Enterprise Social Networks With a Purpose - Competitive Advantage

7/29/2019 Enterprise Social Networks With a Purpose - Competitive Advantage

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Enterprise Social Networkswith a Purpose

What they are and how they can deliver competitive advantage.

White Paper

By

Tim SharpeCEO & co-founder

[email protected]@timjsharpe


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2012 Sabisu Ltd Page 2 of 35

Enterprise Social Networks White Paper

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Contents

1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................... 4

2. INTRODUCING SOCIAL NETWORKS ............................................................................ 5

2.1. COMPELLING NUMBERS.......................................................................................................................................... 52.2. DEFINING SOCIAL NETWORK .............................................................................................................................. 62.3. DEFINING SOCIAL MEDIA..................................................................................................................................... 62.3.1. SOCIAL PROCESSES .............................................................................................................................................. 72.3.2. MEDIA RICHNESS ................................................................................................................................................. 72.4. UBIQUITOUSLY SOCIAL ........................................................................................................................................... 82.5. EXISTING ENTERPRISE SOFTWARE....................................................................................................................... 92.6. TREND IS TOWARD RICHER SOCIAL TOOLS ......................................................................................................10 2.7. CATEGORISING SOCIAL NETWORKS....................................................................................................................11

3. ADOPTING SOCIAL MEDIA WITHIN THE ENTERPRISE................................................. 13

3.1. IS SOCIAL MEDIA RELEVANT? .............................................................................................................................133.2. IS THERE ABUSINESS CASE? ...............................................................................................................................16

3.3. CHOOSING THE RIGHT PLATFORM......................................................................................................................17 4. MICROBLOGGING .................................................................................................... 18

4.1. OVERVIEW ..............................................................................................................................................................18 4.2. BUSINESS CASE ......................................................................................................................................................18 4.3. IMPLEMENTATION .................................................................................................................................................19 4.4. CONCLUSIONS.........................................................................................................................................................20

5. COLLABORATIVE PROJECT PLATFORM...................................................................... 21

5.1. OVERVIEW ..............................................................................................................................................................21 5.2. BUSINESS CASE ......................................................................................................................................................22 5.3. IMPLEMENTATION .................................................................................................................................................22

5.4. IMPLEMENTATION .................................................................................................................................................22 6. SOCIAL MEDIA FOR OPERATIONAL ADVANTAGE ...................................................... 23

6.1. VIRTUAL OPERATIONAL ENVIRONMENT ...........................................................................................................23 6.2. BUSINESS CASE ......................................................................................................................................................23 6.3. BUSINESS PROCESS FOCUS...................................................................................................................................25 6.4. USER COMMUNITIES DRIVE SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT.........................................................................................27 6.5. TRUE COLLABORATION NEEDS ASHARED EXPERIENCE ................................................................................28 6.6. MULTIPLE RICH COLLABORATION OPTIONS .....................................................................................................29 6.7. SOCIAL WORKPLACE .............................................................................................................................................31 6.8. EXTENDED ENTERPRISE .......................................................................................................................................32

7. SABISU .................................................................................................................... 33

7.1. FUNCTIONAL FIT....................................................................................................................................................33 7.2. TYPICAL INDUSTRY SECTORS...............................................................................................................................33 7.3. CASE STUDIES.........................................................................................................................................................34

8. CONCLUDING COMMENTS ....................................................................................... 35


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Figures

Figure 1. Social Networks ............................................................................................................. 8Figure 2. Typical Enterprise Systems with a Social Component ................................... 9Figure 3. Grouping Social Platforms .......................................................................................11Figure 4. Categorising Social Platforms ......................................................... ........................12Figure 5. Social Network Types Enterprise Relevance ...................................................13Figure 6. Social Network Types Operational Impact .......................................................14Figure 7. Social Network Types Broad Classifications ....................................................15Figure 8. Yammer Screenshot ...................................................................................................18Figure 9. Microblogging Adoption ......................................................... ..................................19Figure 10. Lotus Notes Screenshot ........................................................ ..................................21Figure 11. Virtual Operational Environment ......................................................................23Figure 12. Business Process Focus ..........................................................................................25Figure 13. Sharing Made Simple ................................................... ............................................26

Figure 14. Shared Experience ...................................................................................................28Figure 15. Two Personalised Views of a Situation ............................................................28Figure 16. In-platform Chat, Showing Community Focus ..............................................29Figure 17. In-platform Video Chat ......................................................... ..................................30Figure 18. A Social, Event-Driven View .................................................................................31Figure 19. The Bullwhip Effect .................................................................................................32


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1.IntroductionSince 2006 there has been a phenomenal increase in the use of on-line socialnetworking services, with platforms like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedInreaching hundreds of millions of users.

