Coffee Time

Using random meet-ups to build relationships and strengthen company culture

by with No Comment Future of WorkSocial Business

I love this idea…

One initiative we’re trying at the moment is CoffeeTime. CoffeeTime is an app, created in less than a day by Daniel, one of our developers. It works by pairing people up randomly, to meet and greet each other, often with someone you may not normally interact with. It doesn’t matter what level in the org chart, or role each person plays. Anyone can be matched up for a 30-minute chat (though people can choose to opt-out, of course). It aims to encourage the cross-team communication and serendipitous learning which otherwise happens naturally when co-workers share an office.

At its heart is the idea that the most important things to learn are often those you didn’t even know you needed to. By making more connections with the people you work with, it increases the likelihood that you’ll have access to someone who can help you further down the line. Maybe that person is having a similar problem or has experienced it before and can point you in the right direction. Or maybe you just end up making a new friend!

CoffeeTime visual

Either way, once a week CoffeeTime runs and you’re matched up with someone else in the organization. Each of you receives an email telling you who that person is. You then take it from there and arrange to meet in person or over a Hangout, to eat lunch or just chat.

The folks at Fog Creek who invented the CoffeeTime app have now open-sourced it and so you can try the concept out in your organisation.

I believe that any digital  transformation project needs to embrace and enable face-to-face as well as online relationships. I therefore think that this model has real potential in breaking down barriers, developing stronger cross-departmental ties and reinforcing an open and informal culture of collaboration.

What do you think? Would you consider running a similar app at your organisation?

IBM FileNet (CCM) and soccnx

by with No Comment IBM Connections

Last 2 days (13 & 14 November) the most important User Group for the IBM Connections world has been held in Stockholm in Sweden called “Social Connections”. I attended this event and it was a perfectly organized event once again ! On this event I meet several people who have asked me the following question,

Can I easily change the place where are my files get stored by IBM Connections.

What the questioner’s mean with this question is the so called shared data drive within IBM Connections.
The Answer to this question is YES. But the documentation isn’t really completely clear about it. For all the basic applications being delivered with IBM Connections it can be quite easily be solved and that’s by just renaming the directory and then update the WebSphere variables which where pointing to the old directory (there are lots so closely look you get them all !). and you should be finished for the basic IBM Connections applications.

For CCM (Connections Content Manager) its a bit different. CCM is based on IBM FileNet and the storage path of FileNet is actually being configured within FileNet itself. Within IBM FileNet you have a configuration item called “FileNet P8 domains” within the CCM implementation this domain is called “ICDomain”. So we have to go to the ACCE console (Administration Console for Content Platform Engine) you can access this console on the address https://<FQHN>/acce and you have to login with your connections admin user ID. With this admin application you have to click on the “ICDomain” and the Click on the category “Object Stores” and the click the IBM Connections specific called objectstore called “ICObjectStore”. It will open an extra TAB now with all the configuration items for the ObjectStore which is specific for IBM Connections. Within the configuartion of the ObjectStore click on the category “Administrative” and then “”Storage Areas”. Here you have a configuration item called “Root directory path” which points to the directory which is the root for the IBM Connections ObjectStore. Change that property value to the new directory where you want to store the data and stop and start the FileNet environment. Now you should be able to download your old documents again from your libraries within IBM Connections.

Please let me know if this was of any value for you as reader.

 

Stop sending me attachments! Part 3: but how?

by with No Comment IBM Connections

So after exploring the reasons why users still send e-mail (part 1) and trying to analyse the reasons why people have not changed their ways and how products have not helped the people either (part 2). In this third and last part of the essay present six idea’s to fix the fact that people don’t just change easily. The ideas explored are technology driven idea’s that will help users to change habits effortlessly.

So where do we go with this?

Let’s innovate to close the gap now…

Finally, it’s time to present the six ideas that I think we need to fix the problem. Let try to close the gap between the future state and the current situation. The gap currently lacking typically in siloed products and inter-vendor integrations. Because let’s be honest there is no such digital space that is “perfect” but we can try and bridge that gap for end-users by iterating now.

Warning: The ideas are described using an end-user perspective. Not worrying about products limits or feature lack. They just describe what we need to close that gap.

Idea 1: Stop sending me attachments…

So the most common task that people do to collaborate is to send each other files. Of course we want them to use Connections Files. But the practical situation is that people don’t change their ways and still use attachments. So instead of trying to change the people, let’s just change the behavior of the mail client to help the end user. Every time a user clicks the “paperclip” to attach a file to a e-mail, the file attachment gets uploaded to Connections Files (or even just pick a file from his personal files). The user does not worry about “rights” to the file, so instead all receivers get access to the file automagically.

To make the user experience as seamless as possible we mimic the principle of sending an e-mail  with a file attachment as closely as possible. So this means, if a file is attached, then the file is upload to Connections Files and a link is inserted into the mail instead. All recipients of the mail should automatically have access in editor mode to the attached file (no matter if that’s to, cc or bcc).

If an e-mail is sent outside the company’s boundaries, then the mail client (or infrastructure) will detect that and it should insert a unique link so that receiving users can fetch the file from the Connections Files implementation. By using unique links for each external recipient you can later on even see how picked up the file and who did not. The unique link to the shared file makes so that it can be fetched WITHOUT the need to login. This way to the sending and receiving users its the same as sending an attachment through e-mail.

