Enterprise 2.0 - A Conference, Conversations and a lot of Common Sense

This week the Enterprise 2.0 Conference made it's debut in San Francisco (it has been an annual event in Boston). I was only able to attend one of the days but got my fill of colleagues who work in the space that i have not seen for a while, vendors (expo hall had many new and 'old-timers') and got to attend some interesting sessions.

One of the things i love about Twitter is the value that it brings at conferences- both when you are physically there as well as when you are 'listening' in remotely. Commonly called the 'Back-Channel' attendees tweet their thoughts, location, what speakers are saying etc. The Enterprise 2.0 site has a handy 'Back Channel' page or a quick Twitter search on the #e2conf hashtag will let you read through some of the conversations occurring in the back-channel as well the 'reporting' that was done during sessions and post event. The days i was not there, i was tracking the conversation that way. Today i also spent some time reviewing various 'wrap-up' posts including:

• Oliver Marks - The Enterprise 2.0 Value Propositions Agenda -
• Andrew McAfee's Top Enterprise 2.0 No-No's - CMS Wire
• Tony Bryne- Enterprise 2.0 Conference wrap up
• Nenshad Bardoliwalla - Is Enterprise 2.0 a Savior or a Charlatan? How Strategy-Driven Execution can pave the path to proving legitimate business value (great post need to digest a bit more myself)
  

My own thoughts align with some of the criticism and frustration that can be heard about E2.0 that it is early, how do you define, what are the business values, etc. Do you have to give it a special name- or it is just for marketing purposes. Spending some time with the vendors in the expo hall- the business proposition is primarily productivity benefits, increasing sales, capturing knowledge- nothing new in the Enterprise software space but the key is that the user (enterprise user in the role of the consumer) is driving. Adoption is still a huge issue and although the 'wikification' method of enterprise penetration (Mary puts a wiki server under her desk, at 10 dollars for 10 users that grows to enterprise) has proven to be successful for some of these smaller vendors and it is still early on but the big platform vendors are quickly catching up.

From the start, the labeling of Enterprise 2.0 has been debated and for instance the panel titled "Is Enterprise 2.0 A Crock?" that featured internal evangelists from EMC, Eli Lilly, CSC Booz Allen, MetLife and Alcatel-Lucent was supposed to prove that it isn't- although it was good to hear these big name companies on a stage advocating and proving some benefits- i didn't manage to hear anything new and specific. That is why i enjoyed sessions like the one that Susan Bouchard from Cisco did on Enterprise Mashups Deliver Business Value: Cisco's Story (disclaimer Cisco has been a client of mine for a while).

Susan recently co-authored a book titled Enterprise Web 2.0 Fundamentals and the years that i have know her as been an advocate of adopting new technologies for Cisco- primarily sales teams. Susan's presentation had specific use cases on leveraging mashups (a technology that is included in the E2.0 'stack'). She also mentioned some of the work that my team has been doing around executive dashboards to deliver contextual data that incorporates mashup principles (Cisco is currently not a client of that solution).

Susan also made note of a recent publication by Cisco titled the Economics of the Cisco Collaboration Story: Case Studies of Web 2.0 Collaboration Initiatives where over $650 million in savings is sited based on their use of Web2.0 collaboration capabilities (this number includes things like reducing travel and the use of some of their own product lines (e.g. Webex)). Susan posted her slide deck on Slideshare (E2.0 presentations are locked down for attendees only-boooo) so here it is :

Enterprise Mashups Deliver Business Value

View more presentations from SusanBouchard.

Always good to be surrounded by like minded individuals and although i am sure i missed meeting many many many more because i was only on site for a day- i certainly enjoyed it and all the while making the brain juices flow which sometimes is hard to do when you are in front of a computer and talking to Enterprise clients about existing solutions (cause that is what they are ready for)- when the mind wants to explore and build the next thing!


