Collaborative Thinking

Enterprise 2.0 Five Years Later: From Tools To Platforms To Ecosystems

In 2006, Andrew McAfee’s article on Enterprise 2.0, along with subsequent works, helped organizations think about how people use social software to more effectively share information and connect with one another. With an initial focus on tools (e.g., blogs, wikis), organizations undertaking “E2.0” initiatives began a long journey to improve the way employees build communities and collaborate on business activities. In parallel, early success stories highlighted the need for organizations to address cultural dynamics that often hinder these transformative efforts. While business objectives driving E2.0 projects were often “soft” (lacking measurable ROI), the intent generally could be aligned to overall needs to improve productivity, growth, and innovation. Today, the challenges of culture and metrics remain persistent issues for the industry, but there have also been two significant technology-oriented transitions that are worth noting as we look ahead to the upcoming Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston this June:

• A shift from tools to platforms
• An expansion from platforms to ecosystems

To read the full post, click here (to the Cisco Collaboration blog)...

 

Adding Social Context To Enterprise Architecture

Note: Fixed broken link 4/6/2011

Social networking is redefining the workforce and creating a new frontier for enterprise architects. Increased mobility, generational shifts, new tools, and the changing digital lifestyle of workers bring an opportunity to embrace borderless relationships and foster collaboration in an open environment.

I recently recorded a three-part video series that summarizes some of my thinking in this area. To view the series, visit Social Networking in the Enterprise. 

Design for a New Social Dynamic

In Part 1 of this three-part series, get an overview of how "social" will expand your role and value over the next few years. (Video - 13.28 min)

Focus on People

Learn some core principles of an "architecture of participation" that represents a people-centric approach to enterprise architecture. (Video - 17:23 min)

Promote Participation

Get ideas about where to start and how Cisco began to develop an integrated workforce experience. (Video - 9:48 min)

 

 

 

Getting Ready For Enterprise Connect

I will be heading to Enterprise Connect - looking forward to someplace warm without 80+ inches of snow! - the post below sets the stage for what I'll be doing (Cisco Quad):

One of the new themes at this year’s Enterprise Connect conference is “The Social Enterprise”.  The topic should be viewed as a welcome addition to the event. Until now, the Enterprise 2.0 conference has been the primary community gathering for those interested in collaboration, communities, and social networking. While I have been a long-time advocate of the Enterprise 2.0 event, I am also enthusiastic about the topic covered at Enterprise Connect. An in-depth conversation regarding the synergies between Enterprise 2.0 with unified communications, video, and mobility is long overdue.

The (Social) Road Ahead For Unified Communications, Video & Mobility

Convergence is constant in the market, the inclusion of real-time communications in the growing "all-things-social" discussion should not be a surprise...

Social Media and the Enterprise: An Architectural Approach, an IASA E-Summit Sponsored by Cisco

Social Media and the Enterprise: An Architectural Approach, an IASA E-Summit Sponsored by Cisco

October 5, 2010 | 7:00 a.m. - 12:45 p.m. Pacific Time

Click  here to register

Get your entire architecture team up to speed with the latest trends and  issues around social media by attending this International Association  of Software Architect (IASA) e-summit. Hear from practiced experts  throughout the industry on collaboration architecture topics and  concepts. IASA provides full-day online conferences free for you and  your staff. Register today and participate from the convenience of your desktop!

Description:

 

For those of you whose travel and education budgets have been reduced or are simply too busy to make it out of the office, the IASA provides full-day online conferences free for you and your staff. As a part of this e-summit series, sponsored by Cisco, you will hear from practiced experts throughout the industry about architecture collaboration topics and concepts such as:

• How to create a vision and comprehensive strategy for capturing business value through greater collaboration
• The factors for adopting social media in the enterprise and the challenges and opportunities in getting users to use the technology
• How your peers are actively working to harness the power of social media to deliver positive business effects
• How social software can become a layer in your enterprise architecture to transform core business processes
• How using the network and OpenSocial can tap collective expertise and unify information to promote spontaneous collaboration across organizational boundaries inside and across companies
• How real-time collaborative systems help harness the value of social connectivity in a real-time connected enterprise
• The considerations and trade-offs for architects building collaboration frameworks and solutions

Source: Cisco Community Central

A Quick Peak At Cisco Quad: Collaboration + Social + Unified Communications

Below is a video demonstration of some of Quad's main features.