Dialogue should be kept to an absolute minimum. All files that are attached this way are put in a separate folder, called “Attached Files” or something like that. So users can later see what files they have sent to others, separate from My Files.

Ps. if you think that the Connections Mail plugin actually already did this, you are wrong. It’s broken, a link is inserted, but the “rights” to the file need to be modified manually. So users get frustrated and stop using it 🙁

Idea 2: All incoming e-mails with attachments are converted to “Connections Files”

Any incoming email is automatically analyzed and attachments will be turned into links on the boundary. Files are automatically uploaded to the Connections Files repository. Users that receive the e-mail within the company’s firewall will get an email with links to the Files in the Connections Files repository. Stop sending me attachments remember. All receivers of the me-ail will be owners of the file, since the mail was sent to them, they own the file.

All files are always put in a user folder, called “Attached Files”.

Idea 3: Seamless integration between Office and Links to Documents

Currently if you have links to files in emails most people will launch a word processing client that uses the web http links to fetch the file and open it. This causes a very bad user-experience for the end user. There is no seamless integration between Office and documents stored in Connections Files. The idea is to change the behavior of the workplace. So that if the e-mail client opens a Web link that points to a “file” in the Connections Files repository. It always opens through the “Connections Desktop Connector” seamless for the user. When the users is done he can simply save the file back to the “Storage locations”. The result will be a more seamless experience. This would be a way better experience than through the http Web interface which is scaring people away.

Idea 4: Improved plugin within Notes to Connections Files and CCM

So in the real world of mixed environments we live in, we will have files in e-mail and links in e-mail files. But people want to have order. Add stuff to folders. With CCM (Quickr) and Notes Connections Files Sidebar plugins you can drag and drop files in nested folders. This helps people a lot to organize. They still want to move their files around and order them. Users want to put attachments into folders (Files) or even nested folders (CCM). From the Notes client it should be possible to drag and drop files into folders or CCM folders. AND a links should be left behind in the e-mails (when removing attachments from mail).

So users can find the file that was moved out of the e-mail. And in cases where files are still attached (old school) to e-mail it can seamlessly be moved into the folder, a link is inserted in the mail object, and the attachments are removed from the e-mail object itself. In all scenarios links are inserted, so a user can later read his e-mail and find the file that way (never forget: old habits die hard).

Idea 5: Forwarding e-mail with attachments

When a user forwards a e-mail with attachment(s) then the mail client should simply re-share the file using the Connections API, this way an user can even track the sharing of his file. The true power of sharing is knowing who files are shared with, even when mails are forward outside the IBM platform you could still track the fact that mail is shared. An user can also track the downloads of his file that was sent to external users this way, even have policies disabling the downloads.

Idea 6: Ditch and remove the whole option of attachments from e-mail clients (i.e. Notes)

So the most radical idea is to not “fix” something that is fundamentally broken, the whole idea of attachments is about sending documents around through a communication channel is flawed. At the time of inception there was nothing better around. So way back it made sense to send e-mails with attachment(s). So even though idea #1 fixes the way of sharing a document by putting it in a centralized place we should make users even think more. Remember the title: Stop sending me attachments!

Why not simply remove the option to “send” files or links? Just remove the option. That way people have to think again about how to communicate with others. Finally they might start to consider the sharing of documents by themselves. Put knowledge in a wiki or write up a report as a blog and share it more openly, instead of sending tasks via  e-mail. People just might start using Activities to get their jobs done and communicate tasks with others, instead of dropping an e-mail that needs decoding by the receiver (bad habits die hard).

If the future state is a more holistic view on collaboration platforms, then ESN and e-mail should just melt and become a purposeful platform. You should be able to reply from within an e-mail (on any e-mail client) and the ecosystem should just make sure your “response” is put in the right place (a comment field, a reply to a status update, etc.).

Let’s iterate to the future…

Close the gapSo why this now? The future is bright, but is it not always that bright? Would we want to go forward if the future was bad? So I am a realistic optimist, we need to start to iterate. To take baby steps. It’s not just tools, it is also about people who need to change, too. But that takes time. In the mean time,  it should become easier to collaborate. It should be a goal to break the unnatural boundaries of the current products out in the marketplace (and yes, I dream of looking beyond the “one” supplier). The current boundaries make it hard to see how this will end up.

So let’s make an effort to fix what can be fixed first, and in that try to walk toward the future state where people work effortlessly in a purposeful way and get the things done they need to get done in the most efficient way possible.

Oh, and stop sending me attachments, please!

Stop sending me attachments!! Part 2: the analysis…

by with 4 Comments IBM Connections

So there are many reasons why people have their habits (part 1), not least in the product they use in their daily work life. So in part 2 I will explore the technology angle and look for causes why tools are the way they are and why a seamless integrated platform is harder then it looks.

The idea of seamless and effortless integration of products…

So while this is happening the quasi religious war is being fought. People are searching for purposeful ways to work. Can we make tools that help them to just be more collaborative? Can we make it so that people don’t need to change habits? That culture can adapt to the new ways? Can the tools facilitate the old habits and ways? And at the same time, create a simple cross over to the new and more efficient ways of working?

So let’s start with some simple facts:

  • People do use documents to “solidify” knowledge.
  • Most people live in their email client and send word/excel documents as attachments.
  • Products are NOT integrated well.
  • Adaptors and plugins are just NOT helping enough.
  • People have habits that work for them and habits are hard to change.

