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.”

In other words, the mashup provides a light-weight alternative to portals and personalization features (see Alternatives to intranet personalization).

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.

Technorati Profile

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

Keep reading... Building Employee Engagement With Internal Social Networks

(COPENHAGEN, DENMARK) Full slides from the “Integrating Social Media Into Intranets” with added insight on marketing and promoting the intranet below:

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.

Continue reading:

Marketing Intranet 2.0