Cisco is also integrating its Show and Share video technology into Quad, so users can quickly and easily post video. And there are APIs for integrating functionality via widgets. Cisco talked about integrating Salesforce, or project management. All of this will extend to the iPhone and the iPad, and, naturally, Cisco's Cius when it ships (this is the Cisco tablet).

via www.informationweek.com

If you're curious about Cisco Quad (re: what is it, how does it work, what can it integrate with, and what the user experience is like), watch the above video and read the entire story at Information Week. Anther good overview article can be found on TMCnet blogs: "Cisco Quad Points To Communications Future"

Looking Back - Moving Forward

Friday, August 6th was my last day at Gartner … and my last day as an industry analyst. 

On Monday, August 9th, I start with Cisco as a senior technical solution marketing manager for social software.

Looking Back

Since 1996 when I joined Meta Group, I have had the opportunity to be in a role that provides a unique type of trusted advice and community advocacy for clients. I have thoroughly enjoyed my years in this profession. Being an industry analyst was a passionate hobby for which I was compensated ? I never really saw it as a “job”. Over the years (Meta Group, Burton Group, and Gartner) I have covered different research “beats”. Some of the most recognizable are:

• Collaboration
• Social software
• Enterprise 2.0
• Social media
• Social networking
• Unified communications
• Knowledge management
• “Collaborative CRM” (customer-facing interaction, e-Service, etc)
• Organizational dynamics (culture, productivity, learning, teaming, community-building, governance)

My long tenure in this role has provided me with a deep understanding of the collaboration market and its many adjacencies (e.g., enterprise content management, portals, search, identity, security, CRM, BPM). The numerous client interactions over the years have taught me that the most important issues influencing collaboration strategies have less to do with technology and everything to do with people, groups, and networks: how relationships evolve ? how decisions are made ? how people need to be engaged so that their participation and contributions enable personal and organizational success. At times, I wish I had majored in sociology or anthropology.

Not that technology is unimportant. It’s just often trumped by the issues above. When the conversation does turn to IT ? I’ve been a long-time advocate that design and user experience are critical success factors. I have also championed the need for strategists to define a technical reference architecture from which to base IT decisions. An architecture based on modularity, loose-coupling, pace layering, open source (when appropriate), and standards is incredibly valuable in my opinion. Standards are not a panacea, but the longer you try to stay “open” in your IT initiatives, the less chance you have to introduce a technology bias. Finally, I have come to appreciate that no single deployment model is always correct and that organizations need to have flexible delivery models (e.g, SaaS/Cloud, on-premises, and hybrids). 

Moving Forward

Careers sometimes reach a point where an opportunity emerges that causes you to sit back and think. You can stay in your comfort-zone and continue along ? or ? you can make a change that will take you on a new path ? a new trajectory. That’s basically what happened to me as I began to consider my long-term options earlier this year. I did not reach this decision quickly. I did my homework so to speak.

I have studied the collaboration market for 14 years. I have seen many different vendors come and go. I’ve seen vendors go back-and-forth with failed forays into the space. I’ve seen vendors gain a foothold based on domain expertise, a unique product capability, or first-mover advantage. However, after 14 years, this market remains led by IBM and Microsoft. Externally, it’s another matter ? arguably there is no dominant enterprise software player that has stood the test of time yet re: delivery models (e.g., SaaS/Cloud) and solutions (e.g., social media).

Cisco I believe has a compelling story and legitimate chance to re-shape the collaboration market (internally as well as externally). I’ll cover more of this viewpoint in another post. What I would like to say is that Cisco exceeded the expectations I had to what amounts to a career change:

• The company is serious and committed to attaining a leadership position in the collaboration market and understands that market transitions take time
• Cisco has a breadth and depth of offerings that create interesting synergies and market possibilities (e.g.,Cisco Eos)
• Cisco is listening to customers and the market ? proceeding at a pragmatic pace to ensure solutions meet those expectations
• The collaboration and social software investments in particular (e.g., Quad), will deliver a flexible business solution rather than a list of technology features
• Quad’s architecture and reliance on open standards makes it formidable competitor in the market

While it may seem that I’ve already lost my objectivity ? it merely reflects the goal I set for myself ? to work for a company that I can be passionate about ? and for an organization that makes great things happen for its customers, continually innovates (e.g., Cisco iPrize), and has a vibrant community outreach effort (e.g., social responsibility).