Seamless IntegrationIn case of IBM Connections and IBM Notes this is clearly the case. But that’s not unique in the marketplace, by the way! Products have been dealt with by different groups. Notes is a 25 year old product and on the other hand Connections is just 7 years old (ok, the roots of the products can be traced to internal projects, but still). So it’s not weird that the products have their own ways and create their own habits. And believe me e-mail is not dead, not by a long shot. So over time other mail clients appeared in the marketplace, like Gmail, Yahoo Mail, Hotmail and Apple Mail. All in all THE most common way to collaborate is through e-mail and documents. For both within organizations and beyond, it’s simply the least common denominator in most cases. Collaboration based on e-mail has run into many issues over the years and fixed them. The standards lack precision so there are issues between technology implementations. e-Mail is still not secure from end user to end user after 25 years+.  Attachments get bounced because of size. Calendar items are handled differently by everyone. This causes lots of problems in everyday worklife. Who has not dealt with calendar problems, file size issues (it’s just too big) and security worries (viruses and unencrypted mail traffic)?

That said, e-mail is still one of the best use cases of product evolution. Some e-mail clients have added features on top of features for many years now. They have become truly amazing information processing products. Integrated with calendaring, task management and contacts databases.

But lets go back a step. In the last 10 or so years we have seen the arrival of new collaboration solutions that augment e-mail and are “more” social. They create places where people can work on documents online, co-create and share knowledge with others. And yet, these new products do not integrate well (not being by the same father or even the same family). At best “notifications” are sent into the old-and-trusted mailbox of the user. The notifications try to get them to come over to the more collaborative space where they can collaborate on a document. But the products are still siloed, each having their own space. It’s the innovator dilemma happening in real life, since the old products still make money and people are used to them. While the new products have not disrupted the marketplace enough to truly replace e-mail at this point. This causes the situation where their is a multitude of solutions to for users to choose from on how to collaborate.

The e-mail client is changing, hopefully for the better. At least that is what the signs in the marketplace is, Microsoft, Google and IBM are all looking for better ways of doing e-mail. IBM has a project called Mail.Next… Google is working on the next generation Inbox. So everyone in the marketplace is trying to reinvent e-mail. No believe me, the future is upon us. So why worry? All the issues will be fixed in the Cloud Service or Startup Innovation or New App or the Next version of the same product…

Somehow we (=enterprise users) feel left behind. The on-premise customers. Even when there is a product release. We work and slave for another 9-12 months before we can help our end users to make a next step. In reality of our workplace it will take another 2 years before we can reap the benefits of the IBM Mail.Next initiative. And even Google is cautious to just replace their old and trusted Gmail product with the new Inbox, so this innovator of cloud is not moving as fast as you might expect.

So what do we as users want? We want to see evolution in small steps and at a faster pace. While the products are being reinvented, we want to see the the gaps closed now in anticipation of the future convergence of products into “collaboration platforms” that can support purposeful collaboration and do actually integrate seamlessly over product and vendor boundaries.

In the last part I will present ideas that try to innovate and iterate the products and platforms use to get our job done. Ideas that make technology help users to change habits in an effortless way.

Stop sending me attachments!!

by with 5 Comments IBM Connections

Introduction

Picture of Robert van den BreemenBefore I begin, let’s first introduce myself. My name is Robert van den Breemen. I am working as an Enterprise IT Architect for over 15 years in a large Dutch government department. I am passionate about technology and the effect it has on the way people work. As the lead in the Digital Workspace Initiative that tries to enable users to do their work in a modern way I have seen and experienced first hand what technology-enablement means and how resistant people and organizations are to change. That leads me to exploration of the causes and present some ideas for improvements that will hopefully inspire change in technology. Simply because there is bright future ahead of us.

 

An essay on seamless cross integration between mail client and social platform(s)

In this essay (in three parts) I am going to explore the topic by creating a context and give my analysis of the situation. I will paint a picture of the reasons why people are not as efficient as they could be. I will explore what is probably going on in large enterprises. Which finally leads me to some new ideas why seamless cross integration of products is way more important than tons of new features in product and platforms.  

So one of the use cases that seems to be ignored in the collaboration space is the fact that sharing files and documents is done through e-mail as often as before. Even though Connections Files is a great way to share Files and Documents around it’s not done as much as you would expect. So let’s look at the root causes of this problem and why do people not change their behavior.

Some causes that we have seen within our deployment of Notes and Connections:

  1. People just are not used to Connections Files, they find it hard to use.
  2. People are used (habit) to putting their files in the mail and sending it to end-users.
  3. People are getting e-mails from the outside world as attachments.
  4. People still have their files on local disks and network shares, and drag and drop files into their e-mail.
  5. e-Mail is still the most common way to share stuff around to other people, to collaborate.
  6. People still think knowledge is power and they need to hoard and protect their content.
  7. Notes Mail and Connections Files are NOT integrated, it takes changes in one’s habits and workflow changes that are harder then just dragging and dropping.
  8. People live on file sharing, Office products and mail clients, not in browsers and Web pages.
  9. People are hard to convince to use yet another platform.
  10. People have their files and knowledge live in many places, mailboxes, Dropbox, file sharing, cloud drives, teamrooms, and… and…
  11. People send stuff to the outside world, then having stuff in Connections Files does not help.  So drop it into an e- mail, and off you go.
  12. People don’t know anymore where their stuff is opened, so e-mail with attachments might be opened on mobile devices, on android, on ipad or iphones or a Web client. Or even sent to an external user with Google Mail or Outlook mail client, or Apple Mail. It should all just work.

