The Top 11 Google Wave Robots for the Enterprise

 

Most of us are anticipating the release of Google Wave Beta to the 100,000 or so non-developers on September 30th.  I’ve highlighted my concerns on Google Wave in the enterprise, yet I am still very interested in the extensions being built on top of the Wave platform that have potential enterprise utilization.

Of the 66 Robots that I reviewed, some looked promising but I also spotted some questionable Robots that didn’t appear to add any value (for consumer or business). 

According to Google, Robots are applications which can be added to waves as automated wave participants. Robot extensions commonly automate tasks, but can also participate in the wave as a participant, interacting with the conversation based on their capabilities.

If you’re using Wave in the enterprise, start with these Robots. Note: I am only covering Robots that are in working condition (not demonstrations).

1. SAP-ES

Short Description: A robot which integrates with the SAP Enterprise Services. The robot can guide in the creation of a equipment Service request.  A better description by Timo Elliott can be found here.

Why it’s Interesting: It’s a very narrow use case, but important because anything that makes using SAP easier is worth using. 

2. Graphy

Short Description: Graphy extends Google Wave with the ability to collaborate on flow charts and graphs.

Why it’s Interesting: It’s a little primitive, but adding flow charts and graphs to a collaborative Wave fits an enterprise use case.  Think crowd sourcing processes or creating a complex graph.

 

3. Tweety

Short Description: Tweets wave blips to twitter, and displays tweets from it.

Why it’s Interesting:  The ability to tweet from Wave can update non-Wave participants thus eliminating the need to add 100’s of Wave participants.  

4. Blogbot

Short Description: Organizes related waves (blog posts, FAQ, etc) in a central Table of Contents wave.

Why it’s Interesting:  Try organizing hundreds of Waves!  It won’t be easy, but this application should make it easier.  Now if it came with analytics I’d really be interested.

5. Polly

Short Description: Creates a Wave to poll recipients and store their answers. Users are able to dynamically alter their choices.

Why it’s Interesting:  Poll your employees, customers and suppliers to learn more about your company.  That’s always a good idea. 

6. Dr. Maps

Short Description: Dr. Maps Robot allows you to get a map from an address. Give it an address and it will insert into the wave a mini-map locating the address and a link to the Google Map locating the address.

Why it’s Interesting:  Adding an address to a Google Map is only the beginning of why this application is important to the enterprise.   Think about all of the use cases around supply chain management, demographic targeting, and crowd sourcing location content.   

7. Embedded Search Results

Short Description: This simple robot allows you to quickly and easily perform a search and have the results embedded in your Wave. Currently supports Google & Flickr Searches.

Why it’s Interesting:  Marketing and Sales teams can track customers and prospects automatically (Google Alerts for Wave).  Similarly, Operations and Finance can track strategic suppliers (risk management).  Teams then collaborate and share opinion about the information.   

8. BingyBot

Short Description: Ask anything (with a question mark in the end), or key in a flight no, Bingy will let you know what you need.

Why it’s Interesting:  Quickly get information into a Wave without having to research the subject outside of the Wave.  Ultimately a time saver, but if the information is updated automatically, it will have longer term benefits. 

 

9. RSSYBot

Short Description: Rssybot is a solution to allow you to watch your RSS feeds from Google Wave.  Just add it to a wave, enter the link to the RSS feed you want to subscribe to and wait for new posts to appear in your inbox as unread blips.

Why it’s Interesting:  RSS feeds can arrive from a variety of sources including your competitor’s blogs, supplier’s sites, or Twitter.  Use it in a Wave to keep the content current. 

 

10. Treeify

Short Description: Multi-wave robots are agents that in some way operate on more than one wave. Treeify is a multi-wave robot which lets you connect waves into tree structures. With it you can build and navigate trees of waves.

Why it’s Interesting:  I’ve written about this issue before that managing multiple Waves is difficult.  This Robot will make it easier. 

11. Wave Alpha

Short Description: Wolfram Alpha Wave Robot. Query and retrieve data right from the comfort of your wave.

