Secure Enterprise 2.0 Blog

If you are contemplating incorporating Web 2.0 into your workflow or corporate environment, you should have been yesterday at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston . In one of the more exciting sessions of the day, Andrew McAfee of Harvard Business School, tackled Web 2.0 issues in the enterprise together with people who have “been there, done it and doing it tomorrow”.

Besides driving home the general message behind the new technology, and how it is affecting business, each one of the panel members provided a simple tip to keep in mind, following their own successful implentation of Web 2.0 tools and solutions in the organization:

• “Follow the JFDI methodology - Just Fricking Do It. If you try Web 2.0 you’ll realize it’s not that scary after all” - Simon Revell, Manager of Enterprise 2.0 Technology Development, Pfizer Ltd.
• “Go big and audacious in Web 2.0 deployments beyond small targeted deployments of specific tools” - Pete Fields, Senior Vice President, eCommerce Division, Wachovia
• “Get the right people to develop the Web 2.0 tools you are planning on using” - Ned Lerner, Director of Tools and Technology, Sony Computer Entertainment
• “The hardest thing to do is give up control, but you should fight for your life against closed spaces” - Don Burke, Intellipedia Doyen, CIA
• “Social me first - pick up Web 2.0 tools to try on your own and then gradually people in the organization will start to see the light” - Sean Dennehy, Intellipedia Evangelist, CIA

Read more about the dialogue that ensued between these Web 2.0 mavericks in this InformationWeek article.

eWEEK just came out with an interesting survey on how and why businesses are “diving into Web 2.0 Waters“.

Over half of survey respondents said their companies are allowing access to social networks at work. Granted, with a pool of some 282 IT professionals, we can’t claim victory just yet. But this is still an important indicator of how enterprises are gravitating towards social consumer technology.

There is good news and bad news that arise out of this survey:

Want the good news first? - When asked what are the drivers for implementing Web 2.0 tools at work, over 70 percent said they are looking for improved communications and collaboration internally and 49 percent said they are looking to reach consumers. In other words, Enterprise 2.0 tools (social networks, RSS, social bookmarking, blogs, etc) are becoming valid business tools.

The bad news? Wherever access is blocked, workers are using these tools unsanctioned by IT or management, putting enterprise data at risk. Nearly half of respondents revealed at least one rogue Web 2.0 app at their company. The security risks are considerable if companies do not provide a secure environment for their employees.

And how are companies dealing with the groundswell? Not very effectively. When asked whether their companies had implemented policies regulating the use of Web 2.0 technologies by employees, only 28 percent said yes.

So there is still much more work to be done, though the benefits of using Web 2.0 to get things done at work are already stepping into the limelight.

Hi, my name is Shahar, and I am a Web 2.0 CEO.

Don’t worry, this is not a “Web 2.0 Anonymous” 12-step declaration… just the best way to describe how I approach my business.

Web 2.0 drills deep into the organization, affecting employees and managers alike. I have heard critics warn that managers relinquish control when employees are allowed to use consumer tools to get things done at work, but I see it as just a better way to drive innovation and creativity.

Remember how difficult it was to get team members to offer real input on your projects, moreover from colleagues across business units and locations? Or how you had to prepare a presentation on a topic you knew nothing about in 15 minutes for the big boys on the top floor? …Of course the next day you realized that a coworker down the hall had done these presentations just about a million times, and could have lent a hand.

As a manager, your team members can share their expertise and work together in new ways, whether sharing information securely on Facebook, or tracking social bookmarks posted by colleagues through del.icio.us. If you give them the tools, or better yet, allow them to pick their own tools – they will surprise you.

So here’s what I recommend –

• Don’t block technology, embrace it if it can bring you closer to your business goals
• Breed an open corporate culture, one that allows you to hear different and sometimes opposing views from your employees

Simple as that, and you will soon see marked improvement in your team’s performance.

Shahar

6:00AM – Bzzzzz. My cell phone alarm clock throws me off the bed, subtly reminding me that I need to get myself in gear. I tune in online to the 101FM website for local news, and learn that today is going to be a nice, bright, sunny day. Yay, that means I can snap on my iPod and peddle to the office on my 10-speed.

6:35AM – Just got out of the shower, and couldn’t resist - going through my Facebook profile. Apparently a friend from the London office just changed his status to “Engaged”. I send him a quick Congrat’s… and throw a sheep at him. He is online, not happy about the sheep, and reminds me that today our group needs to send him the Momo Project presentation. I log into my company’s enterprise social network, WorkBook, and send him the latest draft just to calm him down.

7:30AM – After a nice ride through downtown, I lockup my bike near the sandwich place. Got to get some coffee. As I wait for the morning’s caffeine intake, I twitter a quick “anyone for coffee?” using my cell to see if anyone following me at the office is also craving some Java. Surprisingly enough, two people from the Java team respond with a resounding yes. I should have seen that one coming.