Email badgeWhen you ask adoption consultants what the problem is most of them will tell you that it’s a training and habit problem. So you just need to educate people more, teach them where  to do their tasks more efficiently and how to collaborate more efficiently. Thus the movement of “Zero eMail”. But lots of tasks still happen in e-mail and people just  have plain bad habits. But to be honest, the tools to communicate and collaborate don’t help you… In the last 5 years we have seen more and more options to collaborate to work differently. And yes, we just gave people yet another option to worry about, we added a channel, we called it a “social platform” (Connections). So basically we just added one more channel to their daily work habits. What do you think, did that help? It depends, it all depends on who you ask.

There are the true believers. We call them evangelists. People who truly believe that the way to go is to leave email behind and start working as a connected company. They will tell you that email is inefficient and that you have to change your ways. They show you convincing examples of how to change your ways. They create the 7 habits of highly effective people without e-mail. And they are right, of course. In a way we can be more efficient by working in a more open and connected platform, where people collaborate more openly, where you work together online in real time on a document, instead Danger Religious Warsof exchanging e-mails with individuals, fragmenting the discussions. You can involve your whole team, they can all see and comment on work items (aka documents). Thus you build on each other’s knowledge (like standing on the shoulders of giants). Clearly this is better. Its potential is clear. So people try. Some convert and will become believers as well. The believers will always try to work in the new way. Use the tools of their new beliefs. Even though it’s not always easy to follow along this path…

However in the meantime there are the haters too. They believe there is nothing wrong with their ways. They have worked this way for many many many years. Even though they can see some benefits in the way of the believers. They also see the flaws. They notice that the products are different. The ways of working are more open. You could easily see flaws. People make mistakes. So it boils down that these people resist. And start hating what the believers are telling them. They will resist the change that is happening. At every chance they will point out the flaws in the new way of working and the new tools. Some even believe that it might work, but point out that there is a whole other religion. It’s similar but another church and their ways and tools are just more appealing. They work better, smoother and have been around just as long. And that church copies some of the features, but improves upon them.

The truth is that the majority of people within an enterprise is caught somewhere in between the lines. They yet don’t see the benefits of the new ways of working and don’t understand the new tools. In fact, they just need to get their work done and want to get out of the office in time. They are just overwhelmed with the all the new functions and old options they are used to. They don’t want to change, it’s working just fine. They just want to be productive and get their work done. Of course they want to collaborate. Most work in teams anyway, so they have worked that way, right? Over the years the tools keep changing over and over again.  And the collaboration is done by groups of people. So even if the individual believes there are better ways, there is still the bigger group that needs to change their ways. In the mean time the world is changing in an increasingly faster pace, with mobile and cloud introducing new options daily, it seems.

Culture eats...So this is the context of most enterprise organizations that have started down the route to become a more social or a more connected enterprise. Some start with a clear vision of a more collaborative future of the work environment, where people can collaborate seamlessly with others, where leadership recognizes that they need to differentiate themselves from their competitors. There are different strategies to reach those goals of course. But as we all know culture eats strategy for lunch. In large organizations it is very hard to change culture . Strong leadership is needed. But even if you have strong leadership and a great vision of the future, even if that’s there that’s not a recipient for success. Why? Well leadership changes. The change of culture is difficult. The payoff takes a while. Value is not immediately apparent. People resist change. And tools are flawed. But, but, but, in time this will all be fixed. If we just switch to a tool that works? Or it will work the tools will become better and work seamlessly. Tools are simple to change, it is just the technology. And then people will see the benefit in the end and start working differently. And while this is all happening around us, people suffer. They are faced with an ever growing multitude of tools and choices. Choices they have to make. People have become the “integrators” between all the tools for their new way of working. And most enterprises fail to implement this better future effortlessly. Simply because you need long term leadership in place and that’s not the way most companies are built. It’s about short term and immediate return.

But what if we can incrementally change and grow slowly toward a better future? In the next part of this essay I will explore why products don’t help as much as they could…

Everything Connections: Australian IBM Connections user group pilot

by with No Comment EventsIBM Connections

Really pleased to hear that Adam Brown and the ISW team are kicking off a local IBM Connections user group in Australia:
[squeeze_box]Everything Connections

Is your organisation a social business, running on IBM Connections?

Want to learn from your peers in other businesses about how they use and obtain value from the platform and what’s in store for the next generation of IBM Connections? Want to open dialogue with like-minded colleagues and establish an ongoing user group in Australia?

Then this is the event for you!

As one of Australia’s leading IBM Premier Business Partners, we here at ISW figured there is a lot we can learn from each other. Rather than host a big bang event, we’re proposing to pull together a small group of like-minded people from Dulux, Incitec Pivot and Cochlear willing to share their experiences, for mutual benefit to all participants.

We’re inviting you to come and join us and help us all learn about Social Business together!