Why it’s Interesting: Powerful Robot that adds Wolfram Alpha information into the Wave.  Quick math related answers and encyclopedia type responses make this an important and compelling Robot. 

Summary

Ultimately these Robots are a good start.  I have many more in mind that should be created in order to provide far greater enterprise value.  I’ll post my ideas in a list sometime this week. 

Like most new technologies, Wave enterprise value is still unproven.  But if Google is successful in creating a popular Wave platform, there will be many more SAP’s delivering value through it.

Have you found any Google Wave Robots that add value in the enterprise?  Do you agree or disagree with the list above?

Technorati Tags: google wave,enterprise 2.0,SAP

The 10 Best, Must Watch Enterprise 2.0 Videos/Presentations of the Month

Enterprise 2.0 is creating a blizzard of opportunities for internal corporate E2.0 champions, but many are facing huge roadblocks in executive support and financial approval.    The best way to get support and approval (besides a clear and certain ROI) is to point to the success of others.

Witness Adidas, for they have changed the corporate culture by institutionalizing E2.0 tools, processes and workflow.  Christian Kuhna created a very good slideshow on Adidas’s implementation and lessons learned. 

Adidas Group Enterprise 2.0 @ Barcelona090917

View more documents from elgreco66.

The Slides that resonated with me are the connected island slide (12) (I use the term departmental silos), and slide (25) which describes how Adidas is integrating Projects, knowledge base, networks and teams, and ideas. 

Did You Know 4.0

A few days ago I ran across the updated version of “Did You Know? 4.0” I’m not sure where 3.0 went but 2.0 was entertaining.    The video was produced for the Economist’s upcoming Third Annual Media Convergence Forum in New York City on October 20–21, 2009.

Notably, the video covers a topic that has been resonating in the industry lately.   That of the death of the newspaper and traditional media.  According to the video creators:

This year (2009), traditional advertising revenue is in steep decline:

• Newspapers advertising is down 18.7%
• TV advertising is down 10.1%
• Radio advertising is down 11.7%
• Magazine advertising is down 14.8%

Meanwhile, digital advertising is growing rapidly:

• Mobile advertising is up 18.1%
• Web advertising is up 9.2%

Social Media Revolution

Some of the facts in the video need to be double checked, but the premise is sound (Metcalfe’s law is heavily in play here).   The big message is that companies need to get ahead of the growth curve and position themselves for hockey stick growth once social media is the number one source for information and content. 

Robert Cole posted a retort to the stats in this video.  It’s an interesting perspective, you should read it for balance.  

Measuring Social Media ROI (Return On Influence)

Amy explains the Return on Influence (ROI) Indicator and why you should be tracking it for your company.   A little light on the how but does an effective job of explaining why we need to measure ROI. 

 

AIIM Enterprise 2.0 Industry Watch presentation

Atle Skjekkeland Vice President of AIIM, posted an incredibly data rich presentation on the current state of the Enterprise 2.0 movement.  According to AIIM, there has been a dramatic increase in the understanding of how Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis, blogs, forums, and social networks can be used to improve business collaboration and knowledge sharing, with over half of organizations now considering Enterprise 2.0 to be "important" or "very important" to their business goals and success.  Good new to Enterprise 2.0 vendors and internal corporate E2.0 champions.

AIIM Enterprise 2.0 Industry Watch presentation

View more presentations from Atle Skjekkeland.

Social Media in the Enterprise: Microsoft's Academy Mobile case study

The video discusses how Microsoft is using SharePoint to help knowledge Discovery in the Enterprise.  Academy mobile has over 20k users and 200k downloads within a year period.   In short, Academy Mobile is a You-tube like social platform for the Enterprise.   This is a solution to watch moving forward.  I don’t like how they’ve disconnected it from the Intranet and other enterprise systems, but the probably have plans to integrate it in the future if it’s viewed as successful.  

The advice is sound, “unleash the power of your employees to embrace social media for the betterment of the corporation.” 

