Larry Hawes and the Challenges of Implementing Enterprise 2.0 in Today’s Corporations

Many of our readers have asked us confidentially about strategies to gain Enterprise 2.0 acceptance in the corporation.  While every company is different (refer to Moore’s Crossing the Chasm), there are some that more difficult than others.  

I asked Larry Hawes of Gilbane to help us respond to the requests by answering a few of our questions.  He agreed.  

As more and more companies are exploring Enterprise 2.0 technologies and methodologies, Larry wants to help people understand how to use and integrate these new tools, while ensuring they understand the challenges. 

The groundwork for some of these tools has been in place for a few years, but we think corporations will finally start to embrace them enterprise-wide in 2010. 

How did you get involved in CMS and Enterprise 2.0?

I was introduced to the discipline of Knowledge Management by a professor while I was in business school. The use of content management and collaboration technologies to empower knowledge workers resonated deeply with me. I worked as an intern to the Chief Knowledge Officer at Lotus during the summer between my two business school academic years and have continued to work as an industry analyst and consultant in the field over the last 12 years.

Can you share some examples of companies that have set up Enterprise 2.0 initiatives inside their organization?

There are so many enterprise social software case studies available, but here are a few of my favorites. Professional services firm CSC has 40,000 employees using the pilot version of a social portal to better connect, communicate, and collaborate with each other. Penn State University's Outreach program created an intranet with that allows staff to find subject matter experts, publish and share documents, and collaborate in groups -- all to create information and programs that serve their customers. TransUnion is using an enterprise social networking platform to brainstorm, share, and evaluate ideas that will help them improve corporate-wide IT performance while minimizing investment in new hardware and software. Pfizer has used open source wiki, blog, and social bookmarking software to increase knowledge sharing and collaboration between researchers, sales people, manufacturing employees, and executives. Red Mountain Retail Group is using wikis and mashups to manage commercial real estate development projects across three offices and hundreds of project sites.

Is there a way that you can characterize those that may be leading the initiatives inside these companies?

I have been fortunate to meet several individuals who are Enterprise 2.0 evangelists within organizations. As a group, they are an extraordinary lot! These people may be best characterized as intelligent, forward-thinking, experienced in corporate workings, politically savvy, good negotiators, determined, and persistent. They understand both business and IT, and they effectively build bridges between those two worlds within their organizations. Most of all, Enterprise 2.0 evangelists understand and firmly believe in the value of empowering workers with connections to others and to information -- even if it is difficult to demonstrate that value in terms of currency-based return on investment.

What are the most common barriers to Enterprise 2.0 adoption in corporations?

Most barriers are cultural and behavioral; they have little to do with technology. They may be summed up with two words: Ignorance and fear. Ignorance of what tools are available, where and how to best use them, and how they can create business value. Fear of loss of control and power, investment of effort and money in absence of pre-defined ROI, information insecurity, increased workload, and change in general.

How do you overcome these hurdles?

The old-fashioned way. The introduction of any new technology in an organization requires the implementation of several change management tactics, including extensive conceptual education, technology training, incentivisation, and, -- most of all -- communication. In this regard, E2.0 is no different than any other enterprise technology set.

I also encourage organizations to use an emergent adoption model that is hybrid of viral (grassroots) and intentional (IT-led) patterns. In the emergent adoption model, IT and business people partner to ask questions and define expected use cases, business impacts, and value measurement metrics for the E2.0 technology being deployed. Once the technology has been implemented, project leaders observe how the technology is actually being used and what value that use case is creating. If there are no metrics in place to measure that value, they must be created. Emergent uses of the specific technology are then standardized in terms of well-defined use case descriptions, business impact expectations, and metrics to measure value created. Then project leaders and people using the technology must communicate their experiences -- tell stories -- so the technology can spread to other areas of the enterprise.

Armed with E2.0 technology, will employees have more power?

Yes and no. Yes, any given employee using social software will have more power to perform their role in the organization, because they can more easily discover and share information and knowledge that will help them to do their job. They will also have more opportunities to gain power by building their reputation amongst fellow employees, as well as with customers, partners, and other external constituents. However, the introduction of E2.0 technology is not guaranteed to alter the power of position held in the organizational hierarchy; managers will still exert substantial influence and control over the work of their direct reports.

Knocking Down Corporate Silos

What kinds of management changes are needed to cope with all this?

