At the recent Switch conference in Porto, I touched briefly on whether entrepreneurialism is compatible with the collaborative nature of Social Media and Enterprise 2.0.  It seems to me that there is an inherent clash between the two approaches.

Although there are of course exceptions, an entrepreneur tends typically to be someone who:

• has their own clear ideas of where they should be taking the organisation
• is working towards a relatively long-term strategic goal
• only shares their knowledge to the extent necessary to achieve their goals
• tends to have a hierarchical attitude towards organisational structure
• launches a business very locally and perhaps later spreads to other geographic regions

The above attributes do not marry well with the collaborative nature of Social Business, wherein:

• strategy is often the result of crowdsourcing ideas
• the web is usually used to identify the next incremental step, not the long-term goal
• information is shared openly with complete strangers
• organisations tend to be very flat and relatively unstructured
• from the outset, businesses tend to be global

To succeed in this highly interconnected world, a new breed of entrepreneur is needed.  Entrepreneurs of the future will need to be:

• less self-centred and more open to others’ ideas
• more prepared to share their own ideas with the world
• less convinced of their own superior status in the organisation

But there are definitely some attributes that have always been important for an entrepreneur that do not change in this Web 2.0 world.  They must always:

• have enormous drive to succeed
• be prepared to work very long hours  often to the detriment of their personal life
• believe in their goal
• look after and support their team

and above all have the humility to accept that they don’t know everything and can always learn more from those around them.

I’m sure that many readers will disagree with my comments here, so your thoughts on the subject would be very welcome.

@demeto

CONSIDERING THE VALUE OF SOCIAL SOFTWARE TOOLS

With companies’ recent attempts to engage employees and customers through advanced software solutions and collaboration tools, IT departments often have difficulties deciding which platforms to use and justifying the investments made. In this respect, it is vital to the planning process and the decision-making process to perform a thorough cost-benefit study and preferably to understand the Return on Investment (“ROI”) of the platform, before embarking on the project.

Given that the results of these collaboration tools, which are sometimes intangible in nature, often are not directly measurable, simple ROI techniques are insufficiently appropriate for capturing the (long-term) results of these tools.

Below we provide an overview of how the Value Measuring Methodology (“VMM”) developed by Booz Allen Hamilton, in conjunction with Harvard University can be applied to social software tools. Much of this overview is based on valuable insights from the ‘Highlights on VMM’ by the Best Practices Committee of the Federal CIO Council (October 2002).

The need for measurable results

According to a recent study by Bazaarvoice and the CMO Club, the true expectation of chief marketing officers is that they want measurable results from social media.

In most organisations, the following requirements tend to apply when embarking on new ventures and projects:

• Senior management should be provided with the information necessary to communicate priorities and to establish consistent measures for evaluating existing or proposed initiatives;
• The venturers and project managers should have visibility of the relevant needs and priorities of stakeholders and customers;
• Risk and risk mitigation should be considered early in the development process, before other alternatives are defined; and
• Value measures should be provided (including metrics and targets) that capture project value, guide definition of alternatives, and facilitate on-going performance and results-based management.

How to achieve measurement

Given the complexities of accounting for costs and identifying risk in traditional ROI calculations, the VMM offers a solution for measuring value in technologically advanced systems, such as software solutions built using Web 2.0 and developed in order to benefit from social collaboration.

THE VALUE MEASURING METHODOLOGY

Background

In order to define, capture and measure value associated with electronic services, Booz Allen Hamilton together with Harvard University in January 2002 published the first version of VMM. Following its publication VMM has been improved and tested in a real-world environment. Given the complexities of accounting for costs and identifying risk in traditional ROI calculations, VMM offers a solution for measuring value in technologically advanced systems, such as software solutions built using Web 2.0 and developed in order to benefit from social collaboration.

Purpose and approach

VMM was designed to be used by governmental organisations, for example in e-Government initiatives, but it can be applied by organisations wishing to maximise shareholder value as well, when deciding whether to invest in electronic services. The purpose is to demonstrate the benefits of a project to a variety of stakeholders.

According to the Best Practices Committee of the Federal CIO Council (2002), whilst it is preferred to use VMM at the start of a new project, it may also be used in later phases, in order to evaluate the effectiveness of the project, or to decide on the feasibility of its continuation. All through the lifecycle of a project, VMM can be used in order to justify spending, re-evaluate objectives and performance, or validate management controls. During this process, employees from across all functions and decision-making levels should be involved.

