ago. Exactly the same end-goal, the same mission, the same commitment to make it work this / that time around, the same excitement and long-term vision as today’s Social Business. Hopefully, we have learned the lessons from back then, try not to make the very same mistakes again (Specially the extra emphasis on technology and processes as the killer-app for everything!) and get it right this time around, because so far it looks like the focus is right where it should be; striking that worthy balance between people + process + technology = social business!

That’s just why I can’t wait for 2011 to kick things off already! Exciting times ahead, indeed, don’t you think? … Are you ready?

The Future of the WorkPlace – Social Business

As we come to wrap up another another one of those unforgettable years (2010, that is…), specially, for the Enterprise 2.0 movement and, as we come to prepare things already for 2011 and beyond, one cannot keep but continue reflecting about the real impact of Social Computing within the enterprise and how it is changing the way we think (and behave!) towards the traditional concept of work. Today, in this blog post I would want to reflect a little bit further more on what the future of the workplace is, and, more specifically, how the use of all of these social software tools is changing the way knowledge workers get their jobs done. Much smarter, but not necessarily harder. The challenge though for all of us to answer is whether that really is the future of the workplace. Or not… Welcome to Social Business!

Back in November, Imran Ali put together a rather insightful blog post over at GigaOm under the heading “The Future of Work: How Jobs Change in the Next Decade“, where he referenced a recent piece by Gartner on the changing nature of the workplace itself, specially within the next 10 years over at “Gartner Says the World of Work Will Witness 10 Changes During the Next 10 Years“. Both articles are really worth while to set the right context on how the workplace of today will definitely transform itself into the workplace of tomorrow thanks to the enormous influence of social computing within the enterprise and beyond. As a tease to help you get a grasp of what you will find in those couple of articles, I am just going to quote over here the changes they talked about:

1. “”De-routinasation” of work
2. Work swarms
3. Weak Links
4. Working with the collective
5. Work sketch-ups
6. Spontaneous work
7. Simulation and experimentation
8. Pattern sensitivity
9. Hyperconnected
10. My place”

I am not sure what you folks would think, but I find it rather interesting that a bunch of those changes that will be taking place, if not already!, will be coming along thanks to the emergence of social networking within the workplace. It’s probably not going to become a surprise anymore either how work is shifting away from traditional organisations, hierarchies, structures and co-located teams into distributed and virtual (social) networks and communities where a growing urge to connect, collaborate and share your knowledge across the board with other knowledge workers is probably going to become an essential skill to acquire in the years to come. Even more when large %s of the corporate world are increasingly becoming more and more distributed and mobile than ever! Which makes a perfect segway into another interesting article I would want to point out to you which I think reflects quite nicely the real impact of Enterprise 2.0 even if by just reading its title: “Can Enterprise 2.0 save the disconnected knowledge worker?” by Ron Miller.

That’s certainly another worth while read, specially, if you would want to find out plenty more how social software can help those remote knowledge workers stay connected, through their (social) networks and communities, to keep doing their work effectively. And not just to provide an opportunity to accommodate the well known virtual water cooler but also to carry out real work. And the interesting thing is that we are witnessing a growing trend of more and more businesses adopting this new set of social tools to help their knowledge workers be more in control of their own knowledge workflows and productivity, to take additional responsibility for the job(s) they are doing, and, eventually, to help them shine through sharing their passion and commitment across with those work areas they feel most identified with and interested in. Something that traditional collaborative and knowledge sharing tools didn’t manage to make it happen as effectively as social networking is nowadays.

At this point in time, I am sure you may be wondering about whether we would need to wait for another 10 years, or thereabouts, to see those changes, finally, taking place, as Gartner mentioned in their article referenced above, right? Well, we may not have to, after all. Take a look into what IBM is doing at the moment with a new initiative they have been calling The Future of the Workplace. This is coming from a large enterprise traditionally seen as rather strict, archaic, rather obsolete, very much set in their old ways, perhaps still even a dinosaur of the traditional corporate world, as it enters next year its 100th year anniversary. Well, that may not be the case anymore… Have a look and read through “Creating a new kind of workplace at IBM” by Kelly Kass.

It’s actually a rather interesting and thoughtful interview with fellow IBM colleague, and good friend, Bill Sweeney who gets to answer a whole bunch of questions about that IBM initiative called The Future of the Workplace itself, that’s been going on at IBM for over a year now. I would certainly recommend you take a look into it, if you would want to see how social computing has been transforming IBM from the bottom up to top down over the course of the years. Even BlueIQ, the Social Software Adoption program I have been working in for the last three years gets a lovely mention as well on helping address and facilitate the impact social tools have had inside and outside IBM. Here are some noteworthy quotes I thought you would be interested in reading more about further on:

“‘Any device, any place, any time’ – we don’t have that yet but it is our goal. We recognize that work isn’t a place anymore; we need to supply capabilities that are independent of employees’ locations since 50 per cent of our work force don’t work in an IBM facility. That said, 50 percent of employees have been here less than 5 years.

So whether employees use a BlackBerry or an iPad or an iPhone, whether they’re on a Mac or PC, our goal is to let employees choose their devices. We see that employees bring their own devices to work and that they don’t want multiple devices at home and at work, so we want to supply them with what they need as well as the right apps“

Or this other one:

“As we look at the collaborative process in its most simplest form, we try to Find, Know, Work and Recognize.

We find people to team up with to get the job done with the right technology.

We get to know them and build trust to work effectively across the team no matter what country and time zone they’re in (social computing and video help play a role in that.)

By working and recognizing our peers, we work on building reputations at the company“

Like I said, a worth while read for everyone out there who would want to know further more how work nowadays is all about working smarter, not necessarily harder (that is, Collaborative, Networked, Personal), as my good friend Harold Jarche put together just recently in a rather inspiring blog entry under “Talking about working smarter“. It’s probably also not a surprise to see how IBM itself made it into Mashable’s 4 Top Employers for Social Media Professionals. It’s probably not a surprise either for most folks when I tell them I have been living that dream myself for the last 7 years, and counting!!, and how I am starting to witness how plenty of other businesses are starting to flock into new, more innovative, ways, and methods, of measuring knowledge workers’ productivity, not  by their sheer physical presence at the traditional office, but more by the results they deliver using these social tools to collaborate and share their knowledge across much more effectively with their peers, customers and business partners. Like I said at the beginning of this blog post, we don’t have to wait too long anymore! It’s just around the corner, if not there already …

Welcome to Social Business! … Are you ready?

Taking Notes Episode 126: Introducing Social Business with Luis Suarez

Over the last couple of months I have been participating on a number of different podcasting episodes, (Internet) TV interviews, news articles and a whole bunch of other kinds of rich media publications talking, most of the time, around the topics of Enterprise 2.0, internal social software adoption and 2.0 evangelism, and, lately, the new social term that seems to be en vogue nowadays: social business. I originally had planned to share a few insights about the most interesting ones and point folks to the original resource to watch or read through them, but then I realised that there are out there far too many to mention in a single blog post, more than anything else, because some of the conversations have been substantially different from one another. So I thought that perhaps I would drop by over here, every now and then, and point folks to the odd one or two, so you could have a look into some of them, if you would be interested, but always being conscious of trying to strike a balance on not sharing them all one right after the other. That’s why I have decided as well that I will be splitting them up half in half and share some other pointers over at my Posterous site, which would also give me an opportunity to keep things going over there as well, as I keep making a much heavier use of it from here onwards…