Ideally, middle managers would become less command and control oriented and increasingly act as coaches and mentors to employees, facilitating their interactions with one another and with the organizations' leadership. Senior managers would work to create and maintain an organizational culture that values trust, collaboration, communication, learning, community, and transparency.
In the short term, at least, I do not expect to see those changes occur in most organizations. However, E2.0 is a way of being and operating for organizations; it is management philosophy supported by technology. Any organization that implements social software without changing management style and corporate culture will see its E2.0 initiatives fail.

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To be continued…..

Technorati Tags: larry hawes,enterprise 2.0,analyst,gilbane

The Enterprise 2.0 Report Card for 2009

Despite a lackluster economy Enterprise 2.0 has emerged stronger and better prepared for 2010.  In fact, most Enterprise 2.0 solution providers saw increased year over year revenue growth.

Yet Enterprise 2.0 ROI value is still in question and vendors are not equipped to counter the arguments.  Expect vendors to close that gap in 2010.    

<Click to Enlarge>

Sources: Adoption 2.0 – State of Enterprise 2.0 Q4 2009 and MindTouch Nov 2009, Intranet Survey

 

Technorati Tags: 2009 report card,2010 forecast,Enterprise 2.0

Debunking the Debunkers: Open Source Myths

All societies and businesses that have survived longer than a few decades have created folklore, stories, and myths.  As the culture evolves, these myths tend to get embellished and enlarged.  So it is with Open Source. 

I read a recent New York Times article about open source to be full of errors, perpetuated myths, and just plain wrong. 

“But like most open-source companies, MySQL’s sales, tied to support deals, never matched the astronomical number of downloads for its product, about 60,000 a day.”

First, a considerable amount of open source products are not tied to support deals.  Second, on average, 1% of downloads are monetized.  Why ASHLEE VANCE the author thought that 100% of the downloads should be monetized is just plain silly.  He clearly does not understand how open source works. 

Vance continues: “The fight (between Oracle and the EU) illuminates a larger truth about open-source companies: their societal and strategic importance far exceeds their financial value as operating businesses.

European regulators view MySQL as sort of a database of the people, a low-cost alternative to Oracle’s costly proprietary products. The regulators worry that Oracle may stop improving MySQL in favor of protecting its core traditional products, and customers will lose an important option in the database market.”

Make no mistake, MySQL was in business to make money.  I don’t agree that MySQL was somehow an institution built by the people for the people.  They are not a strategic reserve to be protected by foreign raiders.  They chose a business model where they thought they could best compete.  And they were successful. 

“There’s only one company making real money out of open source, and that’s Red Hat,” said Simon Crosby, the chief technology officer at Citrix Systems, which acquired the open-source software maker XenSource for $500 million in 2007. “Everyone else is in trouble.”

What?  Either Crosby is dense or he was misquoted.  Why would he buy a company for $500 million if it was in trouble? 

Open Source ERP is more Expensive than Proprietary ERP

I then read a mythical article by Eric Kimberling who basically claims that:

1. Open Source ERP products have less functionality
2. Open Source ERP is harder to set up than Proprietary ERP
3. That Open Source ERP is more expensive to update and to improve the functionality over time
4. That Proprietary ERP products are less expensive than open source ERP

These myths continue to be perpetuated by proprietary vendors.  It’s almost as if Kimberling is reading from their Dungeon and Dragons play books.  Have you ever paid more than a $1m for an SAP license?  I have.  Have you ever paid over $1m for an open source commercial license? No you haven’t. 

I understand the total cost of ownership (TCO) argument, but it just doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.   The internal cost of deploying an open source ERP solution is substantially less than a proprietary vendor.  That’s due to the enormous support given by the community and the vendor.   Add in customization, and you can forget about any TCO similarities.  Open source by it’s very nature is open and much easier to customize. 

Conversely, proprietary systems are primarily supported by Value Added Resellers (VAR’s) or the vendor and are not free.  Want to change something, expect a giant bill.    

It is perhaps the desperation of traditional ERP stalwarts to attack the open source model.  They count on their customers to rely on the old open source myths.  Yet this too is changing.  Open source solutions are becoming mainstream and more and more customers are asking themselves why should we pay the outrageous price for proprietary software?

Still not convinced?  If nothing else, it should get you thinking about what open source might mean to your organization.

 

Technorati Tags: open source,myths,ERP,MySQL

Competing with Pirates

One story my University Professor used to teach about the limitations of a corporation’s executive team was about a ship in the middle of the ocean. On the ship was a rough, brawny captain who was rather myopic and hard of hearing.  The captain and crew followed the principles of majority rule on decisions about navigational direction. They had a very skilled and capable navigator who knew how measure ship speed and triangulate the stars on voyages, but the navigator was not well liked and frequently appeared to be withdrawn.