The New Lotus Connections 2.5 – Overview

Ron Sebastian of Lotus Software discusses the new features in Lotus 2.5  Some big improvements in the design and customization, but the wiki area is still weak.  Definitely a solution to watch if your looking at deploying an Enterprise 2.0 solution. 

 

Getting Real About Enterprise 2.0

Acando Consulting developed a very good overview of Enterprise 2.0  (read high level).  It’s worth spending 5 minutes reviewing the message. 

Getting Real About Enterprise 2.0

View more documents from Acando Consulting.

Enterprise 2.0 Demystified

Susan Scrupski’s mystery clearing presentation helps bring clarity to all of the E2.0 noise.  With the help of some simple but powerful visual aides, Susan provides an easy to understand overview of Enterprise 2.0 (think KISS principle).   Hopefully we can look forward to more 2.0 Adoption Council presentation like these in the future.

Enterprise 2.0 Demystified

View more presentations from Susan Scrupski.

 

MindTouch Thoughtboard | Collaborative Networking: How it's different

Last but not Least Aaron Fulkerson of MindTouch – His explanation of Collaborative Networks in the Enterprise.  I posted it earlier. 

Technorati Tags: enterprise 2.0,videos,collaborative networks,lotus connections,sharepoint,2.0 adoption council

It’s Not Social: Enterprise 2.0 Collaborative Networks Explained

 

MindTouch is producing a series of educational videos aimed at explaining Enterprise 2.0 concepts.  Below is the first ThoughtBoard video that details how Collaborative Networks are different than social business applications. 

Aaron initially posted an article on the subject at Ostatic.  Here he articulates the concept in a video. 

He did it in one take. Amazing.

 

Technorati Tags: collaborative networks,video,thoughtboard

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• Lost Enterprise Productivity due to Social Networking (mindtouch.com)
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Google Can’t Save Your Local Newspaper - But This Business Model Can

Newspapers are Dead.  Ok, not quite dead but on life support. 

According to Silicon Alley Insider so far this year:

• 105 newspapers have been shuttered.
• 10,000 newspaper jobs have been lost.
• Print ad sales fell 30% in Q1 '09.
• 23 of the top 25 newspapers reported circulation declines between 7% and 20%

 

Therefore when I read Can Google Save Your Local Newspaper by Robert Cringely at CIO Magazine, I was surprised by his summary.  In a nutshell Cringely believes that Google must provide more search weight towards the original source of the article (usually a newspaper) in order to properly drive traffic to the originating source.   This may be a band-aid but will not solve the underlying problem of an outdated business model. 

Google Labs is also pushing a new service called Fast Flip which ostensibly is helping print media adapt to the Google model of monetization.   Google has partnered with 36 news publishers for the initial trial.   The interface is nice, it’s like looking at the front page of a dozen newspapers all sorted by section, most viewed, or recommended.   Yet still it’s just a user interface make over and not much more. 

Herein lies the issue.  Why recreate the print experience online? 

The Print Media Runs into Competition

One of the early signs the newspaper industry was in trouble was the introduction of eBay and Craigslist and it’s impact on classified ad revenues.   Unless you were internet illiterate you immediately saw the value of posting your used items for sale on these sites compared to your local newspaper because (1) it was less expensive and (2) you reached a global audience. 

Seemingly stunned by the competition, the newspaper industry did little to respond.  We still had ad revenue they told themselves.   Yet, internet behemoth Google began to cut into that revenue stream as well.  And still, little in the way of a response except a few vociferous print media journalists attacking bloggers, internet news sites and new content aggregators as “unprofessional, untrained, and fact skewing”.

But the world knew better and were not scared by the warnings.    

A New Business and Monetization Model for Print Media 

One of the major advantages of the internet is the ability for anyone to produce niche content that inevitably has an audience somewhere in the world.  The other major advantage are the instant feedback loops that are created with the target audience.  If the content is controversial, untrue or terrible, you’re going to hear about it.  Similarly, great content is promoted globally by readers that can instantly extend your subscription base (for free!).

