I am not sure that we will be talking about Social Business in as little as five years

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

My wife is a primary school teacher and she has been pioneering a “digital classroom”.  While a lot of this has been experimental, she has seen amazing results.  Take for example, children with learning difficulties who are able to substantially advance their potential through the use of an iPad.  Not only are the kids using the latest technologies and cloud based solutions but they are also facilitating their learning through the use of social media.  This has taken their learning from being an individual experience to a collaborative experience.

We struggle to dream of what the next 5 years will hold with technology, but one thing I am sure about, is that we will no longer talk about Social Business.  The reason for this is that it will just be the way we work.  Businesses all around the world, will adopt Social Business strategies as they go through business transformation.  They funny thing is that the children of today are using these tools as part of their everyday like.

Who knows what/who will be the technology leaders in the next 5 years.  It may well be that today there is a trend which is quietly leading to the explosion of another era in technology.  Today, children are being taught and prepared for jobs which don’t even exist today.  I am starting to hear of a number of new top level (c-level) roles.  One of the main being the role of the CLO (Chief Listening Officer).  This is a person who is strategically engaged in listening to and interpreting what sentiment there is for a particular brand or group of brands.  The interpretation of this social capital will lead to better services, new products and the flex required to react to rapidly changing markets.

For readers who are interested, here is a link to my wife’s blog

 

User Adoption Strategies – moving second wave people

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

While on a flight to Christchurch today, I decided that it was high time (that’s a pun) that I read a book which I had downloaded onto my iPad some time ago. Michael Sampson’s book, User Adoption Strategies – moving second wave people, is so far an excellent read.  I have only covered the first two chapters, but what he has to say really makes good sense.

So often I have seen companies put in place new technologies and say to the users “here it is, now use it”.
Nobody likes change, especially when there is no strategy for adoption of the change, whether it be a change in IT systems or a change in process. There are many reasons for this and the business need to consider ways to make any transitional change easy with buy-in from all parties.

Having a “geek” background. I know how easy it is to see how a new technology can help solve what I may perceive to be a problem. I so easily jump on board and embrace the technology, while struggling to put into words the value for someone else. As Michael describes ‘first wave’ users, I felt that he was talking about me.

Michael Sampson has used a technology agnostic approach, for which I feel helps to keep his message out of the technology gutter (so to speak). His straight forward approach is likely to be understood by anyone in business leadership and decision makers.

Social business is a competitive differentiator – The dream of being a market leader now has to become reality

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

On the tail end of a global financial crisis and as the world tries to avert another, the businesses which are going to flourish are those who are able to recreate themselves as their industry defines who they are to be.  It would seem that every system and process needs to be realigned to changing customer demand.  The dream of being a market leader now has to become reality.

Social Business is not about technology (though it may have been driven by technology), but it is more to do with the culture of a business.  It is about increasing productivity, working smarter, providing more value to customers and being able to take new ideas to market in less time.

If we are to look at social media, we see a lot of great ideas taking off and going viral.  We see people become famous over night, such as Justin Bieber, who despite my lack of enthusiasm has been successful on the world stage.  The term “crowd-sourcing” is one which suggests that we can get feedback from a crowd of people, who add power to an idea, such as the Occupy New York movement which went global.  This seems to be quite powerful in what many consider to be a fantasy world, but in reality it is a world which seems to be wielding great power.

If we were to look at this in a business context, it could be that a platform is created to encourage employees (crowd-sourcing) to share their thoughts on how to do business better.  A lot of staff are customer facing and while their ideas may not be practical or inline with best business practice, an active conversation may lead to a solution which will set your company apart from the competition.

Here are some traits found in a Social Business

  1. Employees feel like they are an integral part of the business
  2. They are able to attract and retain good employees
  3. They can deliver on products and services, faster than their competitors
  4. Innovation is the signature of their success
  5. 57% of go-ahead businesses are Social Businesses

AusLUG 2012 is going to be a blast – you don’t want to miss this conference!

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

I can hardly believe that AusLUG 2012 is in only 2 months.  After such a good Lotusphere, AusLUG will be something that you want to attend.  I am hoping that we will be able see a good contingent from New Zealand attend this year.  IBM has been doing some amazing stuff with their IBM Collaboration Solutions portfolio.  I expect that there will be a focus on Social Business strategies.

AusLUG is being held in Melbourne, Australia from the 29th to the 30th March 2012.  All the information you need can be found on their website.