Then, in the terror of being lost, the captain and crew made a spur of the moment decision to follow the most charismatic, articulate, and persuasive of the crew members. They ignored and ridiculed the navigator's suggestions, remained lost, and eventually were killed by pirates in a battle at sea.

This situation happens frequently at companies large and small. You try to introduce the new solution, but are given excuse after excuse about why it can’t be done.  You may even be portrayed as a loose cannon. 

Which is why your company is suffering, and your competition is gaining ground.  They’re more nimble, more focused, and better equipped. 

When you have an executive team that focuses on that old business model that has stood the test of time, they will almost always kill a new idea.  Especially from the Web 2.0 social crowd.  In our current business era this will almost always lead to disaster. 

There are many organizations learning this lesson today.  Every day we hear about newspapers and magazines going out of business or being acquired by larger old media.    TV ad revenues are down, physical music and software stores have all but closed,  and books are moving to devices like the Kindle. 

Yes it’s mostly old media so far, but a case can be made that organizations that fall behind in this new era will suffer.  

Best Buy has embraced Enterprise and Web 2.0 and left Circuit City in Bankruptcy.  Was it due to Best Buy’s new 2.0 business practices?  Not entirely, but Best Buy did leverage the new 2.0 tools online (especially their own web properties)  to build a sizeable lead over Circuit City.  

"Circuit City was incredibly successful in the 1980s and 1990s, but they never changed after that," says David Schick, an analyst at Stifel Nicolaus. If it had adapted, it might have ended up like its chief rival, Best Buy.

And now Best Buy is going after connectivity.  Product and customer connectivity.   No doubt their new business model will change the way we interact with consumer technology and potentially improve their bottom line. 

Does your organization listen to you? Best Buy did.  They listened to their young navigators that understood the new business climate.  They left old business models behind, adapted to the new environment and won.   

 

Technorati Tags: enterprise 2.0,web 2.0,best buy,circuit city

5 Open Source companies that will rule the post-ERP world

It was promoted as the final showdown.  During the preceding months there had been vicious campaigns run against the other.  Brutal, ugly propaganda campaigns aimed to persuade the judges.  The event was the Columbian Exposition. Westinghouse and Tesla stood on one side, equipped with the alternating current system. On the other side Thomas Edison and General Electric were trying to retain their current title by promoting direct current. 

The contest winner would power the Chicago World's Fair.  It was a winner take all prize because the systems were incompatible.  So it is with today’s ERP systems. 

What do you mean?   Well I’ll get into that. 

"Enterprise software is going through a transformation in a very significant way," says Philip Say, Vice President for SAP Business Suite.  But not fast enough.  Despite the ERP behemoth’s attempts to move into the Enterprise 2.0 space they are burdened by bloated back-ends. 

According to Thomas Wailgum Editor of CIO.com, "Survey respondents (in a recent CIO survey) said that the inability to easily modify their ERP system deployments is disrupting their businesses by delaying product launches, slowing decision making and delaying acquisitions and other activities that ultimately cost them between $10 million and $500 million in lost opportunities," according to the survey report.”

Today’s Big ERP systems are not nimble, quick or extendable.  Yet the systems are constantly being updated or modified.  They don’t adjust well to changing business conditions and require massive IT departments to manage them.  

Their databases are accessible, but become less efficient when trying to connect other databases to them because they have proprietary and patented methods that don’t allow competitive systems to access them (for example accessing indices). 

Think of the phonebook.  I can search through every name sequentially to find a name, but it may take days.  Fortunately, the phone book is indexed so that I can find the name within seconds.  So it is with proprietary databases but they only allow their own systems access to the index. 

That means today’s approach to ERP is a one system fits all, closed loop system.  And if a Sales VP tries to bring in an outside system like Salesforce.com for CRM he or she needs to jump through many hoops to convince IT to support it and connect it to the ERP system.  Yes, it’s hard to break into the closed ERP loop.  It’s hard because of the reasons mentioned above.    

Yet there is another option.  An open source ERP option.  And within five years, ERP vendor lock in will be the exception and not the norm. There are already a number of open source ERP companies like  Openbravo, ERP5, Compiere, Open ERP and xTuple promoting open source access to their databases.  In the future it will be even more open and widely distributed. 

Cloud Sphere Alliances

Enter cloud computing.  Not just any cloud, but a cloud sphere.  Think of a cloud sphere as an alliance of vendors offering applications in the cloud that are seamlessly integrated (data, security, user profiles, etc.).  In other words, an open source suite of cloud enabled products architected to work faster and that easily leverage and use product suite information.  Because they are open and less exclusionary, this approach works well in the cloud.     

