If
you're not innovating, you're dying. Death may be slow, and take a
few years, but it will come.
Don't
take my word for it, or the findings of the Intranet 2.0 Global study, take management guru Peter Drucker's word, or
any of the leading business gurus of the last century. Those that
don't take innovation seriously, are cast aside or merged into
others. Most of the S&P 500 in 1970 don't exist anymore (they're
assets & intellectual property gobbled up long ago by another,
bigger, faster competitor).
About
90% of adults under the age of 40 are on Facebook (higher in Canada
& Northern Europe, a little lower in the US)
39%
of employees under the age of 25 would consider leaving their job if
their company banned tools such as Facebook
How
can a company survive without attracting and keeping the next
generation of employees? How can a company ignore the 2.0 revolution
-- a revolution that has permanently changed the Internet, which
permanently changed business as we know it -- while the competition
embraces it? According to the Intranet 2.0 Global study about 50% of organizations have deployed social media (blogs, wikis, social networking) on the corporate intranet. Those that have not, are missing out on the party.
There's
no better way to get an executive's attention by saying "the
competition is doing it and if we don't we risk losing out."
Point to some of the case study examples I've documented on this site
(e.g. Sabre, BT, Placemaking, Janssen-Cilag and others) as proof, and
cross-reference those against the adoption rates and findings in the
study.
I wrote that "an
organization without a 2.0 strategy risks being left behind, or
outright failure (though death may be slow)." Once consultant responded that I was using "scare tactics". Are Peter Drucker's words "scare tactics"? Warren Buffett has echoed these same sentiments; as do employees who want to work
for progressive and innovative organizations, and expect 2.0
environments from employers of choice.
The
question is not whether or not an intranet or 2.0 is important to
companies, the question is your company part of the revolution or
being left behind?
The
latest update of the Worldwide
Intranet Challenge (WIC) is now available from the WIC blog site.
Since April 1st,
over 5200 intranet users from 16 organisations have participated in
the WIC.
Some
of the findings include:
The
overall average perception of intranet value is: 2.77
out of 4 (69.0%)
If
we only look at those responses where people:
Complete
common work tasks such as applying for leave or booking travel more
than once a day, the average valueincreases to 3.06 (76.5%)
Spend
less than 1 minute a day on the intranet: 1.54 (38.5%)
Spend
between 1-2 hours each day on the intranet: 3.13 (78.3%)
Strongly
agree with the statement 'I can find the information I need on the
intranet' 3.24 (81.0%)
Use
the intranet to publish content more than once a day: 3.07 (76.8%)
Disagree
with the statement 'Pages on the intranet load quickly': 2.61
(65.3%)
An
organization without a 2.0 strategy risks being left behind, or
outright failure (though death may be slow). Employees want to work
for progressive and innovative organizations, and expect 2.0
environments from employers of choice.
561
organizations of all sizes from across the planet participated in the
Intranet 2.0 Global Survey
and the results
reveal rapid adoption of social media on the corporate intranet in
the past year.
Once
a nice-to-have or a future wish, Intranet 2.0 tools such as blogs,
wikis and other vehicles have become mainstream, and are present in
nearly 50% of organizations (regardless of size) in the Western
World.
