The Impending Enterprise 2.0 Software Market Consolidation – what to watch out for

I believe that much of the functionality we see in Enterprise 2.0 software today will eventually be integrated into other enterprise applications. In fact, I would not be surprised to see that beginning to happen in 2010, as the effects of the recession continue to gnaw at the business climate, making it more difficult for many vendors of stand-alone E2.0 software tools and applications to survive, much less grow.

via socialcomputingjournal.com

Smart questioning in this thought-provoking piece on the Enterprise 2.0 software market by Larry Hawes. My take has two perspectives:

One is technology-related – while I assume that the shake-out will take longer than he predicts, the eventual outcome will be indeed in favor of systems with open APIs, standard-adherent mode of interconnectivity etc. It’s a good time for open source players thus too, making the situation more complex than if we were to look at “vendors” alone. But why will it take longer? Reasons include everything from vendor lock-in, a tough time for budgeting for yet another switch of systems and a general fear of “having to go through all that integration hassle” again.

Second perspective is a bit more strategically, ie. factual market consolidation will be highly dependant of how the big players proceed. Big players like Oracle, SAP and Microsoft. Yes, I am speaking of elephants in the living-room. It will be interesting to see how they (and their acquisitions) will deal with the need for integration and interplay that are emerging as needs. I guess that the winners in that bigger race have to find a way to integrate various and diverse Enterprise 2.0 software application suites into their systems. This will also mean that they have to tweak their understanding of “integrated suite” as well. Thus, E2.0 may be the virus that changes the workings and DNA of its host (in a stealthy und unexpected way?) …

DMS Review: E2.0 braucht ECM

Im November findet das Gegenstück der DMS Expo für die E2.0 Welt statt, der Enterprise 2.0 Summit. Haben auf der DMS die Teilnehmer gezeigt welchen Vorteil 2.0 für ECM bringt erwarte ich auf dem Summit, dass die Gegenrichtung betrachtet wird. Frei nach dem Motto:  Man braucht sich gegenseitig.

via www-951.ibm.com

Thorsten Zörner mit einem Rückblick auf die DMS Expo – incl. einer Lagebeschreibung des Marktes der ECM-Anbieter die mittlerweile 2-0-ige Elemente in ihr Portfolio aufnehmen (ja, wir alle wissen dass E 2.0 kein Produkt ist …) – und obigem Zitat.

Die Erwartung an den E20SUMMIT teile ich so auch – und ich bin mir auch sicher dass wir dort neben innovativen und weiterführenden Diskussionen in erster Linie über Umsetzung und Implementierung reden werden – ganz im Sinne von “collaborative performance”. Sprich – das Planen (oder sagen wir besser das Träumen) von Luftschlössern die auf grüner Wiese entstehen wird nicht das beherrschende Thema sein, sondern die Frage wie man aufbauend auf den bestehenden Kontext am besten vorgeht. ECM spielt hier eine wichtige Rolle – und ja, man braucht sich gegenseitig.

Posted via web from enterprise2open

Upcoming – Intranet 2.0 Webinars

Via Jörg Hoewner habe ich vom Webinar zu Intranet 2.0 (“The future of intranets – a sneak preview“) mit Prescient CEO Toby Ward erfahren. Ganz interessant und darum angemeldet …

[…] a sneak preview of the findings and analysis of the first major study on Intranet 2.0. The webinar will also preview some of Toby’s case study examples he’ll present at the jboye08 conference in Denmark.

The Intranet 2.0 phenomenon is beginning to gather speed. More than 50% of medium-to-large organizations have implemented, or are testing, piloting or evaluating blog and wiki applications. Just about everyone wants to rollout social media, but not everyone understands how to do so most effectively. In this 60-minute information session, attendees will:

– Learn the real numbers on what is being done (and not done)
– Case study examples from IBM, Cisco, BT, Sabre and others
– Lessons learned and key recommendations for undertaking an  Intranet 2.0 initiative

Am anderen Event werde ich aus nachvollziehbaren Gründen – nicht teilnehmen können: Key Strategies for Successful Enterprise Social Computing Deployments von Newsgator am 22. Oktober:

[…]

While most people are familiar with some components of social networking and collaboration, that doesn’t mean your project will be a “build it and they will come” success scenario. Find out what strategies you can employ or those that you should avoid to ensure that your social computing deployment meets or exceeds your business goals. […]

Enterprise RSS Day of Action

During the Enterprise 2.0 SUMMIT I learned (via Twitter incidentally) that James Dellow has started a quite noble undertaking – putting the spotlight on (Enterprise) RSS with a so-called Enterprise RSS Day of Action:

The purpose of the Enterprise RSS Day of Action is to help raise awareness for the potential for Enterprise RSS. This wiki will provide Enterprise RSS champions with materials and information they can use to run their own awareness campaigns inside their own organisations.

Myself, I also strive to alert people to the potentials of Enterprise RSS whereever I go, sometimes by explaining it along this nice visualization by Fred Cavazza (from his article “What is Enterprise 2.0”):

Enterprise 2.0

What’s especially important here are those filters and aggregators, that take RSS feeds as input and refactor them so that in the end personalized information is delivered – that way easing the problems of information overload …

Useless Information

An Accenture survey has interesting key findings:

Managers spend up to two hours a day searching for information, and more than 50 percent of the information they obtain has no value to them. In addition, only half of all managers believe their companies do a good job in governing information distribution or have established adequate processes to determine what data each part of an organization needs.

Kommunikation und Produktivität

Via Thomas N. Burg c/o randgänge, ein weiterer Grund warum Social Software in the Enterprise ein Thema für mehr Organisationen sein sollte, die 3/2 rule of employee productivity:

The more employees your company has, the less productive each of these employees are. It is a generalization, of course, but a useful one and one that is confirmed by most people who have worked for growing organizations. As the company grows, so does the internal processes and the layers of bureaucracy, and the time spent on communications grows rapidly.

Das ist natürlich radikal vereinfacht, für Organisationstheoretiker keine Neuigkeit, die Ergebnisse sind nicht über alle Größenklassen von Unternehmen verallgemeinerbar etc. Gleichzeitig ist es aber auch ein guter Grund Zusammenarbeit und Kommunikation besser zu unterstützen …