The cloud sphere alliances will also become marketing vehicles for the participants to drive adoption to all sphere members.  You’ll see vertical cloud alliances for Human Resources, Marketing, Finance, Supply Chain and more.  You’ll also see horizontal industry specific cloud spheres for healthcare, automotive, energy, pharma, mass media, insurance and a lot more.       

According to Steve Bjorg of MindTouch, cloud spheres already exists within Google.  They have a massive distributed database but it’s only open internally to Google.  Within Google, things run efficiently because internal users have permission to access the databases economically.  Externally, it’s not the case.  We can access bits and pieces of the Google databases, but in large part it’s closed to outsiders.  Moreover, even if we did have unlimited external access it would be terribly inefficient and slow.   

That’s why Open Source companies like OpenBravo, xTuple, Compiere, ERP5 and Open ERP will build cloud spheres that not only enable access to their open databases (including indices), but do it efficiently and cost effectively.  These cloud spheres will allow customers to choose ERP components a la carte or in whole.  They will also offer components from other vendors like SugarCRM, Alfresco, JasperSoft and Pentaho that are certified to work in the cloud sphere.

They will win in the post ERP world because of their openness and flexibility in the cloud.  

Open Source ERP companies will do it efficiently because their databases will be completely open to alliance vendors.   They will allow cloud sphere alliance vendors to subscribe to the secured data and to leverage the same methods and efficiencies as the ERP company.  They will still be the keepers of the data, but allow vendors to see the digested indexed version and to pre-fetch data as needed.

That’s why companies will be switching to ERP companies in droves. 

How Will I Know When This is Going to Happen?

Three things need to happen first:

1. The price of storage needs to come down drastically.  It’s already headed that direction, but there is a long way to go. 
2. The price of bandwidth needs to come down.  In the cloud sphere scenario, the amount of data transfer will be immense.  Today’s bandwidth prices are too high to justify the expense. 
3. Cloud databases need to be open and allow vendors to access the database protocols and indices.

Open Source Perceptions and Challenges Need to be Overcome   

A few CIOs I know summed up today’s perception of open source ERP best for me: “I don’t yet trust open source ERP systems, I need to see a few large companies using it successfully.”  The other said, “I’ve used non mission critical open source technology in IT, but I’m not ready for an open source solution for ERP.”

These attitudes will change.  The priests of the past that have built up loyalties and interests to their proprietary vendors (SAP, Microsoft, SAGE, Oracle) will recognize the advantages of a cloud enabled open source ERP solution.  For them, an open source cloud solution will be much faster, cheaper and easier to deploy.  It will also play nice with best in class point solutions.  

The issue of security and governance inevitably comes up in any cloud discussion.   “I don’t want to put my data in the cloud”, I’ve heard numerous times.  Yet Salesforce.com has proved that mission critical enterprise data is being stored off premise and more securely than most IT departments can do it.  This perception too will change. 

What this all Means for the CIO

Proprietary ERP companies make connecting to ERP complex.  Like Edison and Tesla, they don’t work well with competing systems.   Conversely, open source is about unifying things. 

While today’s open source ERP systems are good, they haven’t reached the point where replacing your existing SAP or Oracle installation makes sense.  Yet, in the next few years, the reduced cost and increased benefit of a cloud enabled open source ERP system will far outweigh the benefits of a closed proprietary system. 

Technorati Tags: cloud sphere,pentaho,jaspersoft,open bravo,erp5,compiere,xtuple

Note: The Columbian Exposition opened on May 1, 1893. That evening, President Grover Cleveland pushed a button and a hundred thousand incandescent lamps illuminated the fairground's neoclassical buildings. This "City of Light" was the work of Tesla, Westinghouse who had won the final showdown.

Top 10 Best iPhone Apps for the Enterprise

I am constantly in search of iPhone applications that make my job easier.  Especially if they involve enterprise functionality.  Unfortunately, my research has revealed very little in terms of value despite there being over 100,000 apps on the App Store. 

There is a big opportunity for Apple to build a corporate focused app store for those wanting enterprise level apps.  Meanwhile, below is the best of what I’ve been able to find and use.

App #1 Mocha VNC for iPhone and iPod

The name stinks but the app doesn’t.  Connect with your computer even if away from the office.  Forget to bring home a file?  No problem, just download or email it to your self from the iPhone.  

APPLICATION DESCRIPTION

Mocha VNC provides access to a VNC Server. Using your iPhone, you can connect to a Windows PC or Mac OS X and see the files, programs, and resources exactly as you would if you were sitting at your desk, just on a smaller screen.