Intranet
blogs, wikis and discussion forums are quite pervasive, while other
less common tools such as podcasts and mashups remain an
after-thought at most organizations:
47%
have intranet wikis (17% enterprise deployment); 10% have no
plans or interest
45%
have intranet blogs (13% enterprise deployment); 11% have no
plans or interest
46%
have intranet discussion forums (19% enterprise use); 9% have
no plans or interest
46%
have intranet instant messaging (29% enterprise use); 21%
have no plans or interest
19%
have intranet social networking (6% enterprise use); 20% have
no plans or interest
Microsoft
dominance
Microsoft
is leading the 2.0 charge and dominating all competition. For those
organizations that have deployed 2.0 tools inside the firewall, about
half of all organizations have SharePoint (in some shape or form):
48%
of organizations use SharePoint
20%
of organizations use Facebook,17% of organizations use MediaWiki,16%
of organizations use WordPress
Cost
of Intranet 2.0
Intranet
2.0 is cheap. Of those organizations that have implemented 2.0 tools,
almost half have spent $10,000 or less on these tools:
46%
have spent $10,000 or less
35%
have spent between $10,000 and $100,000,19% have spent $100,000 or
more
Poor
execution
Sadly
though, despite the low cost of entry and ease of technology,
satisfaction levels with Intranet 2.0 tools are dangerously low:
Only
29% of organizations rate the tool functionality as good or very
good; 24% rate them as poor or very poor
Satisfaction
rates with executives is dangerously low: only 23% of executives
rate the 2.0 tools as good or very good; 38% rate them as poor or
very poor
To
download a free, summarized version of the report please visit:
36%
come from the U.S; 24% from Europe; 11% from Canada; 11% from
Australia / New Zealand; 10% from UK
61%
have more than 1,000 employees; 32% have 6,000 or more employees;
39% have less than 1000 employees
53%
of organizations have had an intranet for 7 or more years; 17% of
organizations have had an intranet for 2 years or less
13%
of the organizations are government; 13% from technology; 12% from
financial services; 6% from healthcare
The
survey was led by Toby Ward, President, Prescient Digital Media
About
Prescient Digital Media
Prescient
Digital Media is a group of senior intranet and Internet consultants
that provide strategic Internet and intranet consulting, planning and
communications services to organizations of all sizes. Our clients
include: Amgen, Covidien, CBC, CIBC, HSBC, Liberty Mutual, Manulife
Financial, Mastercard, Nintendo, Pepsi, RBC Financial Group, TD, and
more than 100 others. Prescient’s focus includes the
assessment, planning, technology selection, content and launch of
intranets, websites, and web-based tools. For more information please
contact Prescient Digital Media through the website at
www.PrescientDigital.com
or phone 416.926.8800.
Social
media adoption has accelerated on the corporate intranet, led by
blogs, wikis and discussion forums. Despite a low cost of entry—often
below $10,000—adopters are not reporting outstanding satisfaction
with the investment, especially among the executive ranks, driven by
inadequate planning and weak or non-existent business plans.
This
data is contained is contained in the results of the Intranet
2.0 Global Survey,
which included the participation of 561 organizations of all sizes
from across the planet.
Intranet
2.0 Global Survey Results
“Once
a nice-to-have or a future wish, Intranet 2.0 tools such as blogs,
wikis and other vehicles have become mainstream, and are present in
nearly 50% of organizations (regardless of size) in North America,
Europe, and Australia and New Zealand,” says Toby Ward, the study
author, and President, Prescient Digital Media.
How many
organizations are using a CMS for their intranet? What about a portal
solution?
Respondents to the
Intranet
2.0 Global Survey provide
(530+ organizations ranging from small to huge, in all corners of the
globe: 36% come from the U.S.; 24% from Europe; 60% have more than
1,000 employees; 32% have 6,000 or more employees) some very good
insight into the use content management systems (CMSs), as well as
portals and Intranet 2.0 tools.
Key findings:
Less than 2/3s
of organizations use a CMS for their intranet (62%)
24% use a
custom built CMS (home grown CMS)
25% use an
off-the-shelf solution
11% use a
portal solution
There is no
dominant CMS solution – no one vendor has more than 20% market
share
Microsoft
SharePoint is used by 20% of those that use a CMS
Interwoven,
Documentum and Vignette each have 4% market share
No other
solution was cited by more than 8 organizations (2.5% share)
Clearly SharePoint's
dominance in the market is showing here. Though only 20% of the
respondents are using it as a CMS. For those that have implemented
Intranet 2.0 tools, SharePoint (MOSS 2007) is present in 46% of the
organizations (though some organizations are using multiple tools
including SocialText, Confluence and MediaWiki). In other words,
SharePoint is being used as a CMS, but its not its strength which is
collaboration sites, document sharing, and portal functionality /
features. SharePoint is more often being used for collaboration and
portal functionality.
My full presentation
on the Intranet
2.0 Global Survey
findings is next week at J.
Boye – Philadelphia 2009. There are still spots left if you
want to register
now (and some great case study presentations as well).
The full study findings will be sent to survey participants only in
mid-May (TBA) followed by a participant only webinar (yes you have to
take the survey to get the results).