Moving from static, broadcast web-sites to interactive, social web applicationshas changed how many of us organize parts of our lives through personalization,collaborative networks, reduced reliance on hierarchies and increasedorganization ability. Mark Zuckerberg, creator of Facebook, describes this aselegant organisation weve always shared photos, sent updates and discussedembarrassing moments but making it easy to do means we all do much more ofit.

There is much to learn from public social networking services, yet many

enterprises adopt social networking principles for external, customerrelationship or brand management purposes only it can be hard to translatethe benefits to a non-retail, operational, manufacturing environment.

This white paper examines the nature of social networks, their relevance toenterprise operations and how they can deliver operational advantage throughenterprise platforms such as Virtual Operations Environments, or OperationalIntelligence Centres.


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2.Introducing Social NetworksThe reach, ubiquity and user appetite for social networking is astonishing as the

numbers show.

2.1.

Compelling Numbers

On February 1st, 2012, Facebook Inc. filed theirIPO S-1 Registration Statementwith the US Securities and Exchange Commission, revealing their dominance ofthe social networking sector with figures like:

845 million monthly active users (in March 2009, it was 197 million) 483 million daily active users (in March 2009, 92 million) 2.7 billion comments per day 250 million photos uploaded every day 100 billion friendships 425 million mobile users $3.7 billion revenue

Facebook was founded in 2004 and became widely available in 2006. By anystandards this is phenomenal growth. Facebooks $5bn IPO values the companyat $100bn.

No other social network has such presence and reach, though Twitter is aninteresting comparison. Twitter became publically available in 2006 and thenumbers available as of February 2012 are impressive:

200 million users 350 million tweets, or posts, per day

460,000 new accounts per day 55 million mobile users

Traffic during the 2012 Superbowl hit just over 12,000 tweets per second andTwitter valuations vary from $3bn to $10bn off revenuesexpectedto double in2012 to $260m.

On their own, these figures document the rise of a new way to use the web. Evenif revenues, which support these huge valuations, are ultimately made fromadvertising, it doesnt change the fact that these platforms are the most heavilyused software solutions in the world.

Outside the self-evident brand management and retail advertising opportunitieswith such a large user-base, are there lessons for enterprise operations?
http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000119312512034517/d287954ds1.htmhttp://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000119312512034517/d287954ds1.htmhttp://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000119312512034517/d287954ds1.htmhttp://venturebeat.com/2012/01/31/twitters-revenue-expected-to-nearly-double-in-2012/http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/31/twitters-revenue-expected-to-nearly-double-in-2012/http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/31/twitters-revenue-expected-to-nearly-double-in-2012/http://venturebeat.com/2012/01/31/twitters-revenue-expected-to-nearly-double-in-2012/http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1326801/000119312512034517/d287954ds1.htm


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2.2. Defining Social NetworkThe phrases social network and social media are used frequently,interchangeably and without precision.

Wikipedia defines asocial networking servicethus:

A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on

building and reflecting ofsocial networks orsocial relations among people, who,

for example, share interests and/or activities.

The focus of the social network is on connecting people; ensuring that therelationships between users are reflected in the software. There are severalapproaches to presenting the network and network activity to the user, includingalgorithmic ranking of other users activity, or the provision of grouping

structures. Often there is a provision for posting up social media as describedbelow.

2.3. Defining Social MediaWikipedia definessocial mediathus:

Social media includes web-based and mobile technologies used to

turn communication into interactive dialoguesocial media is media for social

interaction as a super-set beyond social communication.

The foundation of social media is user generated content of varying richness,from a text comment to a video. This is significantly different to other forms ofmedia, where the emphasis is on professional production for broadcast, ratherthan dialogue.

Hence a user uploading an image to Facebook that then leads to a series ofcomments is an example of social media in action. If the image is of a particularproduct, and the discussion leads to others building a trusted consensus that theproduct is a good one, then a sale may result. This is where most organisations

see the usefulness of social networks.

Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein, in their 2010 paper, Users of the worldunite!, use media richness and social processes to develop six categories ofsocial media. Here, well briefly cover that as a preparation for judging theirrelevance to enterprise operations.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_servicehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_servicehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_servicehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_servicehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_relationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicationhttp://www.slideshare.net/studente1000/kaplan-andreas-m-haenlein-michael-2010-users-of-the-world-unite-the-challenges-and-opportunities-of-social-media-business-horizons-vol-53-issue-1-p-5968http://www.slideshare.net/studente1000/kaplan-andreas-m-haenlein-michael-2010-users-of-the-world-unite-the-challenges-and-opportunities-of-social-media-business-horizons-vol-53-issue-1-p-5968http://www.slideshare.net/studente1000/kaplan-andreas-m-haenlein-michael-2010-users-of-the-world-unite-the-challenges-and-opportunities-of-social-media-business-horizons-vol-53-issue-1-p-5968http://www.slideshare.net/studente1000/kaplan-andreas-m-haenlein-michael-2010-users-of-the-world-unite-the-challenges-and-opportunities-of-social-media-business-horizons-vol-53-issue-1-p-5968http://www.slideshare.net/studente1000/kaplan-andreas-m-haenlein-michael-2010-users-of-the-world-unite-the-challenges-and-opportunities-of-social-media-business-horizons-vol-53-issue-1-p-5968http://www.slideshare.net/studente1000/kaplan-andreas-m-haenlein-michael-2010-users-of-the-world-unite-the-challenges-and-opportunities-of-social-media-business-horizons-vol-53-issue-1-p-5968http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_mediahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_relationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networkhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Online_servicehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_networking_service