 

App #2 Skype for Iphone

Skype allows very inexpensive video conferencing and calls to landlines.  A good app to connect with other business users.  I use Skype frequently for chat and calling overseas.

Your boss or clients will be happy when you keep the cost down using Skype overseas.  I use it as a WIFI phone when travelling outside of the US.  Calls are at a fraction of the price then international rates.  

 

App #3 Cisco WebEx Meeting Center

Using Cisco's WebEx technology, businesses can share documents, make presentations, and collaborate with employees—or customers—around the world. Now iPhone 3G users can join in as well, thanks to Cisco's free WebEx Meeting Center app.  Follow a presentation remotely and on your phone.  You no longer need to be at your desk. 

One question I have is how does the audio work if you don’t have a landline handy?

App #4 Evernote

 

Evernote for iPhone lets you create notes, snap photos, and record voice memos that you can then access any time — from your iPhone, computer, or the web.  EverNote works like your brain would- if its contents were exported to your iPhone.  The ultimate micro content management system.  This app comes in handy.  

App #5 Yammer

Use the free Yammer iPhone application to stay connected wherever you are. View, post and reply to messages, and use the Directory as a mobile address book for your Network.

It answers one simple questions, “what are you working on?” This is Twitter for the Enterprise. 

 

App #6 SalesForce.com

Thanks to streamlined navigation, you can quickly perform tasks or find what you need in Salesforce CRM right from your mobile device. From pop-up reminders to customizable layouts, Salesforce CRM makes it easy to do more on the go.  I frequently use this app to check the sales and marketing team progress.  I tend to look at dashboards, but occasionally I will dive into customer accounts.  

 

App #7 Gist iPhone app

First, read this great write up on Gist on the iPhoneCTO web site.

Gist puts all the news, updates, and information about your contacts and their companies in your hand.  Their latest iPhone app release is up and available for download on the iTunes App Store.  New features include:

1. Share articles via Twitter – share news, status updates, and other information Gist finds for you directly to Twitter.
2. Set individual or company importance – adjust importance directly via the app (previously this had to be don via the web application).
3. Filtered dashboard – filter by importance, article type, and entity type – create the view you want on the dashboard with improved filtering.
4. Event detail map directions (via Google Maps App) – get detailed directions to your next meeting with tighter Google Maps integration.

App #8 iThoughts Mind Mapping

Need help connecting the dots?  This smart little app can help you to build innovative ideas or extend existing ones.  BTW: I found a good blog on mind maps by Clark Quinn.  Worth a look.

iThoughts is a mind mapping tool for the iPod Touch or iPhone. It enables you to create, view, edit, upload and download mind maps in Freemind, MindManager, Novamind, XMind and OPML compatible file formats. It can be purchased from the Apple iTunes AppStore.

App #9 Oracle Business App Suite for iPhone

Oracle was the first company to deliver business class applications to iPhone.  Now Oracle has 5 business intelligence apps on iPhone:

Note you’ll need an Oracle Enterprise license.

* Oracle Business Indicators

Business performance information

* Oracle Business Approvals for Managers
Access relevant business intelligence reports

* Oracle Mobile Sales Assistant
Access information your sales organization needs on a mobile device

* Oracle Business Approvals for Sales Managers
Access to relevant business intelligence reports

* Oracle Mobile Sales Forecast
Provides real-time visibility into individual’s or organization’s opportunity pipeline

App #10 EnCamp for Basecamp

Get projects done. On the Go.

Encamp is a native iPhone application for managing Basecamp projects. Wherever you go — you always stay connected with your projects and tasks.

Basecamp's best companion

With Encamp you're working right on your projects - no need to trigger synchronization. All changes are immediately reflected in your hub, clients receive your comments and responsible parties are notified on delegated tasks.

Finally…

I am sure I’ve missed a few.  Do you have any suggested enterprise iPhone apps for us to check out? I am generally looking for highly rated apps that help business people make decisions and get work done.  

 

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The Tiger Woods Redemptive Guide to Enterprise 2.0

Admit it you screwed up.  They finally caught up to you.  One or two times and it may have been forgivable.  But twelve people?  Are there more?   

You once were admired for your style, your performance, your polish.  You were the star of the show.  But now the past has caught up with you. 

Maybe it's time for a new approach.  A reinvention. 

Can this teach us anything?

Maybe you’ve been avoiding the move to Enterprise 2.0 because you’re stuck in the past.  You were the company champion. The “go to” guy (or gal). 