9:45AM - Just got out of the weekly meeting. There’s some good stuff happening and more to come in the pipeline. I get on my laptop, and see on SharePoint that someone from the New Delhi office had formed a new group on the secure WorkBook social network focused on Marketing Initiatives. That’s interesting, I don’t know him personally, but apparently he is looking into similar things. I join up and we brainstorm some new ideas on the upcoming product release. I need to show my boss some of this stuff.

10:30AM – My boss is excited my the del.icio.us bookmarks I shared with her, following my discussion with the New Delhi contact (aka @asiamarketman on twitter. From now on I follow him). She’s going to bring it up in the next management meeting. Cool.

12:10PM – I go down to the sandwich place for a quick bite. Nothing fancy, but worth a Facebook status update – “..is eating. This time no MSG.”

2:07PM – I log into LinkedIn and see that one of our competitors has posted a Q&A about SEO. I need to read up on it, so I open up my RSS reader and skim the techy blogs. ReadWriteWeb has some nice info that I share with some people at R&D, and quickly set up a specialized RSS feed on the topic. Immediately three people from R&D ask to get access to the feed, so I give them permission.

4:26PM – Just got off the phone with some potential partners. There is good chemistry there and I like their attitude. There is something to be said about setting up strategic partnerships at this stage of our company’s growth, and I plan to post a quick entry about it on my blog later tonight.

6:15PM – Kept busy writing up the new proposals on the wiki and finally posted them to our network. Sweet, I see that my buddy at the L.A. office just downloaded it through the secure Facebook overlay.

7:23PM – Before packing up, I remember I need to get approval for my business trip expenses, so I post a request on my iGoogle gadget. I see that my manager has already approved my upcoming vacation request. That was fast. I go downstairs, get on my bike and head home. Another good day at the office.

10:25PM – Changed Facebook status to “…Zzzzzzz :-)”

When commanding the ship, you’ve got to find the right balance between giving out orders and directing the crew on the one hand, and trusting every person on the ship to do their job and then some on the other hand. The first part comes naturally, since the responsibility for the ship’s performance lies eventually with you. It is the second part that is hard - you’ve got to let go of the controls and provide your team with leeway for creativity and yes, even make mistakes.

At the office, the balancing act is much of the same – you’ve got to lead your organization forward, while conceding responsibilities to your subordinates. So when you first hear of a technology like Web 2.0 that is spreading like wildfire across business units and corporate hierarchy, I imagine it’s hard to embrace it without running rigorous evaluation process.

Rightfully so, since Web 2.0 and consumer tools in general do require appropriate guidelines and corporate safeguards, as Burton Group’s Mike Gotta points out. Yet, especially if you are at the helm of a major corporation with tens of thousands of employees that are trying to get things done across multiple locations and departments, you cannot afford to ignore the Web 2.0 groundswell.

Web 2.0 solutions enable grassroots employee collaboration, expertise sharing, professional social networking, secure and customized information feeds, personalized access to enterprise application data, and additional added-value for the organization.

Moreover, by opening up your organization to secure consumer services and social tools, you will experience improved worker productivity, sharper competitive edge, smoother communications channel with partners and customers, streamlined work processes, and generally attract tech-savvy, top talent as part of the team.

So, before you sail past it, I suggest you explore Web 2.0 and let it help you navigate the unknown seas that still lie ahead.

…just a few thoughts from one CEO to another,
Shahar

Traditional HR is no more!

There, I said it: “Human Resources”, “Personnel”, “Talent Management” – all the old job descriptions are taking on a new meaning.

Your organization today needs to find new ways connect people with people; allow collaboration between peers; empower workers to drive business units forward; share responsibility without letting it fizzle; let teams and leaders drive initiatives and innovation. And the glue that must hold all of this together is a shared positive experience with personal and professional satisfaction. In fact, you could call that Enterprise Social Glue, if you’d like.

In the new world of work, the average employee is busy interacting on enterprise social networks, crunching numbers off an RSS feed, keeping up with news through a desktop gadget and off-and-on IM’ing with offshore partners. Employees simply cannot tolerate the tedious expense reports, the impossible-to-update time reporting and other annoying tasks.

In other words, a fundamental change in the way an organization interacts with the individual employee is necessary, especially if top talents are to be coaxed and recruited into the mix.

And if you thought money is the best incentive, think again – a recent Deloitte research shows that retaining and attracting talent depends significantly on allowing employees “to control when, where, and how they work. They’re happy to work hard, but want to do it on their terms.”

To empower employees and enable self-service mechanisms to such a degree, without loosing HR’s control and corporate guidance, organizations need to adopt Web 2.0 and social tools as part of the daily work routine. And it’s time for HR to drive this change inside the organization.

So, whether you are surrounded by a field of cubicles or wondering a desert of open office space, keep in mind that for your company to keep growing, you need to provide employees with the right tools and a fair amount of social glue.

Think about it.

Yonni