Overall, I intend to remain very open, honest, and objective in how I view the IT world and in my Collaborative Thinking blog posts. While no longer an industry analyst, I want to maintain the level of transparency that has become my style and reputation over the years.

Thanks for taking the time to read this rather lengthy post. I share more as I get my footing. You can expect a return to a very active blogging effort on my part moving forward.

The Two Cisco's...

For some time I've pointed out the need for the Cisco groups responsible for enterprise collaboration (including unified communications, mobile, WebEx, etc.) to be better aligned with the more consumer-centric, social media-focused EOS group(s). Case in point - below - study released from one side of the house that seems to be disconnected from the broader collaboration message. Eos was not mentioned at the Cisco Collaboration Summit and suddenly it is at the center of a social media social networking storyline that has consumer and enterprise implications.

Should be easy to fix ... repeat: "should be" ... I've pointed this out for some time now.

That said, this theme aligns perfectly with a recent report (see below) Alice Wang and I authored on social media and social networking that addressed similar issues (e.g., need for governance, decision framework, closer involvement from IT organizations due to issues such as identity and security).

Global Study Reveals Proliferation of Consumer-Based Social Networking Throughout the Enterprise and a Growing Need for Governance and IT Involvement

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) today released the results of a third-party global study designed to assess how organizations use consumer social networking tools to collaborate externally, revealing the need for stronger governance and IT involvement. The research is the first of a two-part series that Cisco has commissioned to explore the impact of social networking and collaboration applications in the enterprise.

The new study is based on extensive interviews with 105 participants representing 97 organizations in 20 countries around the globe. Conducted between April and September 2009, the research was carried out by leading business schools in the United States and Europe: IESE Business School in Spain, E. Philip Saunders College of Business at the Rochester Institute of Technology in the U.S., and Henley Business School in the United Kingdom.

The use of consumer-based social networking tools, such as Facebook and Twitter, as collaboration platforms is connecting organizations with the external world in myriad ways. These tools bring technology and business together through innovative experiences, connect people and information, establish potential new routes to market, and enhance customer intimacy and brand awareness. The study findings indicate that the business world is at the early stages of adopting these tools and in the process of identifying key challenges, such as the need for increased governance and IT involvement, which may impact the integration and adoption of these new platforms and technologies.

Global Study Reveals Proliferation of Consumer-Based Social Networking Throughout the Enterprise and a Growing Need for Governance and IT Involvement

Cisco Eos - Social Networking

Branded Online Social Entertainment Experiences
Cisco Eos allows media companies to combine social audience features with their high-value, branded content to deliver a higher-value, interactive entertainment experience today's consumers expect. Eos delivers a social entertainment experience where consumers can interact with others around their favorite entertainment content in an environment defined, branded, and monetized by the media owner. Eos enables:

• Greater online brand visibility and website traffic
• Deeper audience engagement
• New revenue opportunities

Eos Social Networking Features
Over 40 pre-built modules are available to include in each website experience, allowing deeper, more personal consumer connections. Modules include:

• User profiles
• Forums and message boards
• Blogs
• Content sharing (including YouTube uploads)
• Commenting and rating
• Activity feeds and alerts
• Branded video players

Cisco Eos - Social Networking

Burton Group Clients Only:

Many believe that the main purpose of social media is to improve brand awareness and corporate communications. The result is that marketing groups typically own social media initiatives. Although this approach may suffice initially, as strategies become more comprehensive, the complexity of dealing with different solution providers, and a diverse collection of application scenarios, introduces technology-related issues that marketing teams may inadvertently overlook. IT organizations should have a more prominent role in social media programs to help business management address tactical and long-term implications of governance, social computing, identity, security, and risk management.

Social Media’s Cautionary Tale: A Management Overview

VMware-Zimbra acquisition rumor perplexes users

Interesting rumor - but I agree with Chris Wolf and would add one possible scenario: Cisco, EMC, and VMware formed the Virtual Computing Environment (VCE) to help organizations with their private cloud implementation (per this Cisco release: Accelerate the Journey to Private Cloud Computing). I would expect that VMware would tailor Zimbra to work with Cisco's emerging collaboration platform and efforts to leverage WebEx and SaaS-based e-mail.

