Driving User Adoption of Enterprise 2.0 Technologies - Sponsored by Suite Two

Below are my notes taken during a WebEx keynote session at the Enterprise 2.0 conference. My notes are not quotes my paraphrasing and summaries of speakers. If any of the panelists think that something needs correcting, just leave a comment:

Note: full room, out the door

Moderator - Rob Rueckert, Investment Manager, Intel Capital

Speaker - Chris Alden, EVP, Professional Products, Six Apart

Speaker - David Cassady, EVP of Operations, SpikeSource

Speaker - Greg Reinacker, Founder / CTO, NewsGator Technologies, Inc.

Speaker - Ross Mayfield, CEO and Co-Founder, Socialtext

Question: Security

Answer: Greg: need to leverage existing security infrastructure ...

Answer: Ross: differentiate between information being secure and people being free to collaborate.

Answer: Chris: Tools have capabilities organizations can set. Access controls, revision history can be invaluable. Can argue that more open transparency with proper audit manages risk better than trying to avoid risk.

Answer: Ross: get information out of channels into spaces because management for compliance is easier (than say, e-mail).

Comment: audience point re: granular management of security

What I think: Security, identity, compliance and integration are all critically important for E2.0-related tools to succeed within an enterprise environment. The breadth/depth can vary ("completeness") but each type of tool (XML syndication, blogs, wikis) have different requirements. For instance, wikis tend to handles attachments differently when it comes to page versions and history - which can have serious consequences from a content/records management perspective. XML Syndication tools need to have controls for the types of payloads delivered (e.g., executables). Failure to do a good job at that can have tremendous security issues (virus, malware).

Question: when will it become an environment to make better decisions?

Answer: Chris: blogs and wikis are easy and simple to use, emergent decision-making vs. structured decision-making ...

Answer: Greg: BoA used to have a fraud management system and replaced it with a blog that is sent out via XML feed.

What I think: There are different types of decision models for different situations. Some tools are more formal and structured in the manner in which ideas, options, action items and so on are captured and prioritized (e.g., Group Systems). E2.0 tools are more loosely coupled and informal, fostering a different sense of situational awareness that tools designed more for group decision-making do not support as well (nor should they).

Question: Who's adopting? Power users, younger workers, geeks?

Answer: Chris: CXOs worried about not being relevant in terms of communicating and collaborating with a new generation of workers and customers

Answer: Ross: Covered some adoption patterns

Answer: Greg: Show that people can solve a pain-point or get great content to someone rather than have them chase the information

What I think: I think the "perfect storm" is a combination of organic, bottom-up adoption with senior management support to deal with any political roadblocks and such. Mid-level support is needed to provide some local sponsorship and to provide some sense of purposeful communication and leadership to connect the emergent use to management expectations that the productivity, collaboration and community-building efforts have some alignment with organizational goals. (Sounds similar to what was considered a KM best practice BTW.)

Question: Hoarding

Answer: Variety of audience comments ranging from "people will share naturally" to people will not share based on health of organization

Question: Hierarchy and organizational models and flattening structures via social software

Answer: David: happens through this type of software

Answer: Rob: previous tools too formal, rigid

What I think: There are tremendous organizational issues that need to be addressed concerning "hoarding". Much of this has nothing at all to do with technology. Much of this are long-known issues with virtual and far-flung teams, community participation (e.g., "lurkers) and the high-level messages management sends to employees when companies reorganize, slash benefits, outsource business functions, reduce professional development programs, etc.

Question: Misuse

Answer: Ross: has not seen it (vandalism)

Answer: Chris: Similar to other tools, possibility exists for abuse

What I think: Abuse can/does occur. Companies need to update appropriate policy and procedure rules that govern use of communication and collaboration tools in the enterprise. There is nothing new here. e-Mail, IM, discussion forums - blogs, wikis - they can all be abused.

Question: SuiteTwo

Answer: David & Ross & Chris & Greg: Open source, API, SpikeSource and appliance model ...

What I think: The room was full, the attendees were very active with questions, the panel was thoughtful. I think I need to reset some of my thinking around SuiteTwo and revisit my assumptions. SpikeSource is more interesting and intriguing than I first thought... good session.

Question: Migrate or integration

Answer: Ross: benefits for both - standardize but allow for experimentation ... understand meta model and namespace model ... weak signals are rogue users for what needs to be supported in the future

What I think: Agree in essence with Ross. There are operational and infrastructure reasons to consolidate, reduce complexity, overlaps and so on. But at the same time you don't want to avoid use of innovative tools. It gets back to how organizations define methods and practices for introduction of new technology to meet changing business requirements and how they manage/sunset existing technologies in their portfolio as needed in situations where new tools displace old ones.

Question: ECM

Answer: Chris: Blog platform will not be at the high-end but blog manages blog content. Needs in the middle that unmet though. Some ECM systems are overkill.

Answer: Greg: ECM systems will be around for some time, can use RSS to open up content flows through multiple endpoints, RSS and ECM go together very well.

What I think: Generally agree with the panelists. These tools are complimentary to an ECM framework, they need to work with existing systems as needed, do not need to try to compete with traditional ECM vendors at all levels.