Category Archives: Lotus

People like Social Media because people are social – People are social by nature

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

When calling to talk to people about social business,  I very quickly draw their attention to one thing – People are social by nature

Stop and think about this for a moment.  What do people like to talk about the most? Themselves, perhaps?  Not only that but we find that people like to hang out in communities with like minded people.  Have you ever considered how to leverage this sort of thing in a business context?

If you look at social media such as LinkedIn and Facebook, we see people who want to connect with each other both as friends/colleagues or in common interest groups.  They want to share what they are doing and they want to be part of a solution to a problem.

What would it mean to your business if people had the desire to solve problems based on the expertise they could bring to the table?

Recently, I was talking to an IT Manager about Social Business and how they could use it to harness the collective expertise of his organization.  His response was that this was not something that they would need as they already know what everyone in the business had to offer.  The fact is, he is completely wrong.  There is so much that we don’t know about the people we are close to, let alone employees.  People have so much expertise that may never appear on their Résumé.  An employees life experience is bound to add incredible value to an organization.  The best ideas often come from the least likely of people.

Taking care with Social Media – remember your reputation is on the line

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

Today, I was doing some research online with twitter.  I came across a tweet which caught my eye when I was looking through a few things on twitter.

Over the past few months I have been talking to a number of people in business, who have had issues with fraudulent staff.  The problem has been the length of time that it has taken management to identify that there is an issue to the time it has taken to take action.  Therefore, this tweet caught my interest.

I decided to click on the URL or link at the bottom of the tweet and here is what  came up on the screen:

It would appear that there is a security issue preventing this page from being displayed.  Or could it be that a staff member stole the information?

One of the things that companies need to be mindful of is their on-line reputation.  You need to know that every link you tweet is going to produce a positive experience for a potential or existing customer.  At a minimum, this organization should have a customized page appear and maybe even a form for the user to complete which would allow them to outline what they were looking for.

Transform or go out of business – it isn’t an option

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

Recently, one of New Zealand largest music festivals, The Big Day Out, announced that this year would be the last.  It was not longer a profitable event and therefore it had run its course and it was time for the organizers to move onto something else.  I don’t think that this will be the last of these events which will run themselves out of business.

We need to ask the question, why?  Why do these mega events which attract crowds of thousands, prove to be no longer financially viable?  Why is it that attendance drops by the thousands?

We live in changing times, people are wanting something new and fresh.  They are looking for new thrills, not an experience of the same thing year after year.  The key thing is to understand what your customer is looking for, allowing the masses to provide information which could transform an organisation as new markets evolve.

The thing about these large gatherings/festivals, is that the organizers can make use of crowd-sourcing techniques.  This is when you draw on the collective intelligence of the masses for ideas, discussion and interaction.  Part of the discussions I have around Social Business, cover the need for customer intimacy.  Getting close to your customer and understanding them can not only drive increases in profit, but also transform your business into a market leader showing innovation which will become a competitive differentiator.

I guess I would sum this post up as – It is one thing to copy the competitor, but another thing to harness the collective intelligence of the masses

Why I.T. should not be in control of your business

Posted on by Vaughan Rivett

Recently, I have been involved in some interesting conversations whereby IT people are enforcing restrictions onto users without fully thinking through the consequences for the rest of the business.  What interests me more is that they are able to connivence the management of the business that it is the best way to work.  Care needs to be taken to ensure that a few dollars saved in one place, doesn’t lead to significant costs in the rest of the business.

One of the things that I liked, mentioned in a session at Lotusphere, is that IBM is trying to make common tasks in Lotus Notes so simple that they can be preformed in 2 or fewer clicks.  Obviously, this is in response to feedback from the user community about their views on usability.  I think that this is also an important consideration that all IT departments need to give when thinking about their users.  How can I make their job as simple as possible?

Let’s consider the iPhone and the iPad.  Why have they been so successful?  It would appear that they are really easy to use.  With little or no education people seem to be able to use them and even full in love with them.

Employees want to be able to use the tools they require to productively fulfill the requirements of their jobs.  Frustrations with technology leads to loss of productive time.  IT departments often place restrictions on what users can and cannot do on a machine which lead to frustration.

The result can be the loss of good employees and even make it hard to attract great talent.  I am just wondering if it is time for the business to ensure that IT is running for the business, not the other way around.