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2.3.1. Social ProcessesSocial processes can be split intoself-presentation, as defined by a succession ofresearchers including Goffman (1959) and Piwinger & Ebert (2001), and self-disclosure as defined by Schau & Gilly, 2003.

Self-presentation, or impression management, is a key component of all onlineinteractions and is particularly important in non-synchronous communications;a brief biography and small avatar might be all the material a potentialcorrespondent has to go on.

Self-disclosure is also important; in order to engage in a meaningful dialogueboth parties need to exchange information regarding at least the subject at hand.The more the communication medium encourages conscious or unconscious

disclosures the more likely there is to be a meaningful relationship formed theright media encourages sociability.

Its notable that a platform that did not encourage these behaviours would beless useful to those companies seeking to profit from it; if users are committed toauthenticity then the huge quantities of data they produce have more value toadvertisers.

2.3.2. Media RichnessKaplan and Haenlein split media intosocial presence, as defined by Short,

Williams & Christie, 1976, andmedia richness, as defined by Daft & Lengel, 1986.

Social presence theory describes how media has different levels of interpersonalcapability; the more intimate, synchronous, direct the media then the higher thecorresponding social presence. So email spam lacks social presence, a telephonecall is much better, whereas face-to-face contact rates highest of all.

Media richness theory describes how the goal of a communication is theresolution of ambiguity and reduction of uncertainty. Therefore the richer themedia, the higher the rate of information transfer and the higher the quality ofthe communication. Hence, as with social presence, a face-to-face contact is amuch richer experience than, for example, a telephone call.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-presentationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-presentationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-presentationhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_presence_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_presence_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_presence_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_richness_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_richness_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_richness_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_richness_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_presence_theoryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-presentation


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2.4. Ubiquitously SocialUsing the definitions above, social networks and media can be seen everywhere.Fig.1 shows some examples.

Figure 1. Social Networks

Clearly the internets open standards and inherently innovative nature meansthere are many examples of socially capable platforms - Brian Solis has anexcellent infographic athttp://www.theconversationprism.com/size1024/which gives some perspective of the depth and breadth of social capabilityavailable.
http://www.theconversationprism.com/size1024/http://www.theconversationprism.com/size1024/http://www.theconversationprism.com/size1024/http://www.theconversationprism.com/size1024/


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2.5. Existing Enterprise SoftwareA typical enterprise seeks to limit proliferation and control their technologylandscape much more closely, thus limiting social capability Fig.2 shows anumber of enterprise software platforms that would appear to have some social

component.

Figure 2. Typical Enterprise Systems with a Social Component

The definitions of social media described above would see some enterprise toolsas more social than others.

For example, a communications tools is not necessarily social; MS Office

Communicator is synchronous and rich, yet permits little in the way of self-presentation or self-disclosure, as befits a communication tool rather than asocial platform.

This also shows how important it is for vendors to understand social networksand engineer an approach into enterprise software from the earliest stages of thedesign process.


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2.6. Trend is Toward Richer Social ToolsAs with slower and less synchronous forms of communication such as postalmail, email will always be a valuable messaging system. Certain organisationswill phase it out in name, but the concept of a message delivery system for offline

users is here to stay.

As with postal mail, email will be augmented and its volumes partly reduced byricher forms of media. Already real-time chat is accepted by most organisations,even if many limit it to within the enterprise. Video conferencing or chat is alsobecoming acceptable indeed, its notable that Apple have recently introducediMessage and FaceTime functionality to their iOS operating system.

As users become more comfortable with the media, so they will disclose moreand concern themselves with presentation more and so the movement within

and outside the enterprise will be to more social interaction mediated throughthe internet.

The challenge for the organization is two-fold; deal with the cultural impact,exploit the capabilities of the technology for competitive advantage.


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2.7. Categorising Social NetworksUsing the social presence & media richness definitions above the social capabilityof a representative number of platforms can be plotted as seen in Fig.3.

Figure 3. Grouping Social Platforms

These platforms can be seen to fall into six broad groups.

Ubuntu and Firefox are included as examples of the output of collaborativeprojects rather than socially capable platforms themselves. They are positionedin the low/low category as its possible to deliver high quality product without aparticularly social, or particularly rich, environment.