Instead of using services like Fast Flip that only help line Google’s ever deepening pockets, print media can develop a new model based on the concept of hyper-localization.  In effect, extending the local newspaper business model to every residential block, commercial business sector, organized group, park, beach, or wherever there is a need for structured news.  Think long tail journalism via niche topics and discussions that involve large and small communities of people. 

   The community becomes an extended journalist team for the local newspaper and is rewarded in turn by having access to frequently updated and more relevant content.   This crowd sourced hyper-local niche content then becomes an area that local businesses can advertise in or participate in the discussion.   Add mobile photo and GPS capabilities and an interesting hyper-local picture emerges – especially for advertisers.

By example, a local niche site (owned by the newspaper) about high school sports could be crowd sourced by the community.  Imagine aggregating in one online site all of the Twitter tweets, blogs, comments on a Wiki for every high school football game.  Parents and students now become the local media for the event.  Yes the audience is narrow and small, but it’s very focused.  

A local sports store can participate by sponsoring the niche site by tallying the statistics, providing live game commentary via Twitter, moderating the parent and student content and highlighting key plays in a game wrap up.   The sports store is then rewarded by audience patronage and continued loyalty especially if they are entertaining.

For the local newspaper, they sell niche site sponsorships and advertising.  Not only are they receiving free digital ink from long tail journalism, they are profiting from it (sound like a familiar business model – ahem Google).  It’s a lot of work, but better than the alternative mentioned in the first sentence. 

So how does a local newspaper begin down this digital road?  The good  news is that at last, there are a few well intentioned companies focused on helping print media move to the digital age.  MindTouch has created a Collaborative Network Solution focused on crowd sourcing content and documentation.   Microsoft Sharepoint has external solutions that can be built to handle this concept.  Acquia  the largest Drupal service provider has a solution that can help – note contact Warren Utt (and tell him I sent you).  

Think the new business model is impossible or difficult to implement?  Well, at least one site is already up and running.  Whorunsgov.com a Washington Post site has recently launched and is experiencing tremendous traffic (Alexa: 45,109 as of the date of this article).     

Print Media CEO Advice: Build your own hyper-local news platform.  Start small and find early adopter sponsors that are Web 2.0 savvy.  Encourage long tail journalism by appealing to the 10% of the local population willing to create content.  Actively promote the early adopters and encourage their efforts.   It’s ok to make mistakes, but learn from them, figure out what works, and do it more.  Don’t quit at the first sign of failure and stop waiting for the answer to appear.  

As you can see by your subscription numbers, they’re heading straight down and it’s not going to reverse course.  You’re stuck on an outdated dead tree platform that is not being used anymore. 

By the time someone figures out the right answer, it'll be too late.  Get going.

Technorati Tags: newspaper,media,strategy,business model,collaborative networks

Where are Asia’s Open Source Companies?

Image by ♥ China ♥ guccio via Flickr

 

Asia produces some of the brightest minds in software programming and science yet does not appear to have originated any sustainable open source companies.  By definition I mean companies based in Asia that originate or control open source software.   My friends joke that all of Asia is open source, but that is a topic for another day.  

NOTE: Some of the giant US corporations like Sun and IBM have open source outposts in India and China but for our purposes they don’t count since they are headquartered in the US or Europe. 

I was shocked to discover that given the need for young, underfunded upstarts in Asia to be able to compete with US and European software companies that there doesn’t appear to be much home grown open source development in Asia.  Thus, they are missing a big opportunity to leverage open source as a business model.   Having access to a pool of billions to help develop code or applications is a huge competitive advantage.

Asia should be leading the way in open source because it knows how to develop global solutions that work on a very large scale, especially those that are technology intensive (witness India’s response to Y2K).   Interestingly, parts of Asia are still chaotic, so it understands the need to adapt First World solutions to the chaotic environment of the Third World.   But what’s held them back?