This webinar is free and designed for university professors, instructors, and students. Topics
for discussion include the role of the new media, how the Web is
evolving, and what to expect in the future. Best practices and tips
for how to engage with others and build trust in a virtual world will
also be discussed. Hosted by Plank Center, the one-hour discussion
and presentation is on May 1, at 1:30 CDT.
Moderated
by Keith Burton, President, InsidEdge, presenters include Robert
French, Instructor, PR & Digital Media, Auburn University; Jeff
Beringer, SVP, Dialogue/GolinHarris, and Toby Ward, Founder and CEO
of Prescient Digital Media.
THE SURVEY IS CLOSING & YOUR PARTICIPATION IS REQUIRED -- THE FINDINGS ARE FREE!
500 organizations of all sizes from across the planet have participated and the findings are invaluable - and surprising. If you haven't already done so, please take 8 minutes to take the Intranet 2.0 Global Survey and you’ll get a copy of the full results including the good, bad and learned lessons. Please also direct clients and fellow colleagues. It doesn't cost anything, and I'm not charging anything.
PLEASE TAKE THE SURVEY EVEN IF YOU DO NOT HAVE INTRANET 2.0 TOOLS -- WE REQUIRE BOTH PERSPECTIVES!!
Respondents who complete the survey will be eligible to win $400 (a random email address will be drawn from all responses to the survey). All respondents will also receive a full copy of the results at no cost.
Here's a sneak preview of some of the findings so far:
43%
have intranet blogs (10% enterprise deployment); 11% have no plans
or interest
47%
have intranet wikis (16% enterprise deployment); 10% have no plans
or interest
23%
have intranet podcasts (6% enterprise deployment); 30% have no plans
or interest
17%
have intranet social networking (5% enterprise use); 20% have no
plans or interest
21%
have intranet content tagging (9% enterprise use); 24% have no plans
or interest
37%
have intranet RSS (12% enterprise use); 12% have no plans or
interest
47%
have intranet discussion forums (20% enterprise use); 10% have no
plans or interest
46%
have intranet instant messaging (28% enterprise use); 20% have no
plans or interest
8%
have intranet mashups (3% enterprise use); 46% have no plans or
interest
48%
of organizations using SharePoint for Intranet 2.0 tools
A sneak preview of the findings and some of the case study examples will be showcased at J.Boye 09 in Philadelphia (May 5-7, 2009). Register now & receive a fantastic deal on a technology / communications conference of this quality that includes multiple tracks on intranet, SharePoint, content management, user experience and more. J. Boye also features star speakers including the NY Times' David Pogue.
You've heard of
it... but aren't exactly sure what it is. A mashup, far from being a
cross between a high-school dance move and the whipped potatoes mama
used to make, is typically represented as a single web page that
combines or “mashes” together data or content and tools from
multiple sources.
Google
Maps is an example – it draws all the listings and information from
many different sources without having to use an expensive piece of
portal technology. These are quite simple to do, and for some
represent most of the desired content for integration into a single
view or portal.
Even though most
don't use or understand mashups (sometimes spelt with the hyphen
'mash-up') , this nascent technology is about to break-out on a
corporate intranet near you:
mashups will be
a $682 million industry in the next 5 years (Forrester)
64% of
companies are already adopting mashups or plan to within the next
two years (Economist Intelligence Unit)
Web mashups,
which mix content from publicly available sources, will be the
dominant model (80%) for the creation of new enterprise application
by 2010 (Gartner, which also cites mashup technology as a top 10
'disrupting' technology over the next 4 years)
RSS
(the dominant technology delivering data to mashups) has been
adopted by 37% of organizations; an additional 53% of organizations
plan to or are considering their options for adopting RSS (Intranet
2.0 Global Study)
“Mashup
technologies can and will disrupt enterprise applications,” says
Renat Khasanshyn, author of the Naked
Open Source blog and CEO, Altoros Systems, LLC. “During the
next three years, mashups will open up a new enterprise application
market, providing business users and IT departments with a quick and
inexpensive approach to develop and implement applications. And
during the decade following 2010, maturing mashup building
technologies will shrink the enterprise application market.”
On the corporate
intranet, a mashup would typically combine information and data from
two to six different sources and might include:
a news feed
sales figures
a widget that
displays the most recent comments posted to the CEO blog
inventory
levels delivered from a back-end database
a map
pinpointing active client projects
InformIT, republishing an original article in SOA magazine, offer six major
characteristics to an enterprise or intranet mashup (see Enterprise
Mashups Part I):
Collaborative
- Mashups are designed to be tagged/searchable/shared with others.