This line-of-thought is just one possible scenario that might rationalize the deal if VCE actually does bring Cisco, EMC and VMware closer together. Such coalition cooperation might result in other independent actions taken my coalition vendors to acquire and partner in seemingly random ways that synergize VCE overall.

For instance, it is highly likely that Cisco will need robust content management services down the road. If Cisco wants to avoid getting into the ECM space directly, I would expect Cisco to leverage its VCE partner EMC in that regard (via Documentum). If VCE is indeed strategic for these three vendors - then I imagine that the analyst community might want to correlate patterns with VCE in mind - if VCE becomes/remains a credible force re: private cloud implementations rather than a marketing conduit for participating vendors. 

But some observers said the move makes a lot of sense, noting some natural synergies between VMware and Zimbra. Richard McAniff, VMware's newly installed chief development officer and executive vice president, was a longtime Microsoft executive responsible for Microsoft Office. And VMware CEO Paul Maritz, also a Microsoft veteran, showed his propensity for moving up the software stack with the acquisition of SpringSource last summer.

Beyond these synergies, acquiring Zimbra -- or a company like it -- is a crucial move for VMware's continued survival, argued Chris Wolf, an analyst at Burton Group. On the Twitter site, he wrote that VMware's business can't always be about running Microsoft applications in virtual machines, and that if VMware can break organizations' dependency on Exchange, they may loosen their dependency on Microsoft.

If the VMware-Zimbra acquisition goes through, VMware has plenty of legroom to take on the burden of hosting a large-scale email service, thanks to its enormous data center in Wenatchee, Wash. that was completed this fall.

VMware-Zimbra acquisition rumor perplexes users

Cisco Collaboration Summit: The Right Foundation For Collaboration

Joe Burton, CTO, Session Notes:

• Why is an architectural approach towards collaboration important? That's a question Cisco wants to answer - point tools are not enough.
  • Example1: collaboration-enabled CRM process. Note: Reminiscent of "Collaborative CRM" concept defined by Meta Group years ago which has morphed into "Social CRM".
  • Example2: virtualizing key business functions - scaling expertise, customer intimacy via video (Telepresence) just-in-time customer representative or expert. 
  • Example3: Streamlining complex human processes - follow-me, single number reach... reduce cycle time, coordination, process latency
• Reference Architecture for collaboration (logical diagram illustation)
  • Devices (desktop, mobile, in-room)
  • Collaborative Applications (conferencing, enterprise social software, customer care, messaging, telepresence
  • Client Services (client frameworks)
  • Collaboration Services (presence/location, tagging, semantic processing, real-time messaging, content services, social graph, etc)
  • Medianet Services (transcoding, auto-discovery, auto-configuration, etc)
  • Network Services (transport, signaling, QoS)
• Simple use case scenarios discussed that exercise architectural components (e.g., reduce travel expenses)
• Real-time voice and video
  • Service Advertisement Framework: discovery protocol - device can go to network and broadcast/request capabilities ...
  • SIP Session Management
  • Survivable Remote Site Telephony/Voicemail
  • Medianet Auto-Configuration
• Context: Presence
  • XMPP as presence hub with interfaces and connectors to other presence providers
• Context: Network-based Tagging
  • Pulse Collect: deep packet analysis (web, blogs, wikis, documents, recorded audio/video - future: SaaS Apps, Conference Calls)
  • Pulse Connect: Open Social Web Services API (profile data, presence server, policy engine)
• Intercompany Media Engine
• Intercompany Cisco TelePresence
• Client Services Framework: multi-platform multi-media softphone without a user interface ... can plug-in behind Microsoft Office Communicator, Sametime, etc
• ECP platform diagram: MVC framework,  BOSH, SIP/SIMPLE, IMAP. SOAP, REST, JCR, CMIS, open social, CMIS, RDF/SPARQL, portlet standards,
• Missing on slide: ATOM, RSS but believe it's in there - wonder about Open Search, FOAF and XFN

Understanding Cisco's Collaboration Strategy (Part 4)

The following is Part 4 of a series on today's announcement by Cisco.

Is Cisco’s Vision Holistic Enough?

