It’s the people that are missing …

… in many discussions around the tools and methods of Enterprise 2.0, Social Software in the Enterprise or whatever you name it.

Especially intranet discussions are too often charaterized by a portal focus – or may I say obsession. When technology is our starting point, it’s no wonder that we care more for corporate memory, information management and systems, than actual users.

The people factor deserves more consideration, unless Enterprise 2.0 (or … you get the point) will fail again, much like technology focused KM efforts of old have.

Shifting mindsets from technology to people is hard, yet it’s essential, because it’s the creativity and motivation of people that drive innovation and knowledge usage – and they deserve to be supported.

Enterprise social software supports and builds upon connectivity and adaptivity (and lays out the groundwork for emergence), and thus leverages the complex systems nature of organizations to their advantage.

Some crossposts from the BMID blog

If you haven’t figured it out already, I am horrible at cross-posting.

Here’s what I’ve been writing over at my Business Model Innovation and Design blog over the last weeks that relates to innovation work and consulting:

How Innovation Works

Outsourcing von F&E

Web 2.0 Compact Definition

Web 2.0 isn’t about the Internet

Some business model innovation links

Is Microsoft Driving Innovation Or Playing Catch-Up With Rivals? Office 2.0 and more

Thriving in the New Innovation Landscape

Externe Berater …

Beyond predictable workflows: Enhancing productivity in artful business processes

This is a good article at IBM Systems Journal, revolving around decentralized, democratized work processes, like ad-hoc organized knowledge work that relies on self-organization and emergence:

A parallel to the growing influence of end users on business services is found in the democratization of content under the influence of Web 2.0. By democratization, we mean a shift from central control of IT services to a greater ability for end users to help themselves. Blogging and wikis are recent examples of the trend to democratize content.

Explaining the potentials of enterprise social software like wikis, especially in supporting and enhancing established enterprise applications, is currently my main job, this article is a welcome help.

Social Software’s Corporate Value

Regarding social software in the enterprise, the numbers are impressive, demonstrating the value of social networking to some 21st century organizations:

Over 3,000 individual employees blog at Microsoft.
IBM has 15,000 bloggers.
70,000 IBM workers contribute to wikis.

So, is it all set for social software tools in the enterprise? Eric Lundquist at eWeek says hopefully so, and encourages tech managers to experiment with social software.

He’s also citing from Don Tapscotts fortcoming Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, arguing that mass collaboration is changing the landscape:

Smart companies are encouraging, rather than fighting, the heaving growth of massive online communities—many of which emerged from the fringes of the Web to attract tens of millions of participants overnight. Even ardent competitors are collaborating on path-breaking science initiatives that accelerate discovery in their industries. Indeed, as a growing number of firms see the benefits of mass collaboration, this new way of organizing will eventually displace the traditional corporate structures as the economy’s primary engine of wealth creation.

Yes, insight into organizational structures is needed, moreover one needs a thorough understanding of a companies business model, to be able to describe how these social applications can be applied for the company’s benefit:

Implementation efforts need their groundwork done to succeed.

frogpond is well suited in this space, check out my weblog on business model innovation.

Consulting Approaches for Enterprise 2.0

Susan Scrupski on consulting in the changing landscapes of Enterprise 2.0, i.e. Consulting and SI 2.0, when more and more companies are embracing “as a Service”-models.

This nicely sums it up for me and my consulting approach:

Consulting 2.0 is Business Process-based not technology-centric

Well, I would add another twist on organizational settings, analysis and design … but the core remains valid: I don’t peddle wikis (or social software by any means) as the one and only, and predominantly, technological solution.

Being confident, but also knowing when and where to employ wikis (or other social software) and when not to is key. It is – at least in my book – a basic ingredient for sustainable consulting work that really helps clients.

Consultants who can dig deep within the business processes of an enterprise are going to be invaluable in helping large and small enterprises take advantage of new SaaS and Enterprise 2.0 applications.