Knowledge Management in Enterprise 2.0 - Part 4

Knowledge Management
in Enterprise 2.0
Part 4
The Enterprise 2.0 Error

How far have we come
in company-internal use?
2014

McKinsey 2012: The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies
70% of companies use social
software.
see benefit in its use.
90%

Social business projects are often
strategically planned and enjoy
significant management attention.

http://www.realstorygroup.com/vendormap/
Technologies are becoming
more mature and more specialised.

http://www.zdnet.com/salesforce-ceo-admits-social-enterprise-pitch-didnt-work-7000023336/
Hollow phrases like social enterprise
or cultural change continue to
confuse users and decision-makers.

Many projects in pilot phases
fail to meet expectations due
to limited participation.

Experton Group: The market for "Social Business for Collaboration & Communication" (SB4CC) in Germany
Middle managers and managers of
SMEs are frequently unconvinced.

A use case is
the answer
to the question:

In the beginning,
use cases were
barely of interest.
“…the technologists of Enterprise
2.0 are trying hard not to impose
on users any preconceived
notions about how work should
proceed or how output should be
categorized or structured.”
Andrew McAfee:
“Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of
Emergent Collaboration”
2006

Originally, the idea was that applications would
arise spontaneously during use.
Emergence (from the Latin
emergere for "to surface", "to
emerge" or "to arise") is the
spontaneous formation of new
properties or structures in a
system resulting from the
interaction of its elements.
www.wikipedia.de

But what do you
tell your users?
We're using
Enterprise 2.0
Social media
Facebook
Social networking
in the company now

A good use case
gives answers.

What are the major
internal use cases?
?

The 4 main higher-level
use cases, to be precise.
?
? ??

Information & Official Communication
or the use case Modern Intranet
1
Information & Official
Communication

What is it used for?
− Publishing official, but also
localised information for large
target groups
− Enabling feedback
(e.g. comments)
− Supporting local editors:
relevance and topicality are
more important than a perfect
layout
Information &
Official
Communication

What's the benefit?
Examples
− More up-to-date and more
authentic information
− Accelerates onboarding of new
staff
− Ability to address individual
target groups
(e.g. managers)
more precisely
− Find official information more
quickly across the company
Information &
Official
Communication

Combination of information and
interaction on a modern intranet
Information &
Official
Communication

Particular strength: High potential benefit
and the benefit is very well plannable
Information &
Official
Communication
Plannability
How well can the benefit of
this use case be planned?
Benefit
How great is the potential benefit
contribution to the company?

Projects & Processes
or the use case Collaboration
2
Communication

− Collaborating efficiently on
projects
− Jointly creating and discussing
content
− Handling unstructured
processes in a lean and flexible
way
Projects &
Processes

What's the benefit?
Examples
− Find relevant content more
quickly
− Versioning: easier to find current
documents
− Ability to comment and work on
documents simultaneously
− Accelerates project onboarding
Projects &
Processes

Wide range of required complexity of
contents and structures.
Projects &
Processes

Particular strength: Well plannable and a
major lever for day-to-day efficiency of all
knowledge workers
Projects &
Processes
Plannability
Benefit

Use case
Personal Information Management
Personal Information
Management
3
Communication

Personal
Information
Management
Many things that were
already possible:
− Work organisation:
tasks, appointments,
"My Documents"
− Finding contacts and experts
via contact data or
organisational units
− Interacting with individuals or
in small groups across various
channels (e-mail, IM,
telephone, ...)
New:
− Finding contacts and experts
outside one's own network via
skills and interesting content
− Easy mobile access

What's the benefit?
Examples
− Efficient organisation of own work
− Expands site- and organisation-centric
employee networks
− Reduces search times and helps solve
problems more quickly
− Allows employees to work at full
capacity even when travelling
Personal
Information
Management

Finding contacts: from profiles to content-
based expert searches
Personal
Information
Management
1
2 3

Good and bad: Profiles are often badly
maintained – making links to content all
the more important
Personal
Information
Management
Plannability
Benefit

Use case
Internal Communities
Management
4
Communication

What are they used for?
− Exchange groups – independent of
organisational structures
− Many possible uses such as ideas
management, "ask the organisation" or
expert communities
− Participation is based mainly on intrinsic
motivation
− Engagement in communities is rarely
included in job descriptions or target
agreements
Internal
Communities

