The Social Network Discussion Space

Much Ado About...What Really?

There was an interesting debate in the blogosphere last week rekindling research originally posted by Forrester's own, Rob Koplowitz, last November which basically said that large, enterprise software vendors were lagging behind in the social software race.

Some of Rob's findings have been discussed in this blog's earlier posts, as well (i.e., Mary Wardley's IDC report on Enterprise 2.0 development "among" enterprise players, OpenText's social innovations in LiveLink's most recent release versus common capabilities across the plethora of "white-label", social-computing firms.)

Had I not been in the final throws of my program exams at Columbia, I'd certainly have joined the fray...

The discussion sparked by Sam Lawrence and debated by Dennis Howlett (as well as my fellow compadre-in-arms, Mr. Steve Mann via his comments to Sam) was certainly an interesting one.

At its core, Sam argued that the major enterprise vendors -- i.e., Oracle, IBM, SAP, MSFT -- (a) have no stakes in the enterprise, social software game, (b) aren't really planning on making any major plays worth meritable substance in the market, or for their customers and (c) are so far behind that it would be a long, hard slog to catch-up with the innovations underway at the "white-label" firms currently cutting the path.

Like any true marketeer, Sam even goes further suggesting that social software -- or, more specifically, the lack of serious attention the big guys are giving it -- could even dethrone their current positions.

Sounds like an oft-told headline, doesn't it?  The truth is that there are equal merits to both sides of the debate.  But, although, the pendulum of probability certainly swings in Dennis and Steve's favor -- Sam is making some interesting points, even if his suggested "end-stories" are off on the story's final frame.

Case in point?  Rewind 26 years ago when five programmers in the Northern region of Bavaria thought that companies "should" be able to manage core business transactions "in-batch" outside the mainframe.  Or 15 years ago when one of Oracle's most successful sales executives thought there was a better way to manage sales activities across a variety of channels.  Or 9 years ago when another Oracle exec questioned the entire license-software "take your umpteen CD's to install" business model forsake of ASP-streaming over the web.

There has always been innovation at the fringe of industry.  It's the wrinkle in our fabric that causes us to revisit the weave and design anew.

Sam is right that social software, as Jive and others currently define it, hasn't been at the forefront of enterprise development for precisely the reasons Steve and Dennis articulate so well.  There wasn't a business behind it.

Only now -- as we've arrived at a point of maturity from the vendor side where the majority of transactional business processes have already been automated -- are we at an industry pause where attention to social software spend is relevant.  None of the current white-label firms, save perhaps Jenna Woodall's current foray, were even conceived when another gaggle of pioneers were truly blazing the social computing trail.  Firms like Participate.com and Peoplelink.com were ahead of their time...and certainly ahead of the industry adoption curve.  Whereas SAP, Siebel and Salesforce -- while ahead of their time -- were present "at the right time" for industry adoption.

Both, my colleague Steve Mann, and Dennis highlight the obvious in their counterpoints to Sam's view

"...these large companies, SAP, Microsoft and Oracle aren’t going any where…per your point, they have massive installed base with massive recurring revenue streams..." (Steve Mann)

"...the fact that (IBM, SAP, Oracle and Microsoft)...have yet to establish infrastructures that allow them to credibly include the full gamut of social software...doesn’t mean they won’t or can’t...all the above vendors are looking closely at social software and endeavoring to figure out where and how these technologies can be sensibly used among their customers...these vendors are not going to play fast and loose with their millions of users or billions of revenue they collect each year. They’re going to get it right - with purpose..."  (Dennis Howlett)

The enterprise players "are" serious about social computing but they're also managing it as "one" revenue stream out of many more across their portfolios.  And what is truly relevant, is that "only" the enterprise companies have the platform to provide "true" economic value that can significantly impact a firm's P/L in its application of social networking capability.

In a recent survey published earlier this year, Forrester asked 260 senior IT executives to stack-rank their highest priorities in the development of an information workplace -- i.e., an environment where the relevance of social software has greatest sway.

Not surprisingly, the emphasis was squarely on improving content, role-specific content, automation and collaboration "all within the context of business processes" -- and this is the domain of the larger, enterprise application vendors.  Not the innovation pack of "white-label, social software firms".

The debate should certainly continue - but I hope it skews more towards which "industry verticals" and "departmental business processes" and would receive the greatest economic benefit through the integration of social software capability.

Otherwise, I'm afraid our debate is really much ado about the "not-truly-interesting".

Hills to Climb and Mountains to Move...

It shouldn't come as any strong surprise that most nascent technologies find their way into the enterprise through the halls of IT.

Long  before TakeTwo, Electronic Arts and Apple had hit their stride back in the dotcom mania days (yes, this was the late 90's!) with their market-making plays -- I can recall the engineering halls of my dotcom startup buzzing with Ultima Online, Everquest and Napster (and, I mean, Shawn Fanning's original version).