DOWNLOAD THE FLYER >>
REGISTER HERE >>

AGENDA:

THURSDAY: Morning arrival. Kick off and 4 hrs of session and learning in the afternoon. Dinner with everyone at an awesome Hobart restaurant.
FRIDAY: 6 hrs of session and learning, leaving time enough for everyone to catch a flight home, or alternatively stay on and enjoy a weekend in Tasmania![/squeeze_box] Taking place on 17th/18th July, this sounds an exciting first event. Register now if you’re in the area…

[The event has been added to the event calendar on this site – check out the other IBM Connections-related events coming up soon!]

GE Colab

Are you asking users to ‘mingle’?

by with No Comment Misc

PCWorld have published an interesting perspective on the adoption of Enterprise Social Networks (ESNs), entitled ‘Many employees won’t mingle with enterprise social software‘ (and yes, that’s the first time I’ve used the word ‘mingle’ on this site!):

Carol Rozwell, a Gartner analyst, estimates that between 70 percent and 80 percent of companies she talks to about their ESN deployments are struggling with it.

“Too often we see companies whose leaders are thrilled with the technology, and they see how quickly consumer social networks like Facebook have grown. They think they’ll accomplish the same growth rate and participation if they purchase the right tool,” she said. “That approach doesn’t work.”

Gartner predicts that through 2015, 80 percent of social business efforts will not achieve their intended benefits due to inadequate leadership and an overemphasis on technology, she said.

GE ColabIt goes on to discuss the success of GE’s internal ESN solution, GE Colab, which has been in place since 2012:

“Hundreds of communities have popped up on Colab,” said Andrew Markowitz, the company’s global director of digital strategy. “It’s very actively used. There are strong metrics around it.”

It has gotten so far about 50 million page views. Several hundred thousand comments have been posted to it. Users spend an average of 10 minutes on GE Colab per visit. “There is good, strong appetite for this type of tool,” he said.

Before turning back to consider the issues involved with lack of adoption in many ESN deployments, with quotes from Charlene Li and Alan Lepofsky amongst others:

Many ESNs aren’t living up to their full potential because they’ve been implemented as a technology and not as a business strategy,” Li said.

Gartner’s Rozwell stresses that there needs to be “a compelling purpose for which the tool will be used.”

Compelling in this context means not only that the software has to be enticing, but that it also helps people get their job done better, whether that means faster, easier, more efficiently or less expensively, she said.

…

For Alan Lepofsky, a Constellation Research analyst, the meshing of ESNs with business processes is essential. “If an ESN is not integrated with tools like file-sharing, CRM, marketing automation, support tracking or project management, then it becomes just another tool, and that is where adoption issues begin,” he said via email.

Organizations need to ensure that ESNs are woven deeply in to their core business processes in areas such as sales, marketing and engineering, according to Lepofsky.

Some thoughts:

  • It’s terrific that mainstream tech sites such as PC World are finally covering ESNs and collaboration platforms with some level of consideration beyond just publishing vendor press releases.
  • Even though the tone of the article is realistic, it is positive in terms of the GE case study and also the outlook for the ESN market generally.
  • The principal messages are sound.  That ESNs are not simply a technology to be deployed, but instead are an enabler for business processes and strategy, and should be seen as an element to be included in significant business transformation projects. Secondly, users have to understand why they are asked to use the new platforms and how it fits into their role, and into the organisation as a whole.
  • My own experience is that ESNs implemented purely by IT departments or by technology-focused partners or consultants are more than likely to fail.  This should not be a shock to anyone in 2014, yet it still seems to be at the root of so many negative stories and case studies that get published today.
  • Successful Social Business/Collaboration/Open Business projects are those led by the business for the business, that utilise talented teams and individuals with real-world experience of delivering transformation at strategic and cultural levels.  If you don’t have those people involved in your ESN project – stop, now’s the time to get them on board!

IBM extends championship run in Enterprise Social Software

by with No Comment Announcements

News from IBM today:

Armonk, NY – 24 Apr 2014: IBM today announced that for the fifth consecutive year, IDC ranked the company number one in worldwide market share for enterprise social software. According to IDC’s analysis of 2013 revenue, the worldwide market for enterprise social software applications grew from $968 million in 2012 to $1,242 million 2013

Impressive run of success for IBM Collaboration Solutions and, specifically, for IBM Connections.

This graphic sums it up rather nicely… 🙂

[image_frame style=”framed_shadow” align=”center” height=”428″ width=”600″]http://ibmconnections.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/ibm_championships.jpg[/image_frame]
Prague Skyline

Beautiful European capital city? Check. Great social program? Check. Awesome Social Business conference agenda? Bingo!

by with No Comment Announcements

Social Connections is back, this time for our sixth major European conference:

Social Connections is headed for the beautiful and historic city of Prague in the Czech Republic! What’s more, we’ll be bigger and better than ever… It will be our first ever two-day event, starting at 12pm on Monday 16th June and concluding our formal agenda at 6pm on Tuesday 17th June. This schedule is designed to allow those short of time to travel in on the Monday morning and out on the Tuesday evening if required. However, if one has more time to spare, then it would be easy to tack on a leisurely weekend stay too. What won’t change is that we’ll be making sure that ‘Social’ is not just a buzzword, but is instead at the heart of all that we do. Once again, we’ll have a very special complementary reception for all attendees (this time on the Monday night), splendid catering, plenty of Czech beer on tap (including the original Budweiser!), speed-sponsoring and much more. The team is planning some exciting new networking opportunities too. However, there will also be some awesome business and technical content too – this is a Social Business conference after all! The extra day means that we’ll have a series of fantastic keynotes and main tent sessions on the Monday afternoon, and then a full day’s multi-track agenda on Tuesday – featuring at least three rooms/tracks for business, technical and case study sessions. As usual, we want to keep the content varied and the energy high, so most sessions will be 30 minutes in length giving plenty of opportunity for great speakers to enthral you with their knowledge, passion and expertise.