Second Life features in the high/high grouping as its a rich social environment,promoting as it does self-disclosure and self-presentation, yet its also a rich 3-

dimensional, immersive environment.


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Figure 4. Categorising Social Platforms

Fig. 4 shows descriptions for each of the groupings identified in the previousfigure. Each of these categories can briefly be described thus:

Blogs & Microblogs

Immediacy (microblogs) and depth (blogs) permits self-disclosure and self-presentation; interaction often limited to text discussion; media limited to signpostingto other platforms.

Social OrganisationEmphasis on relationships, activity ranking and user grouping; the social organizationplatforms are about making existing processes frictionless, incorporating rich mediasharing and communications.

Virtual Social EnvironmentsRich and immersive environments which focus on self-presentation and users socialexperience.

Collaborative ProjectsPlatforms focused on enabling collaborative projects through data and informationexchange. Social presence linked to expertise, communications capability limited orcomplex to configure.

Content CommunitiesUser generated content is central and often rich; self-presentation often in the contextof subject matter expertise or authority. Therefore self-disclosure is contentdependent.


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3.Adopting Social Media Within The EnterpriseUnderstanding and categorizing social media is useful but why implement them

in the enterprise?

3.1.

Is Social Media Relevant?

Different types of Social Media are relevant to different functions of theenterprise. To assess this we plotted the categories defined above against:

Operational Efficiencyo Will the social media type improve organization performance as measured by

typical KPIs? Communications

o Is the benefit of the social media type to principally seen in externalenterprise communications, or internal?

Fig. 5 shows the categories identified above in Properties of Social Networks

plotted by their bias towards internal/external communications, andinternal/external operational efficiency or process execution.

Figure 5. Social Network Types Enterprise Relevance

In terms of operational impact, clearly some of these categories are morerelevant than others. Fig.6 below shows the categories of social network sizedaccording to the operational impact.


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Figure 6. Social Network Types Operational Impact

The categories have also been recoloured in Fig. 6 to indicate their impact onenterprise operations.

Taking into account the nature and applications of each type of social network,

three broad classifications can be made as shown in Fig.7 below.


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Figure 7. Social Network Types Broad Classifications

Clearly those bottom left have least to contribute to the operational efficiency ofan enterprise. They have great value in terms of sales, PR and branding and sotheyre key strategic platforms in the retail sector. A slight overlap into the topleft quadrant allows for some benefit in deploying Social Organisation platforms

within the enterprise but operational efficiency improvements and competitiveadvantages are likely to be marginal.

Those social networks at the centre have broad relevance for both operationalefficiency and communications. Whether internally (e.g., hosted on Sharepoint,or an intranet) or externally (e.g., Wordpress, Blogger) facing, their role is tohighlight interesting third party content, explore or develop new ideas, ordistribute expertise. Therefore they encourage innovation and the propagationof best practice.

Moving to the right the social network types have progressively larger impact onoperations. Compared with other social networks collaborative projects can bemore efficient and inclusive in their execution, and can produce step-changes inoperational efficiency.

With a constant focus on real-time operations and a developed socialcollaboration capability, virtual operational environments can make the greatestimpact ofany social network, improving an organisations ability to react todeveloping situations.

Both collaborative projects and virtual operational environments will deliver

operational efficiency internally, but as intimated in Fig.7 can do so for externalbusiness processes too; improvements can be seen throughout the value/supplychain.


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3.2. Is There A Business Case?Now that credible enterprise social solutions are beginning to appear theevidence is that they bring real business benefit. McKinseysQuarterly Reviewdescribes how the technology has found its payday, using the term networked

enterprises for organisations that adopt Web 2.0 technology, noting amongstother statistics that;

...27% reported having both market share gains against their competitors andhigher profit margins... Highly networked enterprises were 50 percent morelikely to fall in this high-performance group than other organizations were.

What started as consumer focused Web 2.0 has matured into Enterprise 2.0and become known as social software, gaining sufficient credibility as itsapplied for external purposes shown in Fig. 8 for corporates to assess its benefits

internally.

Whilst enterprise IT services have to retain crucial governance and complianceresponsibilities, these technologies allow business users to own datadistribution, networks of users and business processes. Focused internally thesecapabilities produce great returns 30% of companies report increased speed ofaccess to knowledge or experts, while 20% report decreasing travel costs,increased employee satisfaction and reduced time to market forproducts/services.

If internal networking is powerful, the step change is to be found in combining

both external and internal networking; using technology to build closerrelationships with the supply chain, peers or partner organisations. Suchorganisations are in the top 3%, seeing greater benefits for employees,customers and partners.

