A very good article in Voice and Data magazine titled Enterprise 2.0 will bring radical change in organisations covers some of the truly important issues on the topic, going beyond narrow views of the technologies to how these new approaches will change organisations. It quotes Steve Hodgkinson of Ovum extensively, including some of these nuggets:

Steve Hodgkinson, Ovum research director, sees Enterprise 2.0 as a genuine opportunity for technology to act as a catalyst for changes in organisational culture.

“Enterprise 2.0 is emerging as the most practical way of sharing and managing knowledge in a range of contexts, from team collaboration to customer self-service forums. This leads to the ability to bring about cultural change with the personal power of informal networks such as wikis, blogs, profiles and forums.”

“The root of its culture change power, however, is its ability to unleash the personal power of informal networks,” said Hodgkinson.

…

Key ideas within this new system include:

* The need for a flat organisation, rather than an organisational hierarchy

* Folksonomy rather than taxonomy

* User-driven technology rather than IT department control

* Short time-to-market cycles; to continue and increase flow

* Global teams of people, rather than locating the whole organisation in one building

* Emergent information systems, rather than dictated and structured information systems

* The opening of propriety standards

Hodgkinson said: “These informal networks provide organisational peripheral vision and cut through the day-to-day nonsense, enabling more sensitive situational awareness, breakthrough thinking and access to the subtle levers of organisational change.”

“The changes are designed to increase ability, flexibility, distribution, openness and simplicity within the organisation.”

I strongly agree that these are the key issues at stake. There are lots of other great ideas to uncover in the article.

Steve spoke immediately after my keynote at the IIR Enterprise 2.0 conference last December – I wrote about some of his ideas in a summary of the event. Steve will be attending the Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum this week.

On Tuesday we ran a media briefing ahead of the Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum on 19 February. Someone just pointed out to me that NineMSN wrote up the story under the title Social networking sites help boost business: expert.

Since basically the whole article is direct quotes from me, I think it’s OK to put it below. It’s good to see these themes getting taken up in the media, because they really are important.

I however have to totally disclaim the last paragaph in the story, which is a major misquotation. What I in fact said is that there are far too many senior executives who are afraid of negative opinions. It takes strength and leadership to open out the organization, and many of the current crop of top executives are not showing the leadership needed for the current business and social environment.

Facebook, Instant Messenger and other online networking tools aren’t mere workplace distractions — they improve the way we do business.

Future Exploration Network chairman Ross Dawson says that a firm’s success increasingly hinges on its ability to share knowledge and expertise both with its employees and external clients.

“Organisations have always functioned like social networks,” he said.

“People are more likely to get information from the people they know well or like, or the ones they believe have the relevant expertise.”

In an era where structured repeatable processes like invoicing and recruitment are well established, the best way to differentiate firms is by their ability to network, Mr Dawson said.

Many firms already are drawn to the fluid, flexible approach to communicating offered by Web 2.0 applications such as social networking sites, blogs and virtual worlds.

“It’s about the ability to connect expertise and talent in ways which are more efficient and effective in creating value … whether that means finding new business opportunities or responding to market place changes,” he said.

Read more →

Des Walsh, one of Australia’s premier bloggers, has launched a Social Media Podcast show. He is kicking it off with a podcast interview with Stephen Collins of acidlabs, which is a partner for our Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum next week.

A great interview which touches on what we’re trying to do with the Forum, and Stephen’s passion for these issues. It includes:

• how Stephen works with companies (if you are looking for someone savvy to help your company or to partner with, you need to listen to this)

• how valuable and enjoyable he found it to meet others with related interests at Office 2.0 in San Francisco last year and how those meetings were made easier using social networking tools

• how risk-taking is inherent in corporate social networking and how to manage the risk, e.g. by starting within the firewall

• how younger employees are using social media tools even though they are not provided by the enterprise

• how companies implementing social networking can and should engage employees in a conversation about acceptable use obligations that come with the provision of tools

Des will be doing some more interviews of people associated with the Forum over the next couple of weeks – I’ll keep you posted.

Click here to download…

On the newly relaunched Future Exploration Network website, we have added a ‘What is Enterprise 2.0’ page to provide a succinct overview of the space for attendees of the Enterprise 2.0 Executive Forum.

The page (image of the top part below) includes:

* Definition

* Framework

* Technologies

* Corporate applications

* Enterprise 2.0 blogs

* Presentations and videos