What's the benefit?
Examples
− Find and foster good ideas more
quickly
− Involve and motivate staff
− Make knowledge visible and share it
outside structures
Internal
Communities

Example
Ask the organisation
Internal
Communities

Excessive expectations:
Informality causes problems for
communities, especially in the long term
Internal
Communities
Plannability
Benefit

Management
Benefit
Plannability
Benefit
Plannability
Communication
Benefit
Plannability
Plannability: How well can the benefit of this
use case be planned?
Benefit: How great is the potential benefit
Benefit
Plannability

So what exactly
is the problem?

Excessive expectations regarding the benefit
of informal community activities
1

Management
Projects & ProcessesInformation & Official
Communication
Formal:
part of organisation and target management
Informal:
"emergent" structures

Management
Communication
Staff turn the majority of their attention to formal
structures.
The lever for noticeable benefit is therefore much bigger
there!

What about business-critical
communities?

Management
Communication
There should be no such thing as a business-critical
community because ...
... in that case it's not a community any more; it should be
part of the structured area, e.g. as a project team.

Non-technical barriers to collaboration
2

Four barriers
to collaboration
“Willingness”
Search barrier
− Company size
− Physical distance
− Information overload
− Closed networks
Transfer barrier
− Implicit knowledge
− Shared understanding
and language
− Weak ties
“Ability”
Not-invented-here
barriere
− Insular culture
− Status-oriented
thinking
− Tunnel vision
− Fear
Hoarding barrier
− Competition
− Strong individual
incentives
− Too busy
− Fear of losing power

Social business platforms can help overcome
the search and the transfer barrier!
Search barrier
− Company size
− Physical distance
− Information overload
− Closed networks
Transfer barrier
− Implicit knowledge
− Shared understanding
and language
− Weak ties
Ability

But technology isn't much help when it comes
to the motivation-related aspects of
collaboration.

Status-oriented thinking and bunker
mentality can't be resolved with virtual
communities.
Not-invented-here
barriere
− Insular culture
− Status-oriented
thinking
− Tunnel vision
− Fear
Hoarding barrier
− Competition
− Strong individual
incentives
− Too busy
− Fear of losing power
Willingness

The informal use cases are
barely viable on their own.
3

Users need good reasons
to check in regularly.

The informal use cases
can't provide those.

So what is the
Enterprise 2.0 error?

With its tools and ideas,
the Internet has given us a gift that…
Comments
Multi-
media
Profiles
Tasks
Wikis
Activity
streams
Forums
Surveys
Ratings
Mobile
apps
Blogs
Micro-
blogs
Team
documents
Search and
filters
DashboardsVirtual
areas
Videos
Virtual
meetings
Networks

…opens up new possibilities for sharing
information, knowledge and opinions…

The Enterprise 2.0 error is to
channel the potential
of this gift…

…mainly into the informal use cases.
Management
Communication

"SOCIAL" may have practically created
one new use case…
Management
Communication

…but what's much more important is that it has
significantly enhanced these three use cases!
Management
Communication

The strong use cases
draw users to a platform…
Management
Communication
A

… if this platform then cleverly integrates
informal use cases…
Management
Communication
B

…communities also have a better chance of
attracting participation in the long term.
Management
Communication
C

The informal use cases for social
software are highly overrated and are not
sustainable on their own.
Use cases with far greater potential, such
as communication and collaboration, are
still being neglected or taken out of scope.
Together they are stronger:
Only in combination can informal use
cases work in the long term.
1
2
3

T-Systems
Multimedia Solutions
http://www.t-systems-mms.com
Frank Wolf
f.wolf@t-systems.com
www.besser20.de
www.xing.com/profile/Frank_Wolf3

Achim Brück, Ulrich Deiters, Claudia Eichler-Liebenow,
Erik Frömder, Simone Happ, Ulf-Jost Kossol, Sven
Lindenhahn, Kay-Uwe Michel, Ute Schäfer, Katharina
Simon, Katrin Vagt, Denis Wagner
Design: Jana Frommhold

Knowledge Management in Enterprise 2.0 - Part 4

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