Then you got complacent and starting letting people down.  Email is overloaded, projects due dates are not being met, the old guard is walking out the front door with important knowledge.  Sales are down, expenses are higher.  You’re nearly out the door yourself.    It’s just par for the course - you understand. 

Generation Y is starting to show up with their Facebook and MySpace. You believe they waste time socializing while they should be working.  Or are they? 

Maybe it’s worth trying a new approach a new solution.  Maybe your past success has handicapped you.    To be born again you first have to die.   

Pick up the pieces and rebuild your career.  Your old business practices and models won’t work anymore. 

Deliver real value.  Connect people with content and other people.  Make them more efficient, happier, give them a voice.     

It's time to tee up an E2.0 solution and take another swing.

Technorati Tags: tiger woods,enterprise 2.0

SharePoint 2010 vs. MindTouch the Battle of the Platforms

My first exposure to SharePoint was in 2003. I worked at A.T. Kearney and one of our clients was using it to manage their documents.   One’s first experience with SharePoint inevitably influences future views. It shapes your perceptions of the tool. If your experience was positive then you generally view SharePoint as a powerful addition to your business.  If it was negative, then it’s viewed as a nuisance and rarely used. 

The issue that comes up more than any other among SharePoint architects is this: “How can we shape SharePoint to work easily within our business?  How do we build a tool that our employees will actually use?”  Employees can be tough to convince.  But with SharePoint 2010 it appears to be making the architect’s job easier.

I recently sat in on a demo of SharePoint 2010 at Microsoft.  In short, 2010 has come along way.  It’s more social and user friendly.  It also appears to be more of a web application operating system where it becomes the platform for other applications that enhance and extend SharePoint.  On the surface it sounds like MindTouch 2009, but there are a lot of key differences I’ll cover below:  

 The Short Short take: SharePoint 2010 is more business user friendly and offers much more out of the box to extend the platform.  MindTouch 2009 is much less expensive, more flexible and easier to build applications and extend than Sharepoint, but you need to be a developer or have some light programming skills.  MindTouch 2009 is available now while SharePoint 2010 may ship in Q2 or Q3 2010. 

In less than 12 Words	It can be anything you want and we get you 80% there	The open source business application platform.
MS Office Integration	Superior, especially with Outlook.	Good
Custom Workflow	Superior; Visio enabled	Average – Need custom programming
Content & document templates	Superior	Good
Business Intelligence	Superior: easy to use for 80% of use cases, but limited in connectors with Oracle and other competitors.	Good: Need programming help, but connectors are easy to build for all databases.
Data Integration	Easily connect to non-competing CRM, HR, ERP, MRP systems.	Easy, including ability to build Enterprise Mashups
The Platform	Very Good: Robust for business users, but still not completely open	Superior: open source, but need to be a developer to build
Price point	High	Low
By the way	SharePoint is Microsoft’s fastest growing product in history	MindTouch is an open source platform with millions of users
Set up time needed
Solves business needs for	Business intelligence, intranets, knowledge Bases, social business communities.  Can build custom application on top of SharePoint but can get expensive.	If you can draw it up, MindTouch can deliver.  Yet limited documentation and tools to support development efforts.
The videos	SharePoint 2010 Platform	MindTouch Cloud
Cloud enabled?	2010 will be cloud enabled through Azure?	Yes
Extendable?	Has over 100 modules	Build to suit.  Gives developers building blocks to build robust solutions.
Governance	Very strong, can virtually control all content	Flexible, but not as robust as SharePoint
External facing or Internal?	Both, but internal is a better solution	Both, stronger external features

SharePoint 2010: The Web Application Operating System?

From my observations, SharePoint 2010 is moving towards becoming a Application Operating System.  Ostensibly, Azure is Microsoft’s future cloud operating system, but SharePoint appears to be playing a major role in supporting web applications. 

The improvements in 2010 over 2007 MOSS are substantial.  At first glance, 2010 is more social.  Almost an attempt to build Facebook for the enterprise.  They have Note Boards (similar to Facebook walls), activity streams and a coworker follow feature (like Twitter).  2010 will even suggest colleagues to follow.  The user profiles are more dynamic and useful which makes finding subject matter experts easier.   Lastly, Outlook 2010 has some Xobni or Gist like features that extend SharePoint to the email client.  

One feature that struck me as powerful (maybe not to privacy advocates) is the ability to data mine emails (you must be using Exchange) for approved keywords.  If you want to see how often the phrase “Enterprise 2.0” is being used in employee email, SharePoint will tell you.    