With mature technology and proven business benefit there are compellingreasons to move to a networked enterprise model.
http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Organization/Strategic_Organization/The_rise_of_the_networked_enterprise_Web_20_finds_its_payday_2716http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Organization/Strategic_Organization/The_rise_of_the_networked_enterprise_Web_20_finds_its_payday_2716http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Organization/Strategic_Organization/The_rise_of_the_networked_enterprise_Web_20_finds_its_payday_2716http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Organization/Strategic_Organization/The_rise_of_the_networked_enterprise_Web_20_finds_its_payday_2716


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3.3. Choosing the Right PlatformGiven the high profile of social platforms vendors are rushing to add socialcapabilities to existing platforms. However, there are two reasons why theres noguarantee that theyll succeed within the enterprise; the nature of the social

network required, and the core product capability.

The potential of software to add value to the business is dictated by its corepurpose, not by the addition of some social features. Even the most social CRMsolution can only add as much value as the best of its breed and in non-retailenterprises (e.g., manufacturing or process sectors) that value is miniscule incomparison to operational efficiencies.

Where a platform is described solely as a social platform, not only is their abilityto add value in doubt, but as all platforms add social features their differentiator

also disappears. Without a core operational focus the application has limited use what should be regarded as a group of social features have become the productitself. This logic applies to location-based services also.

Therefore its important to choose a solution that has been designed with socialfeatures yet fulfills a genuine business need.

This paper looks briefly at three enterprise social networks that add value;microblogging, collaborative projects and virtual operational environment.


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4.MicrobloggingOne of the easiest network types to implement is microblogging platform here we

look at what they are and how we can learn from existing implementations.

4.1.

Overview

Microblogging is an example of social networking proven in the public domainwith platforms such as Twitter and now migrating to the enterprise throughsoftware-as-a-service (SaaS) offerings such as Yammer.

Figure 8. Yammer Screenshot

As with all microblogging solutions the platform pivots around the statusupdate; the ubiquitous question what are you doing? or what are you workingon?. Users must respond to this question if any content is to be generated andthe platform is to have any value.

Users may choose to attach files, or signpost to other web addresses in this

manner they can curate digital assets for a wider community.

4.2. Business CaseThe business case for microblogging can be developed around innovation, IPcapture/generation and thought leadership. Whilst the platform may lead to newpractices that add value, the implementation of it has limited intrinsicoperational efficiency impact.

The innovation business case is strengthened if the platform permits better

engagement with internal or external parties as this can lead to higher qualityinnovation and IP generation.


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4.3. ImplementationThe implementation of an SaaS platform is straightforward as its externallyhosted and usually deploying a URL will suffice. Cost of deployment is thereforeminimal and licensing often follows a freemium model where initial use is free,

but administration, storage and additional features are costed based on usage.

Each organization will follow its own guidelines on the release scope, reach andpublicity which will impact user adoption.

Figure 9 shows the user adoption profile seen in an experimental enterprisedeployment of a microblogging application. The deployment was low-key, zerocost and internal only.

Figure 9. Microblogging Adoption

The adoption curve shows three phases:

Phase 1

Ramp up in user registrations and activity, though less activity per user thanexpected; as if every single new post added a user, even though that user wasntaddressed.

Phase 2Activity remained low. A few users continued to post infrequently. Users continued toregister, albeit at a low rate.

Phase 3A sudden ramp up in activity, followed by an increase in the number of users.


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4.4. ConclusionsThe drop-off in user activity in Phase 2 of Fig. 9 can be attributed to:

Users being unsure of what to post or why Low perceived value of the network, leading to lack of genuine user engagement

Concern about the public nature of posting in a work environment, i.e., self-disclosureand self-presentation

In comparison, public networks are: Low risk (people rarely get fired for posting) Less pressure to be relevant (irrelevant posts are not seen as negative)

So large that a lack of user engagement doesnt affect the networks value

The dip in user activity lasted around 9 months. This phenomenon is also seen inpublic social networks but is often masked by massive increases in usernumbers.

The eventual rapid rise in user activity occurred as a very small number of usersbegan posting regularly. These regular posts increased the value to the end userand so drove an increase in user activity.

Where a social network has no publicized purpose, it relies on the most activeusers to give it focus. Indeed, genuinely engaged, well-connected users havesignificant value to the network people at the edge of the network less so. Thismeans that the strategy of growth through email invites often used is flawed this produces a large but not necessarily engaged user network.

Without doubt these microblogging services encourage innovation throughinternal information exchange and curation of external sources.

Location-based services are, as yet, largely irrelevant to a non-retail operationsenvironment.

The SaaS freemium model is acceptable for small enterprises or initiatives butthe robust controls that a large corporate requires for operational control arelargely absent.

Finally, microblogging is a useful concept and the tools available can add valuebut the feature set is shallow when compared to other enterprise softwareproducts.


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5.Collaborative Project PlatformComplex and rich, collaborative platforms are well known. Here we take an

overview and then look at their social credentials.

5.1.

Overview

Collaborative delivery platforms have been in existence for some time; LotusNotes/Domino and Microsoft Sharepoint are good examples and are in place inmany enterprises.

