Enterprise 2.0 is a term that has moved from "think outside the box concept" into a mainstream staple. Many business leaders are trying to adopt the concept into day-to-day work – or at the very least are aware that it exists and want to learn more. Either way, it is increasingly evident that the prevailing wisdom on the subject has changed; having an enterprise social network is no longer a fascination of early adopters. It is now an essential component of the enterprise.
For 30 years, businesses have relied on a trio of applications that can now be referred to as Enterprise 1.0:
- Transactional Applications: data-centric systems designed to handle core business transactions and processes.
- Productivity Tools: document-centric tools used by knowledge workers to manage and maintain their work files.
- Communications Tools: ever-growing email messages that must get categorized, organized and filed into various topic folders by each individual user.
Geoffrey Moore, Silicon Valley veteran and author of the high-tech marketing bible Crossing the Chasm, calls these Enterprise 1.0 applications "systems of record." While still essential for any enterprise, they lack the ability to promote something that is becoming an increasingly important aspect of any company — social engagement.
Enter Enterprise 2.0, a new management paradigm based on enterprise social networking. It is the platform of engagement for all constituents across and beyond the enterprise, empowering them to be more engaged by staying connected with the people and activities around them. In doing so, they can participate, contribute and collaborate with one another more effectively, thereby achieving higher business goals for the company as a whole. Platforms of engagement aim at adding a "second element" to the enterprise — a social context to every system of record, but not replacing it. At least not immediately.
Many enterprises have been experimenting with platforms of engagement for the past couple of years, although most have experienced a fairly high failure rate. Some reports even suggest that as much as 90% of enterprise social networking projects either falter or die on the vine within the first 3-6 months.
So why is adopting a platform of engagement such a tough challenge? The answer is surprisingly obvious: old habits die hard. We all prefer to do things the familiar way — having relied on systems of record throughout our professional careers, adding yet another element into the mix can be disruptive and annoying for most people. Furthermore, any successful adoption requires a cultural, behavioral and habitual transformation for the entire organization.
By design, systems of record are records-centric, revolving around enterprise data, documents, messages and their surrounding business processes. This work environment is highly structured, largely reactive, and the workflow is linear. In contrast, platforms of engagement are people-centric. Their mission is to facilitate collaborative tasks such as problem solving, exception handling, consensus building, and innovative brainstorming, tasks that cannot be pre-programmed into structured processes or workflows. Consequently, platform of engagement participants must thrive to be proactive, engaging in multiple activities in parallel to reach maximum geometric scalability, such as:
- Assemble and sustain a critical mass of active members across and beyond the enterprise.
- Build out an ecosystem of networks and communities by these members, for these members.
- Establish meaningful social business connections amongst themselves.
- Integrate fully into all aspects of systems of record.
- Maintain a reputation economy so that everyone is incentivized to contribute ideas and share knowledge at all times.
- Follow all relevant activities by anyone, from anywhere, at anytime.
- Zoom in on any actionable items timely and collaboratively.
For platforms of engagement to succeed is to transform everyone's entrenched work habits from reactive to proactive and from linear to geometric, which is not a trivial feat by any means. But only when we cross that chasm can our platform of engagement be adopted as the essential second element in our workplace.
Like any change, this is a classic chicken-and-egg problem: you need enough stuff in it for enough people to get it; you need enough people who have already got it to generate enough stuff. That's the bad news.
The good news is that while very challenging, once the cold start inertia is overcome, everyone will wonder: why didn't we make the transformation sooner?
Pehong Chen is chairman, CEO and founder of BroadVision.
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