Asian countries need to encourage an open source ecosystem to release the latent potential of its huge entrepreneurial pool of people.  In turn, Asia will not only create valuable companies that make shareholders wealthy, but could also pave the way for software companies that compete with the largest in the world. 

In the end, Asia can’t continue to do the software development work of others.  It’s software innovation capability must be slowly ingrained into the DNA of the business culture.  What better way than open source? 

I believe as Asian companies find the benefits of open source, they will use the business model to surpass it’s American and European competitors in terms of innovation.  Yet, Asian businesses must take that difficult first step towards creating new open source companies.  Step one: trust the model is going to work – yes even in Asia.  

Do you know of any Asian born open source companies?  Please comment below and share them with the readers.

Technorati Tags: Asia open source,Asia

The Secret of Enterprise 2.0 Implementation Success

Low Expectations.  And no I am not crazy.

I have met very few companies who have a well thought out plan for implementing new systems.  I emphasize systems because they include people, process and technology.  Most companies have a team of people responsible for implementing new technology.   They may design a plan for how the technology will be rolled out to the company, but it never occurs to them to have a people plan.  As a result, many new technology solutions end up abandoned or under utilized, and IT is left wondering where they went wrong.

The need for a solution is sold internally by outlining all of the ROI benefits, efficiency gains, and cost reduction realizations.  The emphasis is on the technology and less on how (or if) people will adopt it.  In fact, I’ll contend the harder a solution is sold internally on these factors the less likely the solution will be seen as a success. 

I recognize the quandary of course, solutions need to be sold hard in order to get internal buy in from those with the budgets.  Yet, the people part of the success equation needs to be addressed differently.  

For example, when presented with fancy, sophisticated tools that promise to deliver the next evolution in the workplace, people’s expectations for the solution start to skyrocket.   The more benefits and features you present to employees the higher the expected satisfaction.  But what they get versus what they expect provides them less satisfaction even though the results are good.

When it was just Oracle, IBM, or SAP there was low expectations or sometimes no expectations about employee value.  It was just an unfriendly tool that gave the workforce access to departmental data.   Yet perceived satisfaction was higher because overall expectations were low.  

The reason it is was okay before is because there was an opportunity for a pleasant surprise.   Since you didn’t expect much (low expectation) from the ERP providers, any incremental improvement appeared to be seen as good (higher satisfaction). 

But it doesn’t have to be this way.  Even though the tools are better, they may be seen as worse.  Sell the benefits of Enterprise 2.0 with decision makers, but set a conservative expectation with employees.  Enterprise 2.0 promises to forever change the workplace.  I believe that.  But due to all of hyperbolic claims from vendors, special care must be taken to lower expectations to increase perceived success.   

As a reminder I have created a few whitepapers to help you with your implementation strategies.  They are high level guides which you can modify to meet your needs.

Technorati Tags: enterprise 2.0,implementation strategy

Still Some Ripples in Google Wave Beta

Image by marketingfacts via Flickr

As part of a MeetUp this week, Gina Trapani founder of LifeHacker gave us an update on the status of Google Wave.   Since another 100,000 people are to be given access to the Beta in a few weeks I was extremely interested in the update. 

 

Here’s my take:

1. Despite Google’s recent announcement on Wave, I do not believe Wave is ready for it’s 100,000 customer preview on September 30.  Wave appeared buggy and froze many times during the demo.  As a result, don’t expect a smooth experience any time soon. 
2. According to Gina, working with Wave is a major fundamental shift in how people collaborate.  It will take time to adapt to the change.   The adoption cycle will be long. 
3. So far there is no email integration which as I wrote in my Google Wave Enterprise post is another major roadblock to early mass adoption.  No one wants to work in multiple communication vehicles especially when they are already bogged down by email.
4. No one seems to have thought out the spam issue.  Invites to participate in a new Wave appear uncontrollable which means a coming wave of spam invites.   If you lock down Wave invites to your contact list, then viral adoption of Wave will be limited.  Also, look for Spam Bots that wreak havoc when added intentionally or unintentionally to a Wave.
5. Google needs to fix the playback controller.  Yes it’s cool, but if a Wave is longer than a page, you’ll need to know when to scroll down during a Wave replay.   The playback controller should understand when to scroll or develop a better interface to show how the Wave developed. 
6. Wave servers appear to be federated, but may need to ask permission in order for one server to talk with another.  Again, a potential adoption issue. 
7. Wave data is unstructured and does not appear to have a robust taxonomy.   This will limit the collaboration and reporting capabilities if it’s used within the Enterprise. 