These platforms are predominantly on-premise in nature, i.e., servers are locatedwithin and usually only accessed by clients within the corporate network.Responsibility for maintenance and development lies with corporate IT.

Figure 10. Lotus Notes Screenshot

Whilst these platforms are flexible, typically there is substantial customizationwork to be done before the capabilities of the platform can be exploited. They arecomplex platforms with robust, enterprise feature sets:

Administration, either through a proprietary mechanism (e.g., Lotus Notes) orintegration with a standard (e.g., MS Sharepoint).

Integration, with third party applications, or with other platforms from the same vendor(e.g., MS Sharepoint)

Customisation, through APIs or integrated development environments.

These platforms arent primarily social; they are designed with broadcollaboration aims in mind, resulting in a communications platform that isntnecessarily social. Hence they usually incorporate some social media capability

such as blogging, offline messaging or integration with a chat facility - even if thesocial qualities of self-presentation and self-disclosure are under-represented.


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5.2. Business CaseThe business case for these collaborative platforms is usually made aroundinnovation development, efficient delivery of large projects and betterengagement. This could include the development and propagation of best

practice; these platforms are often well positioned to distribute low richnessmedia.

A collaborative platform can be developed to allow the execution of certainbusiness processes, hence the business case may incorporate the savings madethrough deprecating existing platforms.

Collaborative platforms can be used externally though sometimes theinfrastructure and licensing costs are prohibitive.

5.3. ImplementationAs a collaborative platform can be used in many solutions and tends to requiresignificant customization, two things are certain; each implementation will differand each will require significant effort & cost.

This means that implementing such a platform is typically costly in terms ofdevelopment, training, licensing and infrastructure. The implementation projectwill cover each of these areas and will require best practice governance andexcellent customer engagement. The latter is particularly important so as toensure that a specific customer need is being addressed.

5.4. ImplementationThe issue with deploying a complex platform is that social engagement is drivenby application simplicity; if its too hard to configure, its unlikely to be used. Thisapplies to a platform that requires internal IT support as it does to an end-userfeature.

Social features do not a social platform make. Chat is a useful communicationsfeature but without operational relevance it remains just a substitute for another

form of communication. Indeed, social capability has to be designed into theplatform; as a series ofadded features it lacks relevance.

With the expense and complexity of implementing a collaborative platform, thebusiness case will inevitably require a specific, high value business problem to besolved. The social features of the platform must be embedded and immediatelyuseable so that the focus on the business problem doesnt detract from thebenefits of a social platform.

A quote from Euan Semple (@Euan) on Twitter, 27/01/12:

I love the way clients have to spend money bashing faddish tools into shape to

do what a good BBS has done for decades.


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6.Social Media for Operational AdvantageSocial media and networking have some great properties this extended section

looks at how a well chosen platform can deliver genuine competitive advantage.

6.1.

Virtual Operational Environment

Virtual Operational Environments (VOEs) have been in existence for some timebut until now have been application/environment specific, expensive anddifficult to implement. However, recent advances in browser, integration andcloud technology allow environments such as Operational Intelligence Centres(OICs) to be implemented easily.

Typically they offer:

In-line, seamless communications through rich media to ensure minimal ambiguity.

Focus on collaborative, social communities of users, particularly in terms of ensuringrelevant data is made available.

Personalisation, ensuring each user has the data required to contribute. A real-time view of the operational environment for situational awareness, control and

response. Extension to third parties such as consultants, suppliers, customers or partners. Extension to mobile users.

The key to the VOE/OIC is the common purpose; more efficient operation of thebusiness as seen through the data created.

Figure 11. Virtual Operational Environment

6.2. Business Case


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As can be seen in Fig.6, the focus of the platform is operational efficiency.Therefore the business case is self-evident if the platform is first applied whereincreased efficiency will cause significant financial benefit.

An example in the process industries would be energy monitoring; a variable

cost where even a small increase in efficiency would result in significant savings.

The business case can also be made in terms of enterprise visibility and visualmanagement. OICs are frequently used in digital signage and to drive executivelevel reporting.

As illustrated in Fig.6 and mentioned above, recent advances in cloud computingpermit the extension of the OIC to third parties such as suppliers and customers,allowing business processes to be made frictionless and agile.

In order for the OIC to be a genuine virtual environment, it must offer advancedcollaboration capabilities. This allows not just the collaboration on real-time databut also permits:

Curation of internal and external digital assets, as discussed above in theMicrobloggingsection.

Propagation of best practice, using the community structure required for distributingdata and resolving issues.

Collaborative project delivery, using the community structure and including advancedreporting using the dashboard reporting features.

All the above can simply be summarized as operational impact.


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6.3. Business Process FocusThe VOE/OIC places the focus on the business process, with the seamlesscollaboration capabilities of the platform causing social interaction to occurnaturally.