Image|Flickr| Alex Dunne

November Equals Pumpkin, Taxonomy Bootcamp and Enterprise Search Summit

I looked at the calendar yesterday and the realization that November is upon us hit me pretty hard. With November comes a lot of pumpkin (here is my new pumpkin addiction recipe for this year) and a few speaking spots before i go out on maternity leave (yeah yeah i can't believe it's already time either!).

Just like last year and the year before i will be attending and presenting at Enterprise Search Summit and Taxonomy Bootcamp which i am really looking forward to.

At Enterprise Search Summit West i have been asked to participate on a panel titled "Is Semantic Technology Real?" moderated by Rob Gonzalez from Endeca.

Is Semantic Technology Real?

10:45 am – 11:45 am Moderator: Rob Gonzalez, Platform Product Manager, Endeca Technologies Michael J. Cataldo, CEO, Cambridge Semantics Daniela Barbosa, Business Development Manager, Dow Jones Client Solutions, Dow Jones & Company Lorenzo Thione, Founder / Principal Program Manager, Powerset / Bing Microsoft, Inc. Semantic technology is all the rage, sometimes even dubbed “Web 3.0.” However, many people—especially those making technology decisions for enterprises—wonder whether semantic technology has meaningful applications in the enterprise. Based on hands-on experience working with semantic tools, this panel of experts will establish the boundaries between reality and hype and help you understand what enterprises can gain from semantic technology in the here and now.

At Taxonomy Bootcamp, i have been asked to be part of a panel that Wendi Pohs is running titled "From the Lighthouse: Visioneering Taxonomies’ Future which promises to be an engaging panel on the future of taxonomies. I have been in forward looking mode for the last few months so i have been thinking about this subject quite a bit.

From the Lighthouse: Visioneering Taxonomies’ Future

4:00 pm – 5:00 pm Moderator: Wendi Pohs, Chief Technology Officer, InfoClear Consulting Daniela Barbosa, Business Development Manager, Dow Jones Client Solutions, Dow Jones & Company Jenny Benevento, Information Architect/Taxonomist, Sears Holding Company Gia Lyons, Social Business Software Consultant, Strategic Consulting, Jive Software Steve Ardire, VP Strategy & Business Development, Early Stage Semantic Technology Startups Join Wendi Pohs and this panel of experts as they peer into the future of taxonomies. Each panelist concentrates on a specific area, including semantic management tools, consumer-driven taxonomies, social networking software, and emerging semantic technologies. We’ve asked these speakers to both enlighten and challenge you, so bring your thinking caps and questions.

It is not too late to register and you can use these codes for some discounts- Enterprise Search Registration with SPK5 code and Taxonomy Bootcamp registration with SPK5 code.

My sessions last year featured a Synaptica Case Study at Taxonomy Bootcamp titled "Proquest: Finding a Common Language: Bringing Complex and Disparate Vocabularies" (video available here) and at Enterprise Search Summit a presentation on Centralized Taxonomy Management for Enterprise Information Systems (video available here)

Looking forward to seeing everyone there including the Dow Jones Taxonomy Team (Dow Jones is a KMWorld sponsor- note: my speaking spots are not sponsored spots but by invitation of the moderators) and the Synaptica team who are exhibiting and sponsoring Taxonomy Bootcamp!


Image|Flickr| minipixel

Note this post is cross-posted on the SynapticaCentral Blog.

The ReadWrite Real-Time Web Summit Thursday October 15th

The list of attendees at The ReadWrite-Real-Time-Web Summit is certainly looking impressive and the event wiki already has a good list of topics that people want to discuss. The purpose of the event is to bring together some industry leaders to discuss the following:

• The state of the art, science and business of the Real-Time Web;
• Efforts to create standards and interoperability;
• Challenges in user experience, technology and monetization.

I am really looking forward to attending and participating on Thursday. In my attempt to get smarter quickly :-), i have no doubt this event will meet my expectations- the combination of the RWW team, the participants listed and Kaliya Hamlin who is known for coordinating un-conference events it is sure to be worthwhile.

