Economicsof socialcomputing richblankv2_2008

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Rich BlankRich Blank

Web, Portals & Collaborative Technologies Conference

IT & Business Alignment Forum, Las Vegas, NV

November 10, 2008

The Economics of Social ComputingThe Economics of Social ComputingMaximizing ROI through Effective User AdoptionMaximizing ROI through Effective User Adoption


Today’s GoalToday’s Goal

For you to go back to your organizations and:

1. take a hard look at social computing initiatives: how information and content are created, and what technology platforms manage it all, and look at how much you are spending on those technology platforms

2. think more economically about how knowledge workers create and manage information, share their knowledge with others, how it’s secured, and how it’s retained.

3. focus on maximizing your Return on Investment on your social computing, collaboration & content management technologies through effective user adoption.

Information is your biggest competitive advantage!Information is your biggest competitive advantage!


AgendaAgenda

• Defining Social Computing

• Business and Technology Challenges

• Thinking Economically

• Maximizing Your ROI

• Case Study

• Q&A Discussion


Social Computing Intersected with How We Share Information and Knowledge

Social Computing DefinedSocial Computing Defined

Intersection of information, technology, and social behaviors.


Information WorkplaceInformation Workplace

Diagram: Forrester Research


Structured to Unstructured ContentStructured to Unstructured Content

Reports

Forms

Records Management

Business Processes

Document Management

Collaborative Spaces

Wikis

Rich Media

Project Plans

Calendars

Surveys

Email

Instant Messaging

Blogs

Communities

Discussions

Social Networks

RSS Feeds

Less StructuredMore Structured


Social Interaction is Dynamic!Social Interaction is Dynamic!

Diagram: EMC


How do we make sense of it all?How do we make sense of it all?

Diagram: EMC


AgendaAgenda


• Business and Technology ChallengesBusiness and Technology Challenges



• Case Study

• Q&A Discussion


Business & Technology ChallengesBusiness & Technology Challenges

• How do we better connect people to people and people to the right information at the right time when we generally rely on email as a collaboration tool?

• How do we work in this “flat world” with organizational and geographical boundaries both inside & outside the enterprise

• How do we efficiently manage interactions between distributed teams of knowledge workers and strategic partners?

• How can executives gain more visibility and transparency of project portfolios?

• How can we more effectively foster innovation, new product discovery & development, & reduce time to market?



• How do you effectively manage all of this technology and information to make people more productive? Time & cost savings – doing more with less!

• With multiple silos of information and competing technology platforms, how can we find what we are looking for?

• Is the right information secure in the right places with access controlled to the right people?

• How can we ensure the right governance is in place to manage all of this technology and information?

• How can we be sure we are being compliant with regulations and are able to respond to eDiscovery requests in a cost-effective manner?



• Cultural barriers: changing people’s behavior is hardest of all

• Adoption of Tools: Usability not been simple or user friendly

• Perceived Benefits: Link between technology and (perceived) business value has been seen as soft.

• Justification: Approval for any initiative/project is difficult given budget-constraints

• Timeframe: How long will it take for benefits to be realized?

• ROI: Calculating return on investment (ROI) is hard

• Metrics: How do we measure success?



A Day in the Life of a Knowledge Worker:

• managing people, projects, clients, partners, deliverables, timelines, and escalations

• making decisions, joining conference calls, meeting after meeting after meeting

• documents, documents, documents with dozens of versions of the sales presentations and contracts

• and of course email…..

• and now introduce social computing, blogs and wikis and communities, etc…

Is this efficient? Is this productive?


AgendaAgenda



• Thinking EconomicallyThinking Economically


• Case Study

• Q&A Discussion


Thinking Economically…Thinking Economically…

ConvenienceConvenience

ContextContext

ClosenessCloseness

ConvergenceConvergence

CostCost$$$$$$


ContextContext

• What’s the business purpose?

• What’s the focus?

• Can you filter what’s important and provide visibility?

• Is it a secure context?

• Who are trying to connect?

• Is it an organizational issue you are trying to solve?


ContextContext

• Is it a business process issue?

• Is it a project focus?

• Is it a technology focused context?

• Is it a compliance context?

• Process Improvement?

• Product Development or Innovation focus?

It’s about applying knowledge within a context.


ContextContext


ClosenessCloseness

• Relationship of IT and Business

• Relationship of the technology and the users

• Who owns the technology and content?