Overall, Google Wave is above and beyond email in usefulness and features. In fact, Wave appears to be an email upgrade.  The fact that Wave is open source is big and creating a platform with open protocols for developers to build on is brilliant.  Yet despite the promise, Wave will need to overcome a number of usability challenges.  Expect a long adoption cycle.  

CIO Summary: Wave isn’t ready for the Enterprise and it doesn’t appear fit for distribution on September 30.  Yet keep an eye on Wave developments to avoid being blind-sided by rogue installations.  Be proactive in learning the full capabilities of the tool and potentially how they can benefit the company.   Similar to email, Wave will mature into a tool that will have significant impact on your company.  It’s best to stay ahead of the flood. 

Technorati Tags: google wave,beta,CIO summary

How to Stop Not Invented Here Syndrome in the Enterprise

I’ve witnessed a number of not invented here (NIH) situations but none stands out more than one I participated in while working at A.T. Kearney.    It was the early 2000’s and we were introducing reverse auction internet technology into the F500.  There was tremendous resistance to our solution because it severed the cozy relationship between the purchasing officer and their vendor/golf buddy.   

   “Steve” had never used the internet.  He used email of course but was a one finger – one letter at  time guy.   Working at a F100 company he had very friendly relationships with his vendors.   You see if you’re in a purchasing position in the F100 vendors are clamoring to get your business.  One F100 account can literally triple the vendor’s income statement and have a similar impact on the salesperson’s W2. 

I think we all know someone who has been given a position of power and used it to their extreme advantage.  Steve was one of those characters.   He was always busy on the weekends.  Golf, sporting events, 5 star luxury resorts, flights to Las Vegas, he was always on the go. 

So when I met Steve we immediately ran into a wall.  Steve’s boss had welcomed us with open arms so we were expecting the same from Steve.  Yet Steve wasn’t cooperative.  He let us know that the technology was being “forced down his throat” and that he wasn’t happy with the situation. 

Steve’s the guy who whines when he doesn’t get his way.  Really, he actually whines.  He’s the guy who is first to complain about everything and gets banned from the local Starbucks because he makes customers upset.  He’ll take credit for your ideas and stab you in the back when you least expect it.  Shakespeare would have been proud.  

So when we arrived for the reverse auction event, we were surprised to see him in high spirits.  He wasn’t excited to see us, but he was acting civilized.  But when the event began, Steve immediately started mocking us.  

“This tool sucks and your methodology stinks too,” he shrieked.  “no one is going to bid on this ridiculous auction.  I told my boss that this was a waste of time and money.  Purchasing is about relationships, it’s not a gambling event”

Reverse auctions usually last for 1 hour with a limited set of time extensions in the event a last minute bid is cast.  Most of the bid activity occurs in the beginning and the end of the auction.   I can count on two fingers the number of auctions where zero bids were cast in the first 30 minutes.  This was one. 

By now we were suspicious.  Steve the cult of personality purchasing agent just sat there with that ‘I told you so’ look on this face.    Nearly 50 minutes went by before the first bid was placed.  Steve nearly fell over in his chair.  In fact Steve started sweating.   Sweating like a man standing before a judge who is about to reveal the man’s fate.

Then the other vendor auction participants started bidding.  We breathed a collective sigh of relief as the bids started to drive down the price.  

The guy that touted vendor relationships over technology started to make some phone calls on his mobile.  Quick, stern sounding phone calls.  Stern like discovering your friends have just betrayed you to your enemies.