User tagging, often called a 'folksonomy', helps users put meaning
for themselves and others.
Have
a face - Mashups usually have a face and the face is a widget. Just
like mashups are "micro", so are the applications that
front-end them. If the user is the recipient of the mashup, it's
only natural for the user to be given a way to interact with the
data.
Focused
on the 'pack' - Mashups are typically created, used, and shared
among a small number of related individuals. Knowledge workers
collaborate in small packs. Although they may be part of a larger
group, they usually function as small teams when it comes to
discrete information needs.
Time-sensitive
- Users need data now. Mashups usually have near real-time delivery
requirements. They don't have time to wait for IT to "pre-integrate"
data so they can get at it. The Web is real-time and business users
have evolved to expect the same inside their enterprises.
Non-invasive
- There's no need to bring in a whole new set of infrastructure, as
enterprise mashups run inside the current enterprise stack. This
includes both mashup sources (databases, SOA services, etc.) and
mashup destinations (portals, blogs, wikis, email, spreadsheets,
etc.).
Limited
cleansing - The amount of data cleansing and normalization needed
should be comparable to the amount of cleansing and normalization a
user does in Excel. If there's more, you have a bigger problem that
should be addressed concurrently with your mashup initiative.
Have
you considered intranet mashups? Are you using a portal for intranet
home page customization / personalization? Have you considered RSS?
Continue the discussion on the Intranet
Global Forum (Facebook
community).
Wondering how to use mashups and other 2.0 technology on the corporate intranet? Have a look at the Intranet 2.0 Blueprint.
(TEL AVIV, Israel) Employees
want to connect with each other, and more importantly, they want to
connect with the company and senior management. A study by Towers
Perrin found that employees overwhelmingly want to know “that
leadership is interested in them.”
Social
media on the corporate intranet (Intranet 2.0) presents a unique
opportunity for all employees at all levels and geographies to better
connect, and share information and knowledge they might not otherwise
share or learn. In fact, distance – both geographical and
intellectual – between these connections is often significant with
little if any filtering from one side to the next; an information gap
that is not easily bridged in larger, dispersed organizations. For
example, the Towers Perrion study also found that:
43%
of employees do not feel they know enough about their own customers
65%
of employees do not feel they know enough about the competition to
be fully effective
Only
39% of employees feel they are informed about the differences
between their company’s products and the competition
A
couple of interesting questions from the seminar that deserve to be
shared with all including the issue of marketing and education. So, how do you market Intranet 2.0 or promote use of these tools?
Marketing
Intranet 2.0 is not unlike marketing the original intarnet –
emploeyes have to...
1-
know that the tools exist, and how they work
2-
understand why the tools are of value to them and the organization
As
I stated in Marketing the intranet, “If you build it they will not
come. Of course, there will always be the curious and keeners and
those that inherently understand it, but an intranet firing at
maximum value requires marketing.”
A
number of recommended insights come from Sodexo USA (thanks to Angelo
Iofredda and Eileen Daly) who were very active in marketing their
intranet, and shared their intranet marketing plan that focuses on six major
components:
Promote
ongoing SodexhoNet name recognition and key wins.
Highlight
the variety of useful content through on- and off-line.
Increase
essential content and applications available only online.
Increase
content – including fun content – that drives repeat visits.
Encourage
continued endorsements from senior leadership.
Support
content owners – increase skill level and enthusiasm, identify and
leverage best practices.
As
far as tactics go, tried-and-true practices are still relevant for
intranet 2.0 including:
E-mail
broadcasts
Home
page and newsletter stories
Cross link from blogs, wikis, discussion forums, etc.
Executive
promotion
Hosted
chats with the CEO
Posters
and mousepads
Premiums
(handouts)
Screensavers
Twitter/Yammer, etc.
Not
to be underestimated, and probably the most valuable tactic would be
to create stories or features that quote your own executives that
relate to subject matters discussed on a blog, wiki, or in a
discussion forum, that links into the related social media tool while
encouraging employees to “join in the conversation” or to “agree,
disagree or comment” on the subject at hand.