• You can’t solve all the problems. Focus on providing a platform and let end users determine how to best use it.

• And provide consulting, guidance, and training where needed.

• Market the value of the technology solution and showcase success stories to end users.


ClosenessCloseness

• Leader

• Knowledge is shared across the network

• Fearless

• Explorer

• Expertise promoted

• Creator

• Storyteller

• Works horizontally

• Change Agents

• Resisters

• Knowledge is power

• Scared

• Disinterested

• Hoards information

• Expertise hidden

• Command and control

Sociology and Psychology of End Users

• Follower

• Knowledge is shared locally

• Cautious

• Curious

• Expertise identified

• Contributor

• Adapts


ConvenienceConvenience

• How does the technology fit into the daily lives of knowledge workers?

• Is this technology easy to use and adopt?

• How easy is the technology to access or add members or create new team workspaces, wikis, or communities?

• What content can people see, who can see it, how can they access or search it??

• Is there real-time moderation of content and intellectual property? Will “big brother” be monitoring and auditing content?

• Governance is an underlying theme.


ConvenienceConvenienceC

on

ven

ien

ceC

on

ven

ien

ce

Degree of OpennessDegree of Openness



“…..Convergence in lots of people’s language is still about the technology. The reality of convergence is that people no longer accept that they have to have different realities at home, in the office and while they are travelling – all requiring different equipment and having different capabilities. People want to work wherever they can work, get access to the information they need and deal with it…..”

- Ben Verwaayen, former CEO of BT

Technology Conference of Tomorrow, April, 2008




Convergence: MS SharePoint Convergence: MS SharePoint


AgendaAgenda




• Maximizing Your ROIMaximizing Your ROI

• Case Study

• Q&A Discussion


Maximizing ROIMaximizing ROI

Focused Context +

Acceptable Level of Convenience +

High Degree of Closeness +

Right Amount of Convergence =

Maximize ROI


Maximizing ROI: Developing Your StrategyMaximizing ROI: Developing Your Strategy

DesignDesignDesign a plan.

Further analysis? Identify

measurement (both quantitative

& qualitative).Is there some

high-level ROI to be identified?

Define success.Collect any

baseline data that is available.

PilotPilotEngage in the

opportunity and work closely with business users and sponsors.Introduce new

tools and training.Collect feedback,

data for measurement.

ReflectReflectLessons learned.

Was this successful?Was it the right

context?Is this initiative one

that can be expanded to a

broader context?If so, how will it be

managed?

RolloutRolloutMarket, Manage,

and Measure, Train.Promote successes.Focus on operations

and technology, support if applicable.Ongoing sustainable

ownership?Other opportunities?

ClarifyClarifyWhat is the context?

How close is IT to your end users?

How convenient will the technology solution be to

ensure it’s adopted? What type of

convergence is necessary? Do initiatives exist

already?Build business case.


Maximizing ROI: Sustaining InitiativeMaximizing ROI: Sustaining Initiative

Design

Rollout

Clarify

Reflect

Pilot


AgendaAgenda





• Case StudyCase Study

• Q&A Discussion


Case Study: Global Chemicals CompanyCase Study: Global Chemicals Company

Background and Challenges:

• ~$1 billion in revenue, Offices in Europe, US, and South America, 15,000 employees worldwide at 70+ sites

• Spending millions of dollars in licensing & support to multiple technology vendors with multiple silos of information in Portals, SharePoint, eRoom, Documentum, Notes, Fileshares, and eMail, Instant Messaging

• Concerns about connecting people, overwhelming amount of information, increasing storage, security, compliance and records management

• Different service delivery processes on projects – each team acting like a different organization with not enough visibility into service quality or customer satisfaction

• And they’re investigating Web 2.0 technology like Jive


Case StudyCase Study

Recommendations:

• Develop an Information Management Strategy following a more economic mindset focused on maximizing ROI of the technology investments.

• Create an IT Service around information workplace services: (email, web 2.0, collaboration, content, BPM, & RM).

• Centralize silos of information to leverage economies of scale and technical IT technical talent.

• Provide consulting to the business providing custom point solutions where needed and following a Six Sigma approach to streamline business processes.

• Consolidate technology platforms where possible, reduce TCO, better leverage IT skills, and use proven technology that scales to your organizational needs.

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