While Cisco does a very good job of navigating market transitions and managing its efforts to move into market adjacencies, that does not mean that it has “perfect knowledge”. The collaboration market is not well defined. Some strategists include content management, search, portal, and Enterprise 2.0 tools (blogs, wikis) within a collaboration domain. Cisco may think it knows the borders of a market in which the borders are in reality, porous and ill defined. Additionally, the two dominant vendors in the space (IBM, Microsoft) have successfully fought off challengers for decades.

There are more reasons for Cisco to fail than to succeed in the collaboration market unless Cisco understands the secondary and tertiary nuances of the market. The obvious tooling segments of collaboration (e-mail, calendaring, discussion forums, and workspaces) are well known. However, there are strongly related segments such as unified communications (a segment Cisco knows well), content management, search, portal and Enterprise 2.0 (blogs, wikis, tags, bookmarks, communities, and social networking). It is unlikely a vendor can become a dominant platform leader without solutions that cover each of these segments to some degree.

As Cisco moves more broadly into social computing (e.g., social networking), a more clear strategy as to where Cisco is going with identity needs to come through more strongly. The intersect between identity and social networking is critical to understand (e.g., relationships, social identity, social roles). As Cisco progresses into social networking, a strong analytics story will be required (e.g., social network analysis - albeit Pulse does SNA at its own level).

Another arena Cisco needs to understand concerns collaborative applications. Developers have been an integral part of IBM’s and Microsoft’s success in the collaboration market. Collaborative applications provide tremendous business value. Cisco need to define what program it will put in place to attract developers and build a community around that program. Cisco also need to consider what developer environments it intends to support.

A thriving partner and third-party ecosystem is another critical success factor for Cisco as it attempts to become a collaboration market leader. Cisco needs to identify (and promote) business models and related services to expand Cisco’s platform and solutions into a sustainable ecosystem.

Finally, and this is a challenge for all vendors in this space ? Cisco needs to not only offer a mix of SaaS/Cloud and on-premises solutions but also need aligned strategies that unify enterprise and consumer solutions (social media).

Cisco Collaboration: Bottom Line

What should Cisco do?

• Cisco needs to be clear that it is taking on IBM and Microsoft directly ? there is no way to avoid this competitive positioning.
• Cisco needs to articulate its broader direction concerning content management, search, and portal. It is competing in those markets (whether it wants to or not). Cisco believes that it is not - that it is only leveraging these capabilities to bolster it's own collaboration effort. However - the final vote rests with customers who will likely want to pull Cisco in directions that it had not intended to invest in (content management) or compete (portals).
• Cisco will be taking on E2.0 vendors (namely Jive) and must articulate a strategy concerning communities and social networking.
• Alignment of Cisco’s social media efforts need to occur with its enterprise collaboration efforts.

Bottom Line

• Cisco demonstrates that it has learned a lot about the collaboration market and its related domains
• Cisco has identified three areas that it intends to influence and/or control: virtual computing, voice and video networks, and inter-business collaboration
• In those areas Cisco will progress and mature over the next 3 years (expect incremental consistency) ? people should not expect overnight success ? this remains a journey for Cisco
• In terms of specific perspectives on certain key announcements:
  • Credible hosted e-mail play
  • Very strong endorsement of XMPP with the revamping of WebEx Connect
  • Missed opportunity (from a media perspective) to point out synergies with Google Wave (given XMPP strengths)
  • Strong argument that Cisco is best positioned (vs. Microsoft and IBM) to become the central enterprise presence hub (detached from IM, telephony etc) given its support for native XMPP, SIP/SIMPLE and programmatic interfaces.
  • “Corporate YouTube” (Show and Share) enables Cisco to lay an early claim to that aspect of social computing and Enterprise 2.0 trends
  • Pulse is an innovative approach but critical issues remain open
  • Enterprise Collaboration Platform solidifies how Cisco looks at the collaboration market but opens a “Pandora’s Box” of questions. Cisco will try to position its platform more narrowly than will the market and customers. Cisco needs to pay very close attention to how  inter-dependencies across content management, search, portal and application development can adversely affect the collaboration areas it seeks to influence and/or control.
• The final vote rests with customers - the more success Cisco attains - the greater the demand from customers to broaden and deepen ECP's capabilities as a Tier 1 collaboration platform.