A Technical Manager's Perspective

Social Media Adoption by Business - Enterprise 2.0

In a recent post, Chris Brogan does a nice job outlining Social Media and Social Media Tools and identifies strategies for Business on how to introduce and adopt within Business organizations.

There's lots of talk about social media. Tons. The echo is nearly deafening at this point. Freedom. Openness. We have powerful tools to communicate. We are the media. It's all about the conversation. We talk about this all the time. But at the same time more people are just starting to get into this, and so it's all new and exciting and fresh all over again, businesses are starting to ask, "Hey, is there something here, or is this just another billable item like when we used to pay for someone to build us brochureware?" Businesses are asking how this stuff all threads into their world, their terms. They're asking how we're going to change their bottom line, deliver something to their top line, make this all worth it.

Do you have an answer for them? Here are some thoughts that lead down the path of helping businesses understand the value proposition:

Follow this link to read Chris's post on "Social Media- Talk is Cheap for Businesses"

Technorati : Business, Enterprise 2.0, Social Media
Del.icio.us : Business, Enterprise 2.0, Social Media

Dan Farber moves to CNET

I know that this story has been out since mid February, however after seeing this Kara Swisher interview of Dan Farber, I knew that I had to comment. Dan Farber is moving from ZDNet to become the Editor and Chief of CNET's news.com. I think that this is great for Dan and will miss him on the Between the Lines Podcast. I have a lot of respect for Dan and the work that he has done at ZDNet. He has helped to bring legitimacy to both Blogging and Podcasting, and hopefully he can help CNET.

Here is Kara's interview:

Technorati : CNET ZDNET

Podcamp Boston 2

I will be at the Podcamp Boston2 which is an UnConference this weekend. I am facilitating a talk on Web2.0, Enterprise 2.0 and Beyond which will host discussions about Web 2.0, Enterprise 2.0, Web 3.0 and the Semantic Web.

We will be in Room 204B and here is a link to my SlideShow called Web20Web30.

Podcamp is not restricted to folks that Produce Podcasts, it is an event for anyone looking to learn more about the New Media Space which includes Blogging, Podcasting, Videocasting and Social Networking.

Join us for this free conference at the Bayside Convention and Expo Center this weekend for a great event.

Technorati : Podcamp Boston

Great Enterprise 2.0 post

I have seen the shift in Technology and believe in the move toward an open, collaborative adoption of applications in the Enterprise. I have followed this topic in the blogosphere and shared my thoughts on many occasions.

There has been a lot written and communicated about Enterprise 2.0, however, I came across as an exceptional post on the subject that I wanted to share with you. The post called What is Enterprise 2.0 was written by Fred Cavazza, a French Technologist with a passion for change in the enterprise. This is a good starting point for folks looking to explore Enterprise 2.0, a great reference point for the Enterprise 2.0 work that has already started, as well as a great reference point for Enterprise 2.0 applications and strategies that we can start adopting now.

I have included some of Fred's thoughts and examples below, but I would urge you to read the complete post and visit the many reference links embedded within the post. I really enjoyed browsing thru the many Web 2.0 - Enterprise 2.0 tools and applications that will become the foundation for computing in the future.

Fred Cavazza - What is Enterprise 2.0:

"Enterprise 2.0 is above all about sharing and collaboration"

"real benefits of Enterprise 2.0 will only come from a renewed IT architecture"

Enterprise 2.0 is above all about sharing and collaboration. Launching a blog, a wiki or an online workspace without anticipating collaborators' adhesion is a pure waste of time and money. The biggest mistake is to under-estimate habits' weight and change reticences. Information (the one and only) is a very rare commodity and collaborators are fighting hard for it. They stock it in files which are jealously protected by password and non-shared directory.

Working in wiki-mode, sharing know-how and experience on a blog are counterintuitive ways of working, the opposite of what we hardly learn in the enterprise "jungle": being seen by your managers as indispensable to the functioning of the enterprise. This was to date the most reliable way to advance in hierarchy and to collect end-year bonus.

But the (business) world as changed: Chinese competitors can now produce goods for 1/10th of your price and Indian competitors can provide services for 1/5th of your price. Moreover, this is only the beginning since those two countries are facing similar low-cost labor work competition (Philippine for China and Sri-Lanka for India). Conclusion: To maintain competitiveness, we must change our working habits, methods and tools. The main objective is to enhance business-critical information flow.

The biggest challenge for a collaborator is not to find the right information (because it is there, somewhere…) but to find it on a minimum of time

Let me insist for the last time on two essential rules:

• All those tools are completely ineffective if collaborators do not embrace them. Global management has to show the example by validating and encouraging necessary changes in work habits and methods. Experimentations can be made to evaluate collaborators needs, but you will be forced one day or another to convince you top management.
• Efficiency is enhanced if those tools work together. Try to imagine the power of such a portal as the one described in my chart: collaborators connect every morning on their personal start page to monitor activity or project advancement ; they have powerful social tools to quickly find information or key-competence ; with some few clicks they can access or deploy adapted online applications or build some.

But remember that tools are only supporting collaboration, only users can make it happens.

Technorati : Enterprise 2.0
Del.icio.us : Enterprise 2.0
Buzznet : Enterprise 2.0

What is a Wiki

What is a Wiki ?

Most of us know about wiki's from wikipedia however, how many folks have actually contributed to wikipedia or one of the many other public wiki's ?