Figure 12. Business Process Focus

By bringing these communities of users together around a shared businessprocess and environment, the OIC has a social network unlike any other: its builtaround a purpose.

Where users might be sharing operational data relating to a developing issue inthe manufacturing process, they might just as easily share data to ensure abusiness process can be executed in a timely fashion. Theres no need to extract,manipulate, attach and email data if it can simply be shared in a single action.

Previously time consuming, email dependent processes are simplified as the datais shared from a single point. All social interactions about that data are tied to thedata in context, so thatconversations dont need to be repeated.

In fact, theres no need for email at all; the traditional cycle of email, wait andrespond can be remade as shown below in Fig.13:


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Figure 13. Sharing Made Simple

Thus the OIC provides a step change in business process efficiency.

It is therefore essential that the OIC have an architecture that supports seamlessintegration of third parties into business processes. Not only is direct third partyinvolvement a clear advantage when dealing with a developing issue; day-to-dayprocesses will benefit also.


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6.4. User Communities Drive Social EngagementThere are many ways to build a social network; the OIC should be built withcommunities of users as central to the operation of the platform.

Communities exist throughout your organization already; they are formed inresponse to business initiatives, around projects or around operationalprocesses. They are loose social groupings that do not necessarily reflect thepublished organization structure. They expand and contract; are created anddeprecated without fanfare.

However they are social groupings and they drive social engagement, curationand collaboration.

Communities are vital to curators of data as they indicate a constituency; by

opting into, say, an Energy Reduction community, users are indicating that this isan initiative or subject about which they care and they wish to be kept informed.

They also describe the parameters of social engagement. For example, acommunity chat room about Energy Reduction will be focused in a way that apublic forum will not. Users within the Energy Reduction forum will most likelydisclose opinions and disseminate information more readily in a trustedenvironment.

Communities also drive collaboration, as the disclosure of opinions anddissemination of information leads to teams working jointly to resolve issues and

problems, which itself involves further social interaction.

As communities are aligned around business initiatives or interests even smallcommunities have value. However,Metcalfes Law- which describes theexponentially increasing value of a network with each added node shows howthe integration of third parties can add exponential benefit.

Communities may also mitigate the social overload implied byDunbars Number,which describes the theoretical cognitive limit to the number of relationships aperson can usefully maintain. If a user has a relationship to the community, and

then a more meaningful relationship to certain users within it, then the risk ofsocial overload is reduced.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe%27s_lawhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe%27s_lawhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe%27s_lawhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_numberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_numberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_numberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunbar's_numberhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metcalfe%27s_law


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6.5. True Collaboration Needs A Shared ExperienceAll users of the OIC must see the same developing situation and anycollaborative/social data in real-time. This isnt simply a one size fits alldashboard; this is an individual, yet shared, experience of the situation. The

community of collaborators have communal control and responsibility forresolution.

Figure 14. Shared Experience

Thus all collaborators need access to the data that describes the situation or

business process. However, just because the problem is shared doesnt meaneach users personalized environment should be compromised. The OIC has toensure that each individual has to access to their data and social tools on theirown terms, i.e., alongside other data, conversations, documents and tools theyneed to contextualize the situation or move the process forward.

Figure 15. Two Personalised Views of a Situation

The role of the OIC is therefore one of facilitating the social shared experience;creating an environment where data is easily accessible even if somecollaborators are outside the corporate network.


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6.6. Multiple Rich Collaboration OptionsThe shared experience described above allows messaging features to becometruly social collaboration options and its important the OIC offers a selection.

The synchronous nature of instant messaging or chat applications make them auseful social collaboration tool in the context of a shared experience; they havethe advantages of being immediate whilst having just the right level of intrusion.

Any messaging mechanism should respect the user community concept in orderto exploit collaboration capabilities to the full. If a user can bring an entirecommunity into a real-time, shared, collaborative environment then there can beno quicker way of exposing insights, resolving incipient situations, or expeditingbusiness processes.

Figure 16. In-platform Chat, Showing Community Focus

As discussed in the Defining Social Mediasection, the richer the media the lessambiguous the communication; hence video chat, or face-to-face discussion via awebcam, is a very social medium likely to gain in acceptance.

High-resolution web conferencing capability is not the aim here more a rapidlyaccessed collaboration facility. Often preferable to text only messaging asinterpersonal and environmental considerations can be made, its a welcomedevelopment provided the collaborative environment of the OIC is notcompromised; if the user has to drop out of the situation or process to get thevideo chat software initialized, then its non-optimal.

Figure 17 shows an example of in-line, optimal video chat in action.


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Figure 17. In-platform Video Chat

Obviously the above solutions depend on the collaborating team being onlineand this is not always the case. Therefore the OIC has to include options for lesssocial offline communications, which should still be data-centric in their use.Indeed, some sort of notification process is essential so that users can be broughtup to speed.