It is not too late to register and there is a discount code"RWWDiscount" that is good until end of day today, Tuesday Oct 13th.

If you are not located in the Bay Area you can also check out selected sessions throughout the day via a live video broadcast on ReadWriteWeb.

Twitter Cleanse. Back Refreshed but Dumber

I kinda did it on purpose but definitely did it for longer then i originally anticipated- mainly because life got in the way- but i quit Twitter for a while (my last tweet was on August 23rd- WOW i can't believe it has been that long!!)

So every weekend for the last 3-4 weeks i have told myself, "Monday i get back on the bird"- but it has just not happened. I have also been less inclined to blog- all in the same cycle i guess. So what have i learned over the last two months with no Twitter participation? (every once in a while i would look at my stream to try to get myself back in the swing of things but with no avail):

• I feel dumber. no honestly i do. much much dumber.
  
• I went back to relying on Techmeme to keep up with what is happening in the industry- not 'real-time' because i don't visit the site 24/7 but definitely still a wonderful source to use (i also follow the stream on Twitter so i will go back to that)
• Although i probably have spent more time reading longer, in-depth articles etc. without applying what i am reading with the community and listening/conversing about them it has less impact- so i felt dumber per my first point!
  
• I crawled back to my Google Reader and noticed that many bloggers that i used to follow religiously aren't blogging as much- are they are on Twitter more? or like me on a cleanse with life in getting in the way? (yes there are many a blog post out there about the decline of formal blogging being replaced by Twitter)
• I had a customer the other day dropped me a note- they were worried about me because i had been so 'quiet' - they missed my input because they followed me and subscribed to my blog and i had not been producing much. That was a nice reminder that i needed to motivate myself!
  
• I have missed some major announcements- from people moving from one company to the next, new product enhancements, releases etc. eventually i find out but i was no longer one of the 'first' in the know
  
• I miss it- i do. the conversations i have been having with myself are not as entertaining and provocative :-)

So...I am back on the bird. tweet. tweet.

Patrick Lambe's Survey on the Future of Taxonomy Work

This post was originally posted on the SynapticaCentral Blog.

Patrick Lambe has been analyzing the knowledge, skills and experience needs of the taxonomy profession for a while and as part of this his work he is conducting a survey on the present and future of taxonomy work and the needs of taxonomy professionals. Patrick is the author of a great taxonomy development book titled "Organising Knowledge: Taxonomies, Knowledge and Organizational Effectiveness" and an active writer on the topic of taxonomists and taxonomy development on his Green Chameleon blog.

Patrick, like some members of our own Dow Jones taxonomy team will also be Taxonomy Bootcamp in San Jose this November. Acording to his orginal request for survey responses, participants in the survey will also get a report of the results (which will include additional research beyond the survey). Patrick writes: "For those of you who believe that taxonomies still have a future, this might make interesting reading, and for those of you who believe a la Theresa Regli that “taxonomies are dead”, we’d like to hear from you on why!"

You can take the survey at http://tinyurl.com/taxonomywork

Image|Flickr|Jima

How companies are benefiting from Web 2.0: McKinsey Global Survey Results

Enterprise Web 2.0 is in the air lately which has lead me to two back to back posts on the topic. Yesterday McKinsey's report on 'How Companies are Benefiting from Web2.0' hit my inbox and today a bunch of bloggers, like Oliver Marks over on his excellent ZDNet Collaboration 2.0 blog and Stephen E. Arnold on Beyond Search have already picked it up for summary, comment and discussion.