The bids started to dry up.  55 minutes into the reverse auction the bidding just stopped.  At this point, we were in disbelief.  It felt like we were in a Twilight Zone episode.

The auction ended uneventfully with a large net loss in savings.  The F100 company was going to end up paying hundreds of thousands more for a product than Steve had negotiated last year sans technology.   

But, that’s what happens when you try to force people to use new technology or methodologies that are created outside the enterprise.  Steve of course was extreme but not unusual.  

We learned a lesson.  We learned to interview all stakeholders in each of our future events.  We learned to pick another purchasing officer to pilot the technology if we sensed resistance.   And, we learned to let the purchasing agent “own” the auction event and drive its success. 

Steve was willing to hurt his own company financially in order to prove his point.   More, he went to extremes in order to derail an initiative that he had not participated in. 

Most corporations experience NIH (Not Invented Here) syndrome.  It’s an instinctive reaction to new technology or new ideas (especially from outside the company).    As we learned, this inclination caused an extreme response that hurt all of the parties involved.  For people like Steve, it's much easier to say the technology won't work than jump in and make the outcome successful.

I later learned that Steve was let go from his company after an investigation revealed some vendor payment irregularities.  Apparently Steve was a little too involved with his vendors on the weekends.  Finally some justice for Steve or so I thought. 

I wish the story ended there, but it did not.  I later learned that Steve found a new F500 purchasing job within a few weeks of being let go.  I remember thinking who in their right mind would hire a purchasing agent with a Unabomber-like anti-technology philosophy. 

I knew the company that hired Steve and so I did some inquiring.  My contact soon lifted the mystery and the response was shocking…. 

Are you ready for this?  Are you sitting down?  Steve got the job because he had “reverse auction experience”.

Steve is just one of those guys.

Technorati Tags: not invented here,enterprise 2.0,reverse auctions

Enterprise 2.0 the Week in Review

It’s been a wild week and I thought I’d cover some of the highlights of the ongoing Enterprise 2.0 debate. 

The Anti-Enterprise 2.0 crowd:

  Dennis Howlett kicked off the larger debate 2 weeks ago by writing his infamous Enterprise 2.0: what a crock post.  I don’t believe he really is an Anti-Enterprise 2.0’er but appears to be challenging the pro crowd. 

Those in the Middle 

Bertrand Duperrin’s post on Enterprise 2.0 : the truth is in the middle serves a valuable lesson:

Anyway, it can be summed up in one sentence : start from what exists, be moderate, articulate. And remember that all businesses are different : nothing can be done that won’t be accepted by all stakeholders, culturally, technically and organizationally. Even the “E2.0 rockstars” started this way.

Gil Yehuda’s Denial is a river full of crocks suggests, “Enterprise 2.0 describes a transformed organization.”  He first suggests figuring out what the business issues are then deciding if Enterprise 2.0 era solutions can solve them. 

The Enterprise 2.0 guru Andrew McAfee delivers a surprisingly balanced article where he agrees with Howlett on some points and criticizes him for others. 

 

The Pro-Enterprise 2.0

The Sand Hill Gang is already touting Enterprise 3.0 while SocialText is says skip the pilot.   They further expound;

From a practical standpoint, this has a counter-intuitive implication: If your E 2.0 pilot is struggling, don't shut it down. Make it bigger. Open it up. Invite more people. Tell them to invite even more people. That's the only way you're going to find out the real behavior and the real value.

  Oscar Berg presents some valuable use cases for Enterprise 2.0  or does he? 

 

Dion Hinchcliffe retaliates with his Enterprise 2.0: Finding success on the frontiers of social business – his best quote:

the trends are that social tools should be present in the majority of organizations by 2010. While some studies have shown that as many as a quarter of all workers will actually resist/avoid Enterprise 2.0 tools, the same thing happened with the transition from postal mail to telephone, accounting pads to spreadsheets, mainframes to PCs, memos to e-mail, sneakernet to local area networks, and many other famous transitions in the history of business.