And so has this also been true for the deployment of most Enterprise 2.0 technologies, including Social Software, as Chris Fletcher (AMR) recently noted in his research brief "Enterprise 2.0: Findings for the CTO".

Historically, there are three challenges that most firms must get past in achieving greater deployments and adoption of their enterprise software initiatives:

• a failure to justify the investment spend required to achieve the intended benefits for the line-of-business department
• a lack of overall "fit" for a solution's functionality to be relevant and truly make the lives easier for it's intended users
• an inordinate amount of time required to physically install the software, test it for stability and train the department on how to use it

Chris affirms these hallmark hills that all organizations must climb in this same brief.

As does Forrester's Erica Driver in her report "Information Workplace Trends 2007".

Social software initiatives that fall in the realm of Enterprise 2.0, on the other hand, require a fraction of the deployment cost of their older, enterprise application siblings -- and are often achieved in record time.

A case in point is Dow Chemical's 2007 implementation of a social software solution, as covered by Gartner analyst Thomas Otter and fellow bloggeryte Dennis McDonald.

The business challenge Dow faces is significant, to say the least, with 40% of its global workforce coming up for retirement over the next 5 years.  (Read that again and let it sink in...that's a huge # for "any" organization!)  And, Dow intends to use social software to build bridges in its "no-holds barred" offensive to recruit and retain talent.  The fact-sheet to the success Dow has achieved is equally impressive:

• one year for the entire project from conception thru deployment to end-user adoption (i.e., birth of the idea on the client side, before any vendor presentations thru QA and go-live)
• 90-days for physical implementation of the software solution
• over 4,500 users of the system 90-days after launch...!
• 95% repeat usage of the system by all end-users
• achievement of all adoption KPIs within 60 days vs. Dow's target of one-year

With performance proof-points like these -- and others documented by the white-label firms -- the mountain social software must move to gain a foothold in the enterprise landscape may not be so large afterall.

As Forrester's Erica Driver notes -- the market timing is "now" for firms and vendors alike to get into the social software game and experiment with individual pilots.

So, what guideposts should firms use to stay on a smart path of social software exploration?

• Don't "implement" a social software solution for the sake of having a social software pilot in your enterprise because it's "de riguer"...instead, make sure you have a specific business purpose behind it.  In other words, as William Jonathan Drayton use to say..."Don't Believe The Hype".

• Where and whenever possible -- try to force yourself to get past the "Facebook" mentality of so many social-networking solutions today and directly embed your social software solution within existing workspaces already used and trafficked by your employees.  The axim "it's all about me" must guide your implementations of enteprise social software.

"Communal collaboration hubs" ala Facebook will certainly offer a measure of value -- especially if they have a theme.  But social-networking solutions that are embedded directly within an individual application or a specific content section of corporate portal -- which are also designed to purposefully (and only) support that experience -- will have far greater value and more significant adoption.

You should have hundreds of these types of implementations "everywhere"...versus a single version of "Facebook for company XYZ".  If you want an example of social-networking capabilities embedded directly into an application and "done right"...take a look at Xobni.

• And, finally, take real advantage of what you have once you've finally launched your solution and perform some measure of social network analysis -- manually or automated...just do it!  Like any well-managed stock portfolio, your "social enterprise network" will truly become an asset only if it's assessed, tweaked, managed and understood.

There is real "secret sauce" brewing behind all of the connections and activity in your network that form the profundity of most organizational problems (e.g., why do teams fail to gel?  why do employees fail to perform?  why do employees leave?) waiting to be captured.

It's rare that we have such a convergence of organizational need, market hype, vendor investment and user-willingness (if not outright demand) for a specific software solution.

So, let's get it started...

Jet-Lagged and A Little Under-the-Weather...

I've been entirely disciplined, to date, in managing this blog's professionally adroit focus on social-networking topics but must admit to feeling a little jet-lagged and under-the-weather after returning from a frenetically, work-filled, five-day trip to Moscow late last night.

This, combined with the unusual amount of activity outside my home-office window is challenging today's post.  I live right on the doorstep of, perhaps, one of the largest construction sites this side of Dubai and the teams are in absolute over-drive today.

 

In digging out of my mailbox overflow, though, I see that my beta invitation to participate in Twine arrived and am looking forward to logging in and reporting back later today...

Significant Spend on the Horizon

Earlier this week, G. Oliver Young and Sarah Perez covered a recent Forrester report predicting continued spend on social software through 2009 resulting in a global market of $4.6 billion by 2013.  Much of the investment, surprisingly, will be driven by big business.

According to Sarah, "...firms with 1000 employees or more will spend $764 million on Web 2.0 tools and technologies. Over the next five years, that expenditure will grow at a compound annual rate of 43%.  The top spending category will be social networking tools."