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6.7. Social WorkplaceThe traditional dashboard view of a business assumes that the user will bemonitoring it constantly, whereas the enterprise social software solution doesnot; it accepts that users will drift away for good reason and therefore like

Twitter or Facebook provides an event driven, or timeline view.

This approach kick-starts collaboration and allows offline users to be brought upto date. Therefore its important that the timeline is relevant and useful.

Fortunately there is a way to ensure relevancy and its covered above; curation.When a user nominates data as relevant to their community or communities,they are filtering out all the irrelevant data and thus ensuring the timelineremains useful.

So the OIC is also ideally situated to update the timeline with the latestdiscussions, meaning the offline user can get the full picture from the OIC and beready to contribute. This is truly a social platform.

As discussed in the Business Case section above, no organisation exists inisolation and communities should be regarded as including users outside thecorporate network. So the timeline facility has added value to both the corporateand third party end-user as it promotes transparency and rapid response further improving operational efficiency.

Figure 18. A Social, Event-Driven View


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6.8. Extended EnterpriseA correctly architected VOE/OIC is perfectly positioned to enable collaborationwith third parties. This leads to seamless collaboration and an increase inaccurate data exchange without a corresponding increase in data manipulation

or email.

Whilst enterprises may come to strategic agreements and contracts, its the day-to-day personal relationships that drive efficient collaboration betweenenterprises. Hence its easy to see how the socially capable operational platformcan improve those contact points and make inter-enterprise business processesfrictionless.

Perhaps the most obvious example is that of supply chain visibility; the instantvisibility of customer demand all the way down the supply chain can reduce the

bullwhip effect, where a minor change in customer demand producesincreasingly significant impacts in terms of production and inventory as eachsupplier in the chain meets perceived demand.

Figure 19. The Bullwhip Effect

(from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bulwhip_efect.jpg)

However, there is clear benefit in terms of quality assurance, where theprovenance of a product can be traced back through the manufacturing process,or product/service development, where a collaborative approach can bringenterprises together to innovate. With access to supporting source data, the OICis uniquely positioned to inform such collaboration.


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7.SabisuThere wasnt an OIC on the market that could achieve genuine improvements inefficiency or collaboration, or extend the enterprise. So we built it.

7.1.

Functional Fit

With Sabisu, we believe weve built the ultimate OIC, focusing on integration,curation, collaboration, enterprise social and the extended enterprise. Othersolutions may meet some requirements but no others meet all.

Sabisu delivers all the functionality outlined in this document. All of the practicesand impacts have been proven within existing customers, e.g.,

Users migrating from email to chat Improvements in business process execution efficiency Identification of operations cost savings

Improved service delivery from and to third parties Reduction in IT expenditure, particularly around meeting new information

presentation requirements

Sabisu is finding use in all manner of applications; digital signage, control roomsas well as the expected executive reporting and day-to-day business processexecution.

Sabisu is also in constant use by those who create and maintain it; its used tomonitor the various production environments and service our customers.

7.2. Typical Industry SectorsDesigned in partnership with leading petrochemicals and refining companies,Sabisu is a perfect fit for the oil & gas downstream sector. Its been designed andbuilt with the resilience, security, quality and system integrity that this marketdemands.

Therefore Sabisu will bring benefits to any large-scale manufacturing andprocess industry operation, with compelling success stories in chemicals &biofuels in particular.

With its extended enterprise capability Sabisu is also the delivery platform ofchoice for service providers as it enables the customer to digitally commissioneasily and provides excellent collaborative features to ensure optimal delivery.


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7.3. Case StudiesConstruction of Sabisu was started in mid-2010. Whilst the company and allintellectual property continue to be privately held, the solution was designed andbuilt with help from leading petrochemical manufacturers and process industry

figures. Hence you can have confidence that this is a well-designed enterpriseready solution.

Athttp://www.sabisu.co/CaseStudies.aspxyoull find case studies includingpetrochemicals companies and service providers.
http://www.sabisu.co/CaseStudies.aspxhttp://www.sabisu.co/CaseStudies.aspxhttp://www.sabisu.co/CaseStudies.aspxhttp://www.sabisu.co/CaseStudies.aspx


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8.Concluding CommentsSome final thoughts and conclusions in brief:

Enterprise social software does nothing. It adds no value. It makes nosavings. It's communities of users who deliver real value.

A purposed network doesnt need a critical mass of users to delivervalue.

If social network is not designed into a product ground up, it may well betoo expensive in terms of adoption period or effort to derive value from it.

Social features do not necessarily make a social platform.

Ease of configuration and use are crucial.

There are many enterprise social vendors; there are few that havedeveloped beyond simple collaboration.

High quality network is more important than a large network.

Public social networks work at massive scales; treat their lessons ofsuccess with care.

A well architected, purposed social network can add value at small scalesand throughout an enterprise.

Enterprise Social Networks With a Purpose - Competitive Advantage

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