VMM is based on public and private sector business and economic analysis theories and best practices. It provides the structure, tools and techniques for comprehensive quantitative analysis and comparison of value (benefits), cost and risk at the appropriate level of detail. VMM produces an outline, guiding the process for the selection, design analysis and management of an investment.

A method for quantifying and comparing value, cost and risk

VMM is a solid foundation for a project and offers insight into the possible alternatives. According to the Best Practices Committee of the Federal CIO Council (2002) in their analysis of the value proposition, VMM:

• Allows measurement and comparison of baseline and ongoing evaluations of value, risk and cost;
• Provides a quantitative understanding of value through calculation of metrics, including ROI;
• Provides a clear picture of how value and cost are affected by risk;
• Allows strategic selection of initiatives to include in an organisation’s investment portfolio;
• Provides insight into the interrelationships of value, cost and risk;
• Produces quantified measures of value, cost and risk to guide the continuing selection, management and evaluation of an investment;
• Provides a better understanding of variables to justify an investment or alternative course of action;
• Addresses the needs of stakeholders, including the public through analysis of alternatives; and
• Supports development of an IT investment portfolio that balances value, cost and risk.

For social software tools, VMM offers a complete and quantitative approach to capturing their value and deciding on investment and feasibility. It focuses on all stakeholders and takes into account the possible alternatives. Also, VMM considers the effects of uncertainty (risk) on the outcome of the project.

IMPLEMENTATION OF VMM

The basic steps involved in implementing VMM are:

• develop a decision framework;
• alternatives analysis;
• pull the information together; and
• communicate and document.

We have developed in Fyronic a structured approach and methodology for these four steps, which will be of assistance to organisations that are embedding Social Media and Enterprise 2.0 tools in their strategy for engagement and collaboration with their various stakeholders.

We would very much welcome comments on this approach.  We can be contacted at by email at Fyronic or via Twitter.

David Demetrius (@Demeto) & Chris Demetrius (@Chris_LD)

Much is written about adoption of Enterprise 2.0, but adoption is nevertheless slow in most cases.  My belief is that this is largely because those selling the idea to top managment are not hitting the right buttons.  As a former Chairman and CEO of several companies and  a company director for over 30 years, I think I know what would have convinced me to adopt E2.0, had it existed at that time.

How not to sell it

There are several ways to ensure that all but the most geeky techies on the management team will NOT buy into the concept.

• Don’t call it Enterprise 2.0: This sounds too gimmicky.  It doesn’t convey any message that revenues and profits will increase any time soon.
• Don’t use the word ’social‘: CEOs know that it is good for employee motivation for them to have a happy social life, but most of them believe that (apart from Christmas parties and occasional staff drinks) this is something best kept out of the office.
• Don’t emphasise the technical points: Most CEOs do not want to hear about iPads or whether iPhone or Blackberry is better for accessing Twitter when traveling.  And if you descend into discussions about bandwidth, you’ll have lost them completely!

What buttons should you hit?

Instead of the above, I strongly recommend that you concentrate on the following messages.

• Talk about engaging with stakeholders: This is something CEOs understand and know they need to do.  They see stakeholder engagement as one of their key roles in life, be it with employees, customers, suppliers or whomever.  A system that makes this simpler and frees up some of their own time for other activities will be very attractive.
• Emphasise the benefits of collaboration: CEOs know innovation is important.  They have been brought up under the ‘Change or die’ maxim.  Providing them with a collaborative system to innovate more effectively will appeal to them. Real life examples (of which there are many) of companies cutting time to market of new products will impress them.
• Explain the alternative: You can’t sell E2.0 using simple ROI as a measure (any more than you can calculate the ROI of having a roof on the office), but you can point out the costs and risks of NOT incorporating E2.0 in the business.
• Kill the security question early: One of the major concerns of CEOs is that any social media application will put the company at serious risk of leaks of confidential data. Explain early that this is something that clearly has to be avoided, but that there are excellent existing tools for ensuring this (quite apart from clear company policy guidelines, which the CEO will hopefully confirm are already in place).