In "Enterprise Web 2.0 will see surging demand and excitement", G. Oliver Young notes that in 2008:

"IT departments...(will) take their heads out of the sand and embrace Web 2.0 technologies...(and we can expect to see) at least half of the 42% of enterprises that say Web 2.0 is not on their priority list...add it by year’s end."

Many firms began their experimentation with social software (i.e., blogs, wikis, RSS, mashups, etc.) last year as isolated departmental projects.  And most of these organic projects, fueled by the growth of consumer social media (e.g., Facebook, Linked-In) within the office, have spread rapidly inside the office so much so that they can no longer be ignored within the enterprise landscape.  As Oliver writes...

"CIOs...concede that they cannot quell passionate employees’ use of consumer-oriented or SaaS Web 2.0 tools and will (choose to) mitigate risk by deploying enterprise-class tools in their stead.

...nearly any vendor that uses the term “social networking” will get...some consideration...(while)...suite offerings...(from)...Awareness, Jive Software, and IBM’s Lotus Connections offering stand to benefit greatly from the attention."

Vendors who thrive will be those offering a complete package of tools (e.g., white-label firms such as HiveLive, SelectMinds and Jive Software) for the businesses they seek to serve.  Among the larger enterprise players, Microsoft (SharePoint), IBM (Lotus Connections) and SAP (SAP Business Suite) will all likely position there offerings with Web 2.0/3.0 capabilities directly embedded around specific business problems.  And, the market is already showing proof-points of adoption for the market spend Forrester forecasts.

According to Bob Picciano, IBM's Lotus GM, the Lotus Connections enterprise-class, social-networking suite is "...the fastest-growing new commercial software product in IBM history."

Sarah summarizes social software's future state in enterprise offerings:

"What this means is that much of the Web 2.0 tool kit will simply 'fade into the fabric of enterprise collaboration suite'...by 2013, few buyers will seek out and purchase Web 2.0 tools specifically. Web 2.0 will become a feature, not a product."

The Secret Sauce of Social Network Analysis

One of the more difficult things to accomplish within a "social enterprise network" is understanding which connections are truly important.

The relationships fostered by the connections employees cultivate with one another, over the course of their day-to-day, are truly key determinents in the success they find inside the office.  When consciously studied, relationships reveal a great deal about an organization, its culture and management efficacy.  They provide insight to the speed with which joint projects may (or may not) be completed, as well as the likely relevancy they'll deliver to those who receive their output.  Unfortunately, the fabric of an organization's connections, specifically the depth and degree of their tensile strength, is oft-misrepresented...if it is understood at all.

In prior posts, I've illustrated how relationship connections play a part in standard scenarios supported by business application software.  Two common scenarios receiving a lot of airplay and attention in the corporate social software arena include:  "preparation for sales meetings within an opportunity pipeline" and "disparate teams working together to manage a 'content supply chain' in a global firm". [The first scenario is supported by most "sales force automation" capabilities in available customer relationship management (CRM) systems, while the latter is found within most enterprise content management (ECM) solutions.]

Oracle's latest release of its CRM On-Demand application, for example, comes close to embedding "social CRM" capabilities with its "sticky notes" feature.  When a CRM's pipeline & opportunity management applications cross-reference employee profiles for prior experience at a competitor or prospect, groups them in terms of relevance to an individual deal and then automatically notify sales reps for deal-support...we'll have moved one step closer.

Similarly, both OpenText and Vignette have recently embraced Web 2.0 and introduced social networking capabilities within their current releases -- i.e., ratings, reviews, polls, tagging, tag clouds, comments, usage analysis, blogs, wikis and forums.  But, as with Oracle in CRM, neither OpenText nor Vignette have crossed the social software bridge to deliver on its true promise within enterprise content management.  When a content management system enables auto-notifications to both product development and marketing teams both creating similar product information so they can collaborate in real-time...we'll get closer to the communal effort required for effective content management.

The essential ingredient required in any social-computing initiative aiming to be more than a "facebook-for-the-enterprise-portal" is "social network analysis".  There are many sources that explain the concept of social-network-analysis but suffice to say it is "the understanding of who is connected to whom and why" within an organization.

The announcements of Oracle, OpenText and Vignette all broach the potential of embedded social ethnography within their applications but none quite deliver.  But watch-out when they finally do!

The closest example, save our friends at Visible Path (now part of Hoovers), of a social-network analysis software solution I've seen comes from London-based Trampoline Systems.  Trampoline's software promises to "...displays the crucial social factors at play within organisations including key opinion formers, poorly-integrated business units, emerging communities of interest, single points of failure and third-party relationships."  Quite a mouthful but beyond intriguing.

As "communal, facebook-like portals" and "social-capabilities contextually embedded within a software solution" are both two sides to the social enterprise coin each becomes meaningful when their relevance is firmly rooted in an organization's ethnography.

Although, Hoover's beat the enterprise players to Visible Path -- perhaps, they'll move more quickly and pounce on Trampoline.