That’s right, the event is headed for the Czech Republic this June, and to the wonderful city of Prague. It is sure to be a very special couple of days.

Prague Skyline
Prague Skyline

A few comments to add to the official announcement:

  • This is genuinely a ‘Social Business’ event.  Whilst our core focus has been on IBM Connections in the past, the widening of IBM’s vision in this area to cover other products and solutions (SmartCloud for Social Business, Domino/XPages, Social Business Toolkit, Exceptional Digital Experience, Kenexa etc) has meant that we definitely welcome sessions and attendees across all these areas.
  • This is an independent conference (though we are also very thankful for ongoing support from IBM) and hence we have licence to take a more rounded view on the sessions, discussions and topics that are covered that you would see at an IBM event.  We are therefore inviting session abstracts that cover integration with solutions with other vendors’ products, take a vendor-agnostic view of the Social Business landscape (that means you, analysts and authors!) or focus on the human side of Social Business (cultural change, personal productivity etc) as well as the technical.
  • That said, the agenda will feature an entire track of technical sessions – both on development and administration aspects.  One of the joys of Social Connections has always been the high-energy mix of 30-minute sessions, and this event will be no different.  We promise that you’ll have the opportunity to geek out in Prague!
  • We are getting really excited in advance of announcing our keynote speaker – it’s someone we’ve wanted to get to Social Connections for a few events now… Look out for more details very soon!

So, what are you waiting for?  Two days in a fabulous European city in the balmy long days of summer, a stellar location, packed and varied agenda, and free admission! What’s not to like?! 🙂 Can’t wait to see you in Prague!

IBM Connect 2014 banner

Orlando-bound: my perspective on the upcoming IBM Connect 2014 event

by with No Comment Events

It’s a dark and dank early Friday morning in mid- to late-January, so as is the annual routine, I’m in a airport car headed for London Gatwick and onto the hopefully somewhat brighter climes of Orlando, Florida.

What takes me there?

I’d be surprised if you need to ask, but if you do, it’s IBM Connect – IBM’s premier Social Business, collaboration and workforce management conference –  the event formerly known and loved as Lotusphere.

IBM Connect 2014 banner

This is my tenth Lotusphere/Connect in all, with my first being a European event in Berlin in 2000 and then subsequent US trips in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2009-14.

Whilst my attendance at these kinds of conferences has become much wider over the years (Le Web, SugarCon, Jive and Salesforce events to name but a few), the annual trip to the Swan and Dolphin is still a major highlight of the year.  The mix of business, technical, community and social is still a heady one, even with the continued evolution of the conference from being Notes/Domino-centric in the 90s and early-noughties, through additions such as Sametime/Quickplace/Portal/Workplace/Foundations in the mid-2000s, to the current focus on Social Business (Connections) over the past few years.  With the recent acquisition of Kenexa (the event is also tagged as Kenexa World Conference), the theme of Social Workforce will be a strong one this year too.

Dolphin and Swan

There is no doubt that the audience has changed massively over this time, with 2014 seeing the notable absence of a good number of those that have played a central role in the community (Bruce and Tom amongst many many others who will be sadly missed), however so far it is definitely the case of ‘the more it changes, the more it stays the same’.  Connect is still Lotusphere as far as I am concerned, and whilst some of the changes can be hard to accept, there are plenty more that are exciting and innovative.

IBM Connect 2013 Community

As for my role, the heady and incredibly busy days of IBM blogger programs, weekly podcasts and running the Lotusphere Blog are behind me, so this year’s event will be a calmer, more reflective affair.  With my new direction at Social 365 and continued developments at my primary customers, I’ll be approaching this event with a different focus, looking at the announcements, roadmaps and sessions from a more analytical perspective.

The Social Business marketplace is at an interesting inflection point right now. In many cases the technology is now mature, vendors are generally innovating a little slower than previously, and many organisations are taking a second (or in some cases, third) look at their investments and strategy in this area.  Since these solutions became available in 2007/8/9, many significant technology working practice shifts have taken place (and they continue to come thick and fast) – the ever increasing use of mobile devices, the shift toward the cloud, the continuing evolution of social media and the links between private and public networks, the migrations away from traditional on-premises messaging systems, the development of open standards for Social transactions and activity streams, the move from Human Resources to Talent Acquisition and Management and more.  These have meant that what was expected of a Social platform in 2014 and beyond is very different to in years gone by.  Organisations are looking for solutions that bridge the worlds of CRM, ERP, HR, messaging, team collaboration and social media.  That’s not to say that they necessarily want one platform that does it all, but Social Business reaches into all of those areas and therefore any products or platforms must have answers to questions being asked in all aspects of an organisation’s business rather than just from the perspective of internal collaboration and knowledge sharing.