I hope this helps.  As I think of other suggestions, I’ll tweet them.  (@Demeto)

David Demetrius (Partner and co-founder of Fyronic)

Here are the slides of our seminar on Engaging with your stakeholders using Enterprise 2.0 and Social Media.
Good reactions from everyone in the room. Thnks for attending. Watch out for more..

Fyronic is organising a seminar about the use Enterprise 2.0 and Social Media.

This seminar will help you understand how to use new Social Media and Enterprise 2.0 tools (e.g. LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Yammer, Social Networking, wiki’s, blogs, folksonomies …) to increase interaction between yourselves and the various other parties you deal with (members, employees, customers, partners etc.)

It will provide information on the relevance of such tools to your organisation. Emphasis will be on the functionality of the various tools, rather than the technical requirements.

If you want to ensure the sustainability of your organisation, if the use of Social Media and related tools are not already part of your strategy, they certainly should be!

The seminar will be held in English.
Date: Tuesday 6th July, 15:30 – 17:30 (followed by drinks and refreshments)
Venue: British Chamber of Commerce in Belgium, Boulevard Bischoffsheim 11, 1000 Brussels

To Register please send an email with your details register@fyronic.com

As we are all swamped by too much information in mails, tweets, facebook posts, documents, rss feeds etc, it becomes more and more difficult to organise this data, to filter it and to find the most relevant pieces of information we are looking for.

An interesting new way of looking at this vast amount of data, is Pivot. Pivot is an experiment from Microsoft Labs to look at data in a different way. Based on the concept of collections, it allows you to see collections of data in different ways and browse through them in a more visual way than ever before.

Have a look at the video that presents Pivot.

Should be interesting to learn where Microsoft will take it next, or will it remain only an experiment.
If they take this further, it could prove very helpful in an intranet environment too.

Here is a whitepaper explaining what Enterprise 2.0 and how Fyronic helps organisations to use the power of collaboration platforms.

It also includes an introduction in the method we use for implementing Enterprise 2.0 projects.

The method is based on Ross Dawson’s framework for Implementing Enterprise 2.0 in his book: Implementing Enterprise 2.0 but is our own vision on it.

Many thnx to Ross, for his groundbreaking work.

You can download our whitepaper here: Fyronic – Enterprise 2.0 Implementation an Introduction

A couple of weeks ago I talked to the communication manager of a large international bank. He told me that in the last decade, banks have been trying very hard to move away from personal relationships with their customers. They have automated almost all transactions; ATM’s that can do about anything, online banking etc.

But recently they are experiencing that this actually becomes increasingly difficult to maintain. And that more and more customers complain about this distance, about the lack of personal contact.  People want to talk to people and certainly when it comes to trusting their money to some institution.
I remember the first bank account I opened (which is a numerous years ago). It was with another rather big bank. But in that time, the bank manager got out of his way to welcome me and I had frequent meetings with him after that. Just to stay in touch and to ‘keep the customer relation’ going on a personal level. I could ask him for any advice about my financial situation and I’d get it instantly. Now that’s customer service. This guy got a lot of credit from me when they did make a mistake sometime. Eventually he got replaced by another manager with other views on customer relationships. I’m still a customer of that bank now, but not in that office anymore.

It seems that due to the whole Web 2.0 and Social computing movement, companies start to understand that Customer Relationship Management is not about technology and processes. You don’t have a relationship with companies, you have a relationship with people.

Social CRM focusses on that fact: it’s about getting personal with your customers.

There are companies who have understood that going the extra mile for you customer is well worth the effort. They keep their customers close by keeping the conversation open. Zappos is a very good example. Customer Service gets a whole different meaning in their book. They go to extremes when it comes to customer satisfaction. And they use social tools to help them with that.

Social CRM.

Social CRM is about building that personal relationship with customers again. The bank manager I spoke with understands now that his company should work on getting this personal relationship going again.

Traditional CRM ‘manages’ the relationship, or actually manages the information about the relationship. The difference with Social CRM is that it adds the conversation to the information. One of the things Social CRM does is adding unstructured but valuable information from commication to already existing CRM information systems.

But primarily it starts the conversation again. Through Social CRM you interact with your customer in a personal, direct relationship. You can even engage groups of customers in meaningful collobarative engagement.

But don’t take it from me alone. Michael Krigsman, who amongst other things writes for ZDnet had an interview with two CRM or Social CRM experts : industry analysts Michael Fauscette and Natalie Petouhoff.