The third in production this McKinsey report is focused on deriving measurable business benefits companies are getting from their Web 2.0 investments. The results are based on around 1,700 executive survey respondents and focused on deployment of these technologies in three ares:

• Within their organizations
• Externally, in their relations with customers
• In their dealings with suppliers, partners, and outside experts

From the main summary:

"Their responses suggest why Web 2.0 remains of high interest: 69 percent of respondents report that their companies have gained measurable business benefits, including more innovative products and services, more effective marketing, better access to knowledge, lower cost of doing business, and higher revenues. Companies that made greater use of the technologies, the results show, report even greater benefits. We also looked closely at the factors driving these improvements—for example, the types of technologies companies are using, management practices that produce benefits, and any organizational and cultural characteristics that may contribute to the gains. We found that successful companies not only tightly integrate Web 2.0 technologies with the work flows of their employees but also create a “networked company,” linking themselves with customers and suppliers through the use of Web 2.0 tools. Despite the current recession, respondents overwhelmingly say that they will continue to invest in Web 2.0."

The results point to blogs, RSS, and social networks as important means of exchanging knowledge in the enterprise (i guess RSS is not Dead after all...at least not in the enterprise.) Below is a graph that outlines the technologies in play, with video taking the lead in use and things like tagging and Mash-Ups unfortunately trailing (could it be that the respondents where heavily business versus developer/technology types?). [click on image below for larger image]According to the report, adoption also continues to be an issue- which honestly is not that different then most enterprise initiatives around 'knowledge management'- just because you build it does not mean the people will use it.

Another focus on use of Web 2.0 technology that this report highlights is the use of technology to improve communications with suppliers and outside partners. I think this is an important aspect of the benefits of Web 2.0 for various reasons including ease and cost of setting up, familiarity of the technology by the users on both sides, and the ever growing need for companies to collaborate and build processes around suppliers and partners that are essential to their business continuity. Video, Social Networking, Blogs, RSS and Wikis take the expected lead in use for these business purposes: [click on image below for larger image]Some might be thinking- hey isn't Web 2.0 dead? Well remember it is only a marketing label and it definitely is not dead in the Enterprise as i have written before in various posts. Like Oliver Marks comments in his post on the report, the ‘Business and Web 2.0′ consulting landscape' continues to grow when you see the continuous attention of the big firms and the shoring up of smaller consulting outfits with super talent there is an obvious interest and need to use these technologies to enhance business operations.

Andrew McAfee New Book: Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for Your Organization’s Toughest Challenges

A couple weeks ago i downloaded the first chapter of Andrew McAfee's new book Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for Your Organization’s Toughest Challenges that is scheduled to be published this fall (and i also joined the facebook group to move up the publication date because in today's world every week can make something like this less and less relevant!!). Since then i have talked with three different clients in which i make reference to the book because i think it would be a valuable resource for them.

I am and have been for a while a big fan of McAfee's work. Like him, i truly believe in the infiltration of consumer web tools into the enterprise. He however is a researcher and thought leader out of Harvard, i just get to implement information delivery, consumption and collaboration solutions within enterprises- and at times some companies that are quiet HUGE and slow moving. So having a resource like this new book with case studies is great value to me as i share and work with customers.

Reading through the first chapter and some of the reviews that he just posted from people that read the full book, i am really excited about the content and use cases that will be available that he promises will:

"show how leaders are applying new tools, new approaches, and new philosophies to challenges such as accurately predicting the future (in domains where traditional forecasting methods have a poor track record); creating, gathering, and sharing knowledge; increasing rates of innovation; locating answers and expertise; and identifying and solving problems more quickly."

Chapter 4 is going to be focused on how to succeed - because like with most projects in enterprises just because you build it doesn't mean the users will come, adopt it and receive value- planned rollout and adoption strategies post truly understanding user needs is required.

I am also very interested in learning more about McAfee's take on the industry that is bringing these tools to the market- a young industry that is becoming more and more embedded in the traditional application platforms (Microsoft, IBM, etc.).

If you are interested in reading more of McAfee's writing in addition to reading the introduction chapter you should subscribe to his Blog "The Business Impact of IT" i highly recommend it.