Business Drivers for Social Networking

® Business Drivers for Social Networking Kathryn Everest IBM Canada Ltd Terminology Social Network Social Networking a network of people that exists an activity or process an enabler “Social” distinguishes it as a human network, as opposed to other types of networks (such as computer or telephone network) the act of reaching out and connecting to others (and potentially through others) the product or service that allows individuals to connect. They can help you build your network, leverage your existing network, or both. Often they have a niche or area of focus such as business connections (LinkedIn), Friendships (Friendster, Orkut), academia (Facebook), etc. Social Software / Social Computing Social Networking Tools an enabler applications that enable mass collaboration (as opposed to communication software such as email) anything that helps you leverage or build your network (or the ability for people to find and connect with you). Examples include blogs, wikis, social bookmarking) a diagnostic is a set of methods and statistics that shows the underlying relationship between people – like an “organizational x-ray” Social Networking Software / Site / Application Social Network Analysis Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 2 Networking is important for individuals … “Graduating from college and getting a job with a big corporation was pretty exciting. My thinking was “I’ll go in and do a good job and they’ll take good care of me.” Now, looking back, I see that my thinking was pretty naive! I learned quickly that going in and doing a good job was not sufficient and that I couldn’t count on a company to take good care of me. I came to realize that I was responsible for creating visibility for myself within the company. I needed to build a network, work that network, and honor that network. I needed to focus on building relationships and becoming known within the departments and divisions where I wanted to work and further my career. I needed to find out who I needed to know and be known by. I needed to find a mentor and get a career strategy in place. I needed to take charge of my career and my career network.” Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 3 And organizations As more 21st century companies come to specialize in core activities and outsource the rest, they have greater need for workers who can interact with others (companies, suppliers, customers) Thus the traditional organization, where a few top managers coordinate the pyramid below them, is being upended. Raising the productivity of employees whose jobs cannot be automated is the next great performance challenge – and the stakes are high. Companies that get it right will build complex talent-based competitive advantage that competitors won’t be able to duplicate easily – if at all Source: The McKinsey Quarterly, 2005, Number 4 Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 4 Demand for Growth Drives a Need for Innovation Innovators grow faster 75% of CEOs indicated that collaboration was important to innovation Top sources of innovation were employees, business partners and customers To thrive in this environment companies must: Weave communities into the product development process Execute innovative ideas quickly CEOs: sources of new ideas and innovation Business partners Clients Consultants Competitors Associations, trade groups, conference boards Academia 45% 35% 25% 15% 5% Employees (general population) Research and development (internal) Sales or service units Other Think tanks Internet, blogs, bulletin boards 5% 15% 25% 35% 45% IBM Institute for Business Value. CEO Study 2006 Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 5 Changing expectations about work Traditionalist Training Learning style Communication style Problem-solving Decision-making Leadership style Feedback Technology use Job changing The hard way Classroom Top down Boomer Too much and I’ll leave Facilitated Guarded Gen X Required to keep me Independent Hub and spoke Gen Y Continuous and expected Collaborative and networked Collaborative Collaborative Horizontal Independent What Hierarchical new tools will they expect to use? Seeks approval Team informed Team includes Team How can we help them collaborate and innovate?decides Command and control No news is good news Uncomfortable Unwise Get out of the way Once per year Unsure Sets me back Coach Weekly / daily Unable to work without it Necessary Partner On demand Unfathomable if not provided Part of my daily routine Source: Lancaster, L.C. and Stillman, D. When Generations Collide: Who They Are. Why They Clash. How to Solve the Generational Puzzle at Work. Wheaton, IL. Harper Business, 2003. Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 6 What is a social network? A social network is a network of people But it is not about the people themselves (which solutions like expertise location focus on) but it’s about relationships The value is in the relationship or tie “between” people – and the reciprocal activity of giving and receiving Similar to other networks. For example, what good is a “super computer” that is not part of a computer network, or that only a small part of the organization can access, or where the is insufficient bandwidth? We need connections and bandwidth to really leverage these assets. Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 7 So if people are the nodes, and the connections are their relationships, what improves “bandwidth”? Trust is key to information sharing and collaboration (one of the key reasons why information from people is preferable to other sources) Research* has identified two types of trust that critical to collaboration: benevolence-based trust and competence-based trust. Benevolence based trust is based on what others have experienced of your behaviour and conduct Competence based trust is based on what others believe you know This research also identified that knowledge sharing did not require a strong tie, but rather that the trust was there ** “people reported getting their most useful knowledge from trusted weak ties” * Source: Trust and knowledge sharing: A critical combination, IKO White Paper, 2002 Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 8 Social networking is not new, and its importance has been known for years Social networks are personal relationships that help keep us informed, develop opinions, to make decisions, and accomplish work goals. Networks expand our knowledge and increase our circle of influence Research over the past twenty-five years consistently reveals that people rely heavily on other people to find information as well as learn how to do their work Networking is a key differentiator in knowledge workers who are high performers Provides an “enduring infrastructure” for knowledge, learning, and innovation “Our heavy reliance on other people for information and learning is one of the most consistent and robust findings in the social sciences. It also