Similarly, SharePoint 2010 appears to have added the unique ability to contextually connect relationships with content and people.  While searching, SharePoint will suggest people, documents, tags and rated content which is a powerful feature when looking for the right answer.  2010 may suggest a person who has never written on the subject of Enterprise 2.0 on SharePoint, but frequently sends emails about the topic.  In 2010, that user is identified. 

It’s integration with Office 2010 (shipping near the same time as SharePoint 2010) is second to none.  All tasks, documents, calendar items sync back to SharePoint so that there is always one source of truth.

Business intelligence (BI) is vastly improved.  Microsoft claims most of the BI use cases can be handled by the new SharePoint designer, but in the event they cannot, the remainder can be handled in Visual Studio.

There’s a lot more to cover, but  I’ve hit the highlights.  The takeaway is that SharePoint 2010 has vastly improved over 2007 especially in regards to the social capabilities, BI, and document management.  There are still several limitations, but that is the subject of another article. 

MindTouch 2009: The Cloud Enabled Open Source Business Platform

MindTouch can make your ideas come true. They are in the expectations business.  You can invent and design products on MindTouch in a fraction of the time as compared to building them from scratch.  Yet with every promising tool is a downside; you’ll need to have some programming experience to maximize the capabilities of the MindTouch platform.

The primary platform differences between SharePoint 2010 and MindTouch 2009 are:

1. MindTouch is more flexible – build anything in PHP, C#, Java, Java Script, DekiScript.  Each page is programmable. 
2. For non-programmers, MindTouch is more difficult to customize than SharePoint 2010.
3. MindTouch is open source, which means the code is readily available for you to modify and extend.

All of the document management tools are present including check in, check out, a desktop tool that allows drag and drop uploading and dowloading, Microsoft Office connectors, and content moderation. 

MindTouch is a much more powerful solution for external facing communities.  Crowd sourcing, content moderation (you approve user submitted content before it goes live), and end user ease of use is better than SharePoint. 

MindTouch 2009 search is less robust than SharePoint 2010, but new search  improvements in MindTouch 2010 promise to equal the playing field. 

The ability to cloud enable products built on MindTouch is easier (to my knowledge SharePoint 2010 hasn’t promoted their potential ability).  That means building solutions like innovation portals, partner extranets, customer service portals, etc.  and offering them for sale is supported and encouraged.    

Every MindTouch page can be a robust program.  You can build a project management solution on one page and a Twitter style follow me feature on another page.  Of course, this can become unwieldy so proper planning and governance controls are essential.

Technorati Tags: mindtouch 2009,sharepoint 2010,review,guide

<disclosure: I work for MindTouch>

Jive Software vs. MindTouch a Guide for Decision Makers

I’m frequently asked what the difference is between MindTouch and Jive Software.   The short answer is that Jive is a social business construct where MindTouch is more of a business application platform.  Jive solves very specific business needs while MindTouch can solve a variety of business needs but typically needs customization for complex applications. 

Before I go any farther, let me state the obvious.  I’ve only met CEO Dave Hersh and the founders of Jive once.  I like them.  They’re good guys and if you use a Jive application you’ve made a great choice in not only the software but the company as well. 

This article is a guide to help potential customers make an optimal decision.  So let’s get on with it.     

The Quick Guide

In 10 words or less	We make business more social	The open source business application platform.
Key Customers	Cisco, SAP, Nike	Washington Post, Intel, EMC
Known for?	Social business communities	Ability to quickly create custom business applications to solve business needs.
By the way	Jive has over 2500 customers and 15% of the F500	MindTouch is an open source platform with millions of users
Set up time needed
Solves business needs for	Internal and external Community building	Customize platform to build intranets, extranets, knowledge bases, portals.
The videos	Jive Software	MindTouch Cloud
Cloud enabled?	Yes	Yes
Open Source	No	Yes, has free core version
Extendable?	Has over 100 modules	Build to suit.  Gives developers building blocks to build robust solutions.
SharePoint connector?	Yes, federated search and links	Yes
External facing or Internal?	Both, but internal is a better solution	Both

What is Jive Software?

Jive is a powerful tool to build internal and external corporate communities.  While they offer an external facing community, the feature set doesn’t appear as power as the internal solution.

Their new bridging capabilities are great, but they’ll need to offer a wider bridge in the future.  With bridging, Jive connects the external community with the internal employee community in order for employees to act on information published on the external site. 

Out of the box, Jive just works.  It ships with over a 100 modules to quickly customize your community.  The Microsoft Office connectors allow you to sync offline documents with those on Jive so that you’re not looking at an old version of the document.  It’s also makes for a good collaboration tool.      