IBM has a massive heritage in this space, and the strength of products such as Connections, Sametime, Domino and Portal is well acknowledged by Gartner and the like.  However, this space is more competitive than ever. Companies like Jive, Cisco, VMWare, Microsoft and SAP are driving their solutions forward.  The smaller niche players such as Box, Dropbox and Huddle are innovating fast.  Meanwhile, Salesforce are making such inroads (as they widen their scope from their position as CRM leaders) that they’ve just been given their own category in Paul Greenberg’s CRM Watchlist for 2014.  It will be fascinating to see how IBM takes their existing platforms, combines them with their Kenexa acquisition and their other investments under the SmartPlanet banner, and even throws in a little magic from Watson.  All the while, they need to be looking outside the walls and working on improved integration with social media and the established players in those other spaces I mentioned above.

I’m coming into IBM Connect with less knowledge of what’s coming up than ever before.  I have very little steer on what Connections Next will look like, or at the higher level, what IBM’s Social Business strategy for the next 12-24 months looks like.  That’s quite exciting…  In addition, changes in management always stir things up.  The switch from Alistair Rennie to Craig Hayman as GM of ICS (in addition to Craig’s existing role as head of Industry Solutions) is sure to be interesting to follow – I’m anticipating a change of style and possibly a more substantial strategy adjustment too.

So, all in all, I’m headed across the Atlantic with great expectations.  Hope I’ll see you there?  If not, look out for plenty of posts over the next few days…

Circle logo

Circle: The Local Network

by with One Comment Apps

Circle logoCircle is the mobile app that’s in the know, anywhere you go. Circle keeps you up to speed by adapting to your location and letting you view what’s happening near you, now.

Our goal is to build on the lessons learned from traditional social networks to make a new kind of community: positive, local and useful, wherever you are.

Each month, more than a million people are joining Circle for real-time information and conversation about nearby crime, traffic, natural disasters – as well as places to go and things to do.

Lost dogs. Best fishing spots. Free kids events. Closed roads. Flash mobs. Amazing, scary, exciting and crazy are happening everywhere. The Circle community is there to help you navigate your world.

And we have some help. Circle is funded by Andreessen Horowitz, Ashton Kutcher, Ron Conway, David Sacks and other top investors. Headquartered in Palo Alto, the company was founded by CEO Evan Reas with the goal of truly connecting the mobile web to the real world.

Circle has truly beautiful design, a clever focus on local news and events, apps for Android and iOS, and excellent integration with existing networks such as Facebook and Twitter.

Circle screenshot Circle screenshot Circle screenshot

As ever, the key question is whether your friends and peers are on the network – that’s what makes it sticky.  Right now, that’s not the case, and there’s precious little being added within 50km of my location – I’m sure it would be different in San Francisco, NYC or even London.

However, I’m hopeful that this will change – I like Circle and would like it to succeed.

Reviving Social Business adoption

by with No Comment Social Business

A topic close to my heart…

Dennis Pearce of Information Week:

The last piece of the puzzle is how to turn a theoretical model like this into a practical analysis tool to help guide your adoption strategy. The first step we took at my company was to simplify the model to get a more focused communication plan. Since the goal is to jump the chasm and gain critical mass, in practice there are really only three groups to worry about:

  • The Early Adopters (which combines both early adopters and innovators), who mainly need to understand the available features so they can explore what can be done with them;
  • The Massive Middle (early majority and late majority), who need some confidence that this new concept is not a fly-by-night fad and will actually enhance productivity; and
  • The Laggards, who won’t adopt until they are forced to do so. 

If you look closely at the chart above, you will notice an S-shaped curve in addition to the normal bell curve. That S-curve is the sum total of your adopters as your organization progresses along the adoption curve. You can use this curve to help you determine when it’s time to switch tactics.

I really like the graph above.  There are a lot of different methods of planning, modelling and measuring user adoption of Social Business systems.  One of the greatest challenges is to be realistic in terms of the adoption culture of an organisation and its users.  No matter how fantastic the technology is, or how persuasive your communication and adoption strategies, users will always embrace new working practices at different speeds and with differing levels of enthusiasm and commitment.  This chart models that well.

Also:

Your organization will need to ask itself two questions: How do we define adoption, and what adoption percentage is considered a success? In our case, our goal of creating an organization that works out loud drives the answers to both questions. We want to track participation — not just logging in and viewing — and we want to strive for 100% adoption.

Good advice… How do you define (and measure) adoption, and what are your criteria for success and/or failure?  Lots to be thought through before you ever think about technology or solution specifics…

[Dennis is an Enterprise Knowledge Architect for Lexmark International, Inc. – his series on Information Week is worth reading and following]

What matters to Collaboration Matters ?

by with No Comment Misc

Collaboration really does matter to us. We started our business on the principle that helping people to work together in new and smarter ways was a good thing to do.  We won’t hire anyone in our business unless they exhibit a passion for this. So Social Business is in our DNA.

We understand that many forward-looking organisations are looking for new ways to work together smarter to innovate by capturing, sharing and working on ideas to deliver a better customer experience.

And that some of these organisations will want us to help them to succeed with Social Business projects which drive positive change.

This will take leadership and a willingness to experiment with new ways of working together.

A social business recognises that people do business with people and provides new tools to enhance the ways people can interact to get work done. Our drive is to provide the platforms, processes and know-how to help you do this.

Helping you to work smarter together.  That’s what matters to us.

PignWhistle on 2nd, NYC

LotusBeers / IBMSocialBeerz – NYC, Wednesday 10th April

by with 3 Comments Events

Humans of New York, I am scheduled to be in town next week for SugarCon 2013 and for a visit to a long-term customer in Midtown.