For those of you that have not contributed, here is a little video from Lee at Common Craft that outlines how to use and contribute to a wiki.

Click To Play

Great Job Lee ......

Technorati : web 2.0, wiki

Enterprise 2.0 - The Evolution of the Web

After listening to both EnterpriseRave 2.0 sessions, my first reaction is that there is a lot of hype surrounding Enterprise 2.0 and not a lot of research and success stories. I think the hype is good for us, as it leads to more discussion and better definition and may stir the interests of the fridge Business and IT managers that do not follow industry trends.

Andrew McAfee asked the question: "What is the short term future for Social Software applications in the Enterprise ?" and provided some guidance to the answer by asking if it will have "Broad and Deep Penetration in the market; is it a fad or a Flash in the pan; or is it somewhere in between?"

Many responded with the "somewhere in between" answer and that is exactly where I see it.

Broad penetration would have to start at the top of an organization and work it's way down thru many levels or management and control before reaching the end-users. Also, in large organizations access to outside blogs and wikis are blocked at the proxy or firewall and end-users do not have the required privileges to install wiki or blogging software. which prevents a grassroots effort.

Is it a Fad or a Flash in the Pan ? Not at all. I think the fact that so many in the industry are talking about this shows the interest. I see as many other see this as the evolution of the web and not something that is going away.

I do not think there will be broad penetration however, I do think we will start to see adoption of certain applications that align well and meet certain business needs. No business manager is going to jump on the Enterprise 2.0 band-wagon because there is a lot of hype and discussion, however they will if we can show them how these technologies can help resolve their business problems.

We need to be advocates for these technologies and identify where it will fit into our business, however I would caution you to stay away from buzzwords like Web 2.0, and Enterprise 2.0 when dealing with senior business folks and instead concentrate on the features that these tools bring like collaboration and documentation.

Technorati : Enterprise 2.0, Web 2.0

RSS for beginners

Many folks still visit web sites and blogs and out of habit they surf to the URL and read what is new. I found RSS about 2 years ago and realized it's power and flexibility. I first learned of RSS thru iTunes and podcasts, however I eventually tried a number of different readers before settling in on FeedDemon 2.1 as my RSS reader of choice. I love it and have it configured to open the blog/website in Internet Explorer when I double click on the link in FeedDemon. It's easy, it saves me time, and every night I can check on new content from 109 blogs and sites without surfing to each site. When I see a post or article that I wish to explore, I double click on the link and I am on the site.

Here is a nice little video that walks thru the basics of RSS and Subscribing to feeds. I know there are a lot of you that read my posts who are not using RSS. Please take a look at the video and consider using RSS. It's easy and it will simplify your surfing and reading habits.

Thanks to Lee and Sachi from Common Craft for the video .....

Click To Play

There are two types of Internet users, those that use RSS and those that don't. This video is for the people who could save time using RSS, but don't know where to start.

Technorati : rss

Minor Changes

I thought I would change the look and feel of the blog so I went with a little more Blue.

Look for more changes in the future.

Keep Smiling

Technorati : Blog

More on Web 2.0

This past week a non-technical friend that has visited my site asked me to better describe web 2.0. I started telling her that it is the evolution of the web from real static pages to a richer more dynamic web filled with dynamically changing content, and includes social networking thru more user involvement and user commentary. I was trying to keep my descriptions simple and I told her that I had seen a couple of Videos You-Tube and I would post them here in an attempt to help with the explanation of Web 2.0.

Jeff Utecht from The Thinking Stick (Shanghai, China) produced this great little video about Web 2.0, check it out ......

Let me know what you think ......

Technorati : Web 2.0

Oracle's Linux Strategy illustrates Oracles Power in Marketplace

At Oracle World last month, Chief Executive Larry Ellison told thousands of attendees at the Oracle OpenWorld conference last week, "If you are a Red Hat support customer, you can very easily switch from Red Hat support to Oracle support." as reported by CNET. This story has generated a lot of controversy in the Linux camps of the world, and is one of the top story's on digg and Linux Watch.

This direction illustrates the power that Oracle has in the Marketplace. Oracle is doing this to ensure another stable platform for its products, however it comes at the cost of RedHat. How would you feel if you were a developer at RedHat or a contributer to the RedHat distribution. I think one strategy that Oracle could take would be to add resources to both the RedHat and Oracle-Customized RedHat distributions. Oracle could and probably will reduce their Licensing structure for Linux based products in an effort to drive adoption to Linux.

Someone who is in favor of this new Oracle strategy is Dana Gardner at ZDNET who wrote ...

"If Oracle can subsidize the offering of subscription services to an acceptable and open (not too forked) Linux distribution (and these need to happen) through its commercial products' revenues, it will. It was okay for open source service providers to undercut Unix and Windows via their low-cost development and distribution means, right? What's good for the goose …" Follow this link for the complete article

Will current customers really move to Linux ?

For larger Enterprises with Oracle databases, this path needs to be cost effective and supportable. Oracle is trying to bring some credibility to the support side of its products on RedHat, and this may be an good strategy, if they really can provide the support. From a cost perspective, it is almost an even comparison of Hardware and OS choices. You still need to purchase RedHat and a support contract for your products. Hardware cost of Database Platform Intel based servers and Sun Servers are very similar.

So, in my opinion, there is not a compelling reason for Large Enterprise Organizations to move your production database structures to Linux, however this could be a nice strategy for Small and Medium sized businesses.

Technorati : Infrastructure, System Administration