If you want to monitor conversations about your company on social networking sites, then Jive is well suited. 

Jive is very wizard driven which means setting up the site is easier than most Enterprise 2.0 solutions.  The downside is that their solutions tend to be rigid in structure so changing the look and feel, the business need it solves, etc. can be much more difficult than MindTouch.   

Yet out of the box, there are a lot of ways to extend the solution.  A few examples include: Activity feeds, simple SharePoint integration, workflow support, and the ability to cut and paste html and CSS code

What is MindTouch?

MindTouch is a business platform.  What is that?  Think of MindTouch as SharePoint but with more flexibility.  In other words, you can quickly build a powerful solution on top of the platform in a fraction of the time versus building it from scratch. 

With Mindtouch, you can build and match Jive feature for feature, but it will take you a long time to do it.   You’re better off choosing Jive if you want all that they offer.  Want a custom fit solution?  Then MindTouch is a better choice.  

MindTouch has traditionally been a tool for developers, but they have recently embarked on a mission to build solution frameworks. 

Intranets, extranets, innovation portals, knowledge bases can all be  purchased from MindTouch but are suit to fit applications meaning they won’t work out of the box without some customization.

All of the document management tools are present including check in, check out, a desktop tool that allows drag and drop uploading and downloading, Microsoft Office connectors, and content moderation. 

For public facing communities and knowledge bases, content moderation allows the safe crowd sourcing of content.  Want the crowd to help build your technical documentation or self service help desk, then content moderation is an important tool. 

MindTouch has all of the tools to build a world class system.  In fact, they allow developers to build solutions on their platform to resell.  Want to build an Attask and Basecamp competitor.  You can do it on MindTouch. 

Have a different opinion?  Please share.

Technorati Tags: mindtouch 2009,Jive Software,Sharepoint 2010,guide

<Disclosure: I work for MindTouch>

The 10 Best Enterprise 2.0 Videos and Presentations in the Last Month

 

Why Is There Resistance to Enterprise 2.0?

This was originally shot at the Enterprise 2.0 conference in San Francisco.  An excellent overview and a cautionary tale for all internal champions.  The Adoption 2.0 council stats and figures make the presentation very compelling.

 

 

Mike Krigsman and Dion Hinchcliffe on Salesforce.com's New Offering: Chatter - Part 1

Hear why Hinchcliffe calls Salesforce Chatter the social operating platform.  Sorry guys, the audio needs improvement but you are able to make out a very coherent and persuasive message around the significance of Chatter as bringing credibility and validation to the Enterprise 2.0 space.  

 

Interview with Dion Hinchcliffe and Mike Krigsman on Chatter at Dreamforce - Part 2

The discussion with Krugsman and Hinchcliffe continues with a discussion on Knowledge Management. 

 

Web 2.0 Expo NY 09: Gina Trapani, "Making Sense of Google Wave"

Founder of LifeHacker.com Gina explains why Google Wave in her opinion is the most exciting web application ever.  A Wave convert, she explains how in 4 weeks she and her coauthors created a book on Wave using Wave.

In its current state, Trapani believes Wave is best when it’s used in small groups with complex conversations. 

 

 

MindTouch Open Source Cloud Solution

One of the first open source cloud solutions, MindTouch explains the power of its platform using a creative video. 

 <disclosure: I work for the company>

Salesforce Chatter

As both a collaboration application and a platform for building social cloud-computing apps, Chatter is the latest offering from powerhouse  Salesforce.com 

The best E2.0 Presentations

Dagfinn Parnas how large companies should start to use Wave.  Hint: Think small. 

Why And how the Enterprise should harness the power of Google Wave

View more presentations from Dagfinn Parnas.

 

Selling the Case for Accelerating Business Performance with Enterprise Collaboration and 2.0 Technologies

Sameer Patel and Oliver Marks explain how to promote and push an Enterprise 2.o solution in your organization. 

Selling the Case for Accelerating Business Performance with Enterprise Collaboration and 2.0 Technologies

View more presentations from Sameer Patel.

 

Email Is Dead... Long Live Email!

Great presentation and stats on the use of email by the CEO of Wrike. 

Email Is Dead... Long Live Email!

View more presentations from Wrike com.

 

10 Worst practices for intranets

Sam Marshall explains some of the best ways to kill your Intranet. 

10 Worst practices for intranets

View more presentations from Sam Marshall.

I also recommend you read Oscar Berg’s Interesting Enterprise 2.0 Readings - Week 49 2009 where he covers some of the best blog postings of the week. 

 

Technorati Tags: enterprise 2.0,videos