Here’s is the video:

And here’s the link to Michael Krigsman’s article on ZDnet :  Social CRM and enterprise business

I saw a documentary recently about how the web not only changes society but in fact changes our brain. The documentary presented a research experiment that shows that 12-16 year old youngsters process information in a very different way than older generations (50+). It revealed for example that older generations needed a lot more time to review information found on the web in order to answer a number of questions than the younger ‘web’-generation needed. This web-generation grew up with the internet, with social networks and wikipedia.

They gather information and knowledge in a different way. They find information associatively unlike the older generation which is used to linear thought and information gathering. It’s the librarian’s doing, I suppose. Information used to be very linearly structured in neat classes or categories, named taxonomies. But the web doesn’t work like that. The web works by association. Hyperlinks ‘associate’ pieces of information in a much more natural way to our brain.

Now there’s a lot of discussion about whether the web and its use really changes our brain. (see for example this article in Newsweek by Sharon Begley). But what it does prove is that the abundance of available information forces us to treat information differently as say, 10 years ago. Filtering becomes more and more important. Distinguishing important information from less important information is becoming ever more crucial in taking decisions. And on the upside of all this, we become smarter.

The abundance of information and access to knowledge might be perceived as troublesome for some, but for those of us who can manage to filter the stream, it becomes a source of ever-increasing  knowledge. In fact, some see the internet as a world-wide, endlessly growing brain.

If we assume that the changing way of gathering information exists indeed and will only become more and more obiquitous, we can also assume that it will influence how we work. And it does.

Consider how many companies block access to social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc. Why do that if not because it changes people’s behaviour at work? I can understand CEO’s fear of this vast, unknown, potentially time-consuming new social shift. How do you deal with people who are gathering information and knowledge in a way you’ve never seen before ? How do you deal with employees who become authorities in their own personal networks?  It must be scary. But ignoring the inevitable is not a good strategy. (Can you block out mobile phones?) Instead of ignoring it companies should find a way to use the power of social networks and other web 2.0 tools and concepts.

So, if people’s brains are not changed by their extensive use of the web at least their behaviour is affected. And company leaders should learn how to harness this change, this ability to process information fast, to filter important from unimportant quickly.

Business environments change all the time, technology changes business all the time. And although it is the technology that sparked the changes, these changes are now primarily about people and culture. Web 2.0  and therefore also Enterprise 2.0 are altering the relationship between employee and employer. With the coming of social tools like blogs, social networks, microblogging, every employee has a voice that can be heard throughout the entire organisation. They can become leaders in their own professional networks, they can be the source of innovation and knowledge sharing initiatives.

It is this change in behaviour (and perhaps the change in how we gain knowledge) and the increasing influence and authority of employees throughout the whole company, that calls for a different kind of leadership approach.

In the nineties, as I recall, there was a lot of lipservice being paid to the idea that ‘people are the most important asset of companies’. Well, it becomes unmistakingly clear that they were and they are. And now they can also show it!  It is now up to the executives to lead their people in this online business environment, taking into account the new relationship between them.

Our first mailing went out to a couple of hundred people we know, today. And of course we use an online application to create it and send it. (Here’s our mailing by the way, you can see it online.)

Why would I buy a emailing application if there’s so many good ones online for SMB’s. Now, I agree that when you send hundred thousands of emails each month, you might want to do a cost calculation first before you decide on using Cloud applications. But for more moderate needs these Web 2.0 tools suffice pretty well.

Mailchimp is one such application. It has a free version for a limited amount of mails and subscribers to start you off with. And when you touch the limits, you just buy credits as you need or go for a subscription.

The statistics are quite extensive. Tracking of bounces, clicks, opened messages etc are all included. Gives a great view on what the success of your mailing is.

Also, you can link it up to other ‘cloud’ applications likes Salesforce.com or Google Analytics & Docs , Zoho CRM, and more. Integrating with online CRM tools and online collaboration tools like Google docs makes Mailchimp a very useful tool for marketing departments with dispersed teams.

Cloud applications have another big benefit: they are accessible everywhere. With more and more people work from home or are on the road, connected, applications that allow collaboration from anywhere become ever more important. It makes you wonder why buy software anymore, if you can hire what you need at an affordable price?
Most of the time, you can’t run it yourself for that.