Are CIOs Ready to Bite? - Enterprise 2.0 Conference Notes

This is the sixth in a series of my notes on the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston, June 14- 17. This post covers the keynote: Are CIOs Ready to Bite? It was led by Alex Wolfe, Editor In Chief, InformationWeek.com.  The speaker is Ted Schadler, Principal Analyst, Forrester Research Inc. Panelists include: JP Rangaswami , CIO and Chief Scientist, BT Design and Murali Sitaram, VP/GM Enterprise Collaboration Platform, Cisco. I have been on a panel with JP before and greatly respect his views and I have reviewed some of Ted’s reports. Here is the description. My notes follow.

Enterprise 2.0 projects to date are largely departmental initiatives led by business leaders and technology strategists who voice frustration over legacy applications and IT's slow response to initiate sweeping improvements.  view more 

But many CIOs continue to cite concerns around security, privacy and a lack of enterprise-grade, interoperable solutions. While the stalemate continues, businesses are reaching a crisis point in information management and need workable solutions to keep pace with tools found in the fast-paced consumer web. Have we reached an impasse in business-wide adoption or are CIOs beginning to show signs of Enterprise 2.0 acceptance?”

Ted said that to get traction on E20 you need to find some one with a business need. If you cannot you are in trouble. Murali said they get a lot of ROI questions but more questions on increasing productivity. How do you measure this? JP said they are some things you need to install like restrooms because they are important to the to the enterprise and has yet to se an ROI on restrooms. He said when they implemented Twitter for social software it increased customer satisfaction and number of cases an agent can handle.

Alex asked but what about inside the enterprise? Ted said it is artificial to separate inside and outside ROI.

JP said when you empower the enterprise you do not know what will happen. Now people have no choice but to share to remain competitive. You can create new value that was not imagined before. Early on when they used web at BT some groups ordered coffee and others solved business problems. Murali said each user will use tools different and you need to be flexible.

Ted refereed to a book he wrote. People use the tools in their own ways but they know what to do. IT needs to develop new skills to support collaboration. They need to have community managers and they will support groups to better use these tools

Alex said that maybe CIOs are not the best people to implement E20.  JP said the CIOs have to learn to get out of the way.  He compared it to Facebook.  Let the users choose which services they want.

Alex asked if there is a tension here. IT knows budget cycles and users are supporting community managers. Murali said in Cisco the community managers are from the business units. Implementation is being driven by people in business functions.

It was asked if there will there be top down enforcement of best tools? CIOs will want people to use enterprise tools and not unsecure web tools. However, people will want the best of what is on the web so they will not go to the Web if they do not get this.

JP said it took IBM 40 years to be evil. Microsoft took 20 years. Facebook took 5 years so enterprise 2.0 will go there even quicker, There will need to be afederation and standards for communication and data.

Alex asked if video will take off. Murali said video will take off and the price point will fall. Ted said it is the sleeper app. His 9 year old daughter’s teacher uses YouTube in the class room.  JP said there is a difference between YouTube and interactive video. There are also times when people do not want to be on video. He related his experience with his children. All channels will be there text, audio, video.

Alex asked about what happens when the younger generation arrives at work place. JP the shakeup will happen. These people use the web for communication. They use YouTube and Flickr. What not use these tools?

The younger generation feels empowered but they do not have positions of power yet. It was noted that younger people where not in this audience. JP mentioned the concept of employer will change. His father had one job, he will have seven and his son will have seven at once.  He asked do you remember benefits anyone?

Social networking is your personal brand and you want to take this wherever you go.   JP noted that his first three employers including Burroughs do not exist and their buildings have been torn down. You need to be able to take you identity with you.

Murali said the spread of E20 needs to be viral but you need to have some guidance.  JP said start open and only close down when needed - also get out of the way.   This was good closing point. 

Comments

[Print Door Hangers]

Enterprise 2.0 projects sounds like it can have a lot of potential in the future, since it is lead by respected people in the field. It's weird when people say technology is moving slow for me, I think it's actually moving at the right pace. Faster, and lots of people won't be able to cope with advancements.

[Kimberlee Morrison]

Change on an institutional level always depends on leadership. Just like company culture, the adoption of business technology tends to be a top down process. As solutions are needed, CIOs will seek them out.