matches our intuition and lived experience in organizations: other people are critical to our ability to find information, learn how to do our work, and develop professionally” Cross, Abrams, Parker, Trusted Networks: Assessing How Whom You Know Can Bias What You Learn, IKO, February 2003 Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 9 What research supports Networking? Research validates that networking is a key competency of high performers Research validates that knowledge of the network is a key differentiator in high performing teams Research validates that trust and diversity are key to efficient and effective networks Collaboration and effective networks lead to flexible, creative and more responsive organizations Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 10 In Thinking for a Living Tom Davenport concludes: “While network development might be somewhat innate to a given person, we also found that managers can do a lot to support effective network development in their organizations. Perhaps the most important point here is not to equate networking with socializing or more communication. Very rarely do overburdened knowledge workers want more offsites or meetings for purely social objectives. Rather, helping employees develop an awareness of who knows what in the organization allows them to know whom to turn to for help. Job titles and organization charts alone provide little guidance as to whom people should seek out when a new problem or opportunity comes along. In part this can be facilitated by such technologies as skill profiling systems or expertise locators. However, technical solutions have to be wed to interventions that promote the quality of relationships and collaboration in these settings. “ Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 11 Why is the time right for Social Networking Software? Net Generation Social Networking is being adopted by many groups Virtual / Remote Work Necessary to network beyond workgroup – need to reach across the organization and the world Complexity necessitates collaboration No one person or organization can be the expert anymore. Complex issues require multidisciplinary perspectives Growth of Knowledge Workers Changing Demographic Social Networking Software as an Enabler Need to Drive Innovation Trend Towards On the Job Learning Need to Improve Performance Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 12 It takes more than just “a mechanism to collaborate” for people to successfully collaborate Critical Success Factors Awareness Assembling How do I know who is out there? Are this person competent? Being Recruited How can I become more known? How can I advertise my expertise? How can I develop my reputation as a trusted partner? Social Networking Competence (Trust) Benevolence (Trust) Will this person help me? Motivation Am I motivated to work with this person? Why will I cooperate with this person? Culture Access Can I approach this person? Do I want to be approached? Collaborative Tools Skills Mechanism Does the team have the skills necessary to collaborate effectively? (e.g. technical, communication, people, business, etc) Do we have a method to collaborate? Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 13 Profiles Find people by name, expertise, or keyword to locate someone with the experience and knowledge you need Reporting chain view to see the structure of your organization Easily access a person’s communities, blogs and bookmarks View experience, skills and past projects Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 14 Profiles Search Integrate into applications to enable collaboration Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 15 Profiles Good Practice … Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 16 Dogear Centrally store your bookmarks and share them with others Subscribe to your coworkers' bookmarked web pages Filter bookmarks by "tagging" them with as many keywords as you want Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 17 Communities Tools for finding, joining and creating communities See what communities are new, popular, or active Tags help you find the community you need by filtering content Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 18 Blogs Easily create blogs to share knowledge with a wide audience Exchange viewpoint and share perspectives to increase innovation Keywords can be used to search within a blog or across multiple blogs Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 19 Activities Organize and work with all your tasks, both individual as well as group projects, in a single place Create templates for repeated tasks to capture best practices Tap your professional network to get things done Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 20 Social Software is already at work in IBM Profiles IBM’s internal BluePages application provided the basis for Profiles. BluePages holds 578,254 profiles and serves 3.5 million searches per week. It is the hub of both user requests and all applications authentication for IBM. Communities IBM hosts over 1400 online communities. IBM forums have 147,000 members and over 1 million messages. Blogs IBM’s BlogCentral has 39,531 blog users (owners and commenters) with 94,061 entries and 93,120 comments, as well as 20,040 distinct tags. IBM’s internal Dogear system has 393,979 links from 12,676 users, and 16% are private. There are 991,116 tags and 4,146 watchlist subscriptions. IBM’s internal Activities service contains 33,138 activities with 248,324 entries and 59,825 users. Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. Data is as of December 13, 2007 21 Dogear Activities Next Steps… Exploration of Technology (EOT) Present and demonstrate the business benefits and technical capabilities of Enterprise 2.0 Software, especially the value it brings when teams collaborate, share, and communicate effectively. Recommended that participants have an understanding of their business needs. **Session is offered free of charge** Proof of Technology (POT) Specifically targeted for technical persons who need to understand how social software helps enable collaboration and innovation in their business. No prerequisite knowledge is required. However, it is recommended that participants have a basic understanding of the J2EE architecture and web applications, as well as their own business needs and current IT technologies. **Session is offered free of charge** Lotusphere Comes to You Roadshow Taking Lotusphere on the road. This is a full day conference with executive keynote speakers, product demos, hands-on labs, and product showcases from IBM Business Partners. Upcoming cities: Toronto and Montreal. Social Networking for Businesses Virtual Tradeshow Hear from other IBM experts on the topic of social media via a live virtual event. For more information, please contact Marian Lee at leem@ca.ibm.com Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 22 Thank You Enterprise social software. Unleash the power of us. 23