Bertrand Duperrin's Library tagged jakobnielsen → View Popular, Search in Google

Aug

2009

Social Networking on Intranets

As people embrace social media in their private lives, they naturally expect to use similar tools within the enterprise. This is especially true for younger workers who use these tools in everyday life. Open communication, collaboration, and content generation are as much a part of their standard toolkit as using a computer or mobile phone.

So, how should companies deal with the increasing expectation that Web 2.0 will drive Enterprise 2.0?

* Taking the slow road means that companies will risk losing workers who expect innovation in the outside world to reflect directly on how they communicate at work.
* Going for quick adoption means that companies must find ways to overcome the risks to corporate culture that adopting these tools can entail.

If your organization is still unsure about what to do with these emerging technologies and how to adapt them to suit its culture, you're in good company. A main finding from our study's interviews is that most companies are not very far along in a wholesale adoption of Web 2.0 technologies — unless "thinking about social software" is considered progress. The oft-repeated refrain from interviewees was "talk to us next year."

www.useit.com/...social-intranet-features.html

- Preview

socialnetworks intranet socialsoftware intranet2.0 enterprise2.0 jakobnielsen culture adoption businessneed

Business need is the big driver. Although our report discusses specific tools (blogs, wikis, and such), enterprise 2.0's power is not about tools, it's about the communication shift that those tools enable.
So, rather than saying: "X is hot on the Web, let's get it on the intranet," say: "We need to accomplish Y; can X help us?"
2 more annotation(s)...
- Integration is not just a technical matter, but also an organizational issue. For example, if a conclusion gels within a discussion forum, it then needs to move from talk to action. It's not enough to build knowledge; you need a feedback loop to bring lessons back to sales, marketing, and other groups responsible for getting things done. Capturing trends can be as simple as a short report to key stakeholders, but feedback loops should be somebody's explicit job assignment or they may not happen.
- When you consider that successful adaptation of Enterprise 2.0 tools requires the organization to change its ways, it becomes clear why these projects don't happen overnight. Yes, pilot implementations can go live in a matter of days, but the political and cultural changes needed for useful and widespread use take longer.