Usually when McKinsey gets in the act they see the big revenue potential.  They recently came out with their  How companies are benefiting from Web 2.0: post.  Note they can’t seem to use the term Enterprise 2.0   But notably from their survey:

69 percent of respondents report that their companies have gained measurable business benefits, including more innovative products and services, more effective marketing, better access to knowledge, lower cost of doing business, and higher revenues.

According to McKinsey there’s already moderate adoption of Blogs, Wiki’s and Social Networking, but it appears we have a long way to go with other Enterprise 2.0 tools. 

The Humorous

The How to become an Enterprise 2.0 cartoon is a funny look at Enterprise 2.0

My post on Enterprise 2.0 causes cancer was an attempt to poke fun at all of the Enterprise 2.0 naysayers. 

Meanwhile, is the recession over? The Enterprise 2.0 crowd seems to think so with some posting record revenues in August.  

Technorati Tags: enterprise 2.0,mckinsey,dennis howlett,McAfee

Is this Formula the Secret of Enterprise Open Source Success?

I recently published an article about Enterprise open source strategy and how using a best in class formula will help open source companies obtain better revenue results. 

So far we have interviewed 16 leading open source executives (with many more planned) and found a best in class success formula emerge.  The entire formula and ensuing discussion can be found using the link in the first paragraph.  But in short here it is:

What we found time and time again is that the best- in-class open source companies knowingly or unknowingly followed this formula:

D x CR x ASP = $$

The formula can be broken down as follows:

• D = Distribution (total number of downloads, subscriptions, etc.)
• CR = Conversion Rate (meaning: percentage of the Distribution that develops into paid customers)
• ASP = Average Sales Price
• $$ = Revenue

There are best in class strategies and tactics that we uncovered for each formula element.  Plus each comes with it’s own set of challenges.  

The best in class group focused primarily on the CR because they already had an established community of users for which to market commercial products.   In fact, the bigger the pool of Core users, the larger the CR opportunity.   That’s where the highly successful set themselves apart from the successful.

I’m thrilled at the work we have done here and excited about where the research is going.  We have some best in class ideas to share with the Open Source community and I thought it was important to receive your feedback on some of the high level reasoning.

Any open source executive or marketer can learn a lesson from the survey results (note: participants only).  

Read the the original post and comments and then let me know what you think. 

Technorati Tags: open source,enterprise 2.0,strategy

Are you going to Blog World?

 

You’ve seen all of the blog posts, advertisements, and email spam asking you to buy

a 4 page Adobe .pdf on bettering your blog.   They don’t tend to work that well because they are not tailored to your situation.  Instead, I recommend attending the only industry-wide tradeshow and conference dedicated to promoting the dynamic industry of new media including: Blogging, Podcasting, Social Media, Online Video, Music, TV, Radio, Gaming, Entertainment and Communities.

This is a chance to network with like-minded bloggers who are committed to excellence and building better sites.  The event is being held October 15-17, 2009, in Las Vegas, NV and promises to be even more exiting than last year.   Dave Cynkin event founder and organizer,  has graciously offered our readers a discount.  

Just register online at www.BlogWorldExpo.com and get 20% off by using code MTDEKIVIP

3 very important things to know:

1. BlogWorld attendee discount pricing expires 9/14! Pass pricing and link to register is here: http://www.blogworldexpo.com/general-information/registration-links-2009
2. For the online friends of Mark Fidelman DISCOUNT CODE can be applied at any time ‘til the event AND IF YOU HURRY by 9/14 the code will take an additional 20% off! DISCOUNT CODE: MTDEKIVIP
3. Hotel Discounts expire 9/14! This is the best hotel pricing in the history of BlogWorld, with partner hotel rooms at $69, $79 and $89/nt. 2 even include FREE INTERNET! :)  Hotel pricing and link to book rooms is here: http://www.blogworldexpo.com/attendee-info/hotel-information

We look forward to seeing you there. 

Technorati Tags: blog world,promotions