PignWhistle on 2nd, NYC

Therefore, good friend Victor Toal and I thought it was high time for another NYC LotusBeers session.  The plan is to meet at 8pm on Wednesday, 10th April at The Pig ‘n’ Whistle on 2nd.  All are welcome!

Let us know if you can make it via email, DM or by leaving a comment.  Hope to see you there!

P.S. Given the re-branding effort, I wonder if these sessions should become known as IBMSocialBeerz? 😉

Sandy Carter: Social Business lessons for Education

by with No Comment EventsIBM ConnectionsSocial Business

Many of you will have seen IBM’s Sandy Carter presenting her Social Business Coffee Break series of videos on YouTube.  The series provides a good run through of Social Business concepts and case studies in the form of short sharp presentations that can be easily viewed whilst enjoying a beverage of your choice.  If you haven’t now might be a good chance to catch up some of the recent ones in advance of IBM Connect.

I did want to pick one of the videos out.  This one references Social Business use in higher education – within universities, colleges, schools and amongst their alumni:

Collaboration Matters has always has a great relationship with higher education institutions, including Cardiff University (mentioned in the video – situated in Wales rather than Canada), City University and a number of others.  Social Business in general, and IBM Connections specifically, is taking a firm hold in this area – staff and students stand to gain significantly from greater sharing of content, building of closer relationships based on trust and common interests and the ability to be present whether on campus or on a mobile device.

The next step is to start to network these great institutions together using Social Business techniques to manage research and collaborative projects – this process has already begun and we predict great acceleration in this area during 2013.

Lastly, there is a great need to enhance and manage the student lifecycle – the relationship with prospective students whilst they are considering their education options, through joining the institution and their ongoing studies, then on into post-graduate research and finally into alumni status.  Right now many institutions treat each of these populations as individual and distinct groups, with little continuity or transition of data or relationships from one stage to another.  Our partnership with Social Student is tackling this issue head-on, building a fantastic set of solutions and services to aid those in higher education to deliver innovative social tools to students, faculty and staff, aiding learning and engagement at every step.

If you haven’t heard about Social Student and their work in the HE sector, try get along to session SW501 ‘Social Learning – Redefine Education: Cardiff University and Birmingham Metropolitan College’ at IBM Connect (Tuesday, 10-11am, Swan Egret).  I’ll definitely be there!

Make your mind up… (Community platforms)

by with 6 Comments Social Business

I appreciate the willingness of so many IBMers to be social and collaborate with those outside the organisation.

I love the way that they will go beyond the call of duty and step in to help with issues or discussions. 

I adore that so many are willing to find information and share it privately or publicly via social tools and IBM cloud platforms.

But…

I just wish that there was one network that all IBMers (or at least all ICS staff) used rather than a combination of:

  • Greenhouse
  • Smart Cloud Engage (formerly LotusLive)
  • developerWorks
  • ibm.com

Connections is an awesome platform when used properly – and that typically means one instance for an entire organisation or community. 

I would love to see IBM pick one platform (my preference would be to use the Connections instance on ibm.com) as the place to collaborate with the ICS community (partners, customers, press, analysts – everyone), make sure it is running the latest, greatest version of Connections, and then stick with it!

Do you agree?  If so, which platform would you pick?  Please leave a comment!

Get Social. Build Apps. But first, Get Educated!

by with No Comment Misc

Some super ‘on demand’ webcasts from IBM.  Definitely worth watching if you want to transfer your development skills to the Social Business arena:

IBM Social Business Application Development Webcasts

Register now to view the webcasts, visit booths and ask questions to the Experts.

  • The Social Application Model- Charlie Hill, Social Business CTO at IBM Collaboration Solutions, describes how social tools integrate with enterprise applications in the social application model.  Learn about the starting points, common technologies, and social integration points that are the building blocks for social business applications.
  • Building Mobile and Social Applications- Philippe Riand, Application Development Architect at IBM Collaboration Solutions will describe how to build mobile and social applications using IBM Web Experience Factory, IBM Rational Application Developer and Domino XPages.
  • Panel discussion on XPages, Web, Mobile and Cloud Applications – Multi-channel Web Experiences, Social Application in the Cloud, Xpages / Social Business Toolkit, Social Business wrap-up / What’s next.

Social Business Application Development webcasts will guide clients and partners in adding social capabilities to their business applications to capitalize on the collective intelligence from people and social networks.

Don’t miss these exciting webcasts created just for application development professionals.

Featuring Charlie Hill, Philippe Riand, Gopal Gupta, Pete Janzen, Adam Ginsburg, Tyler Tribe and Dwight Morse these webcasts are an excellent way to get started with application development for Social Business.

More >

UKSG Rooven article 300px

The Social Business imperative – a time of radical corporate change

by with No Comment Misc

Rooven Pakkiri, Head of Social Business at Collaboration Matters has recently had a paper published by the well-respected UKSG organisation. It is entitled ‘The social business imperative – a time of radical corporate change’ and is featured in their ‘Insights: the UKSG journal’ publication for July.

Here’s the excerpt:

UKSG Rooven article 300px‘Social business’ is about the inspired use of collaboration technology platforms inside the company firewall to solve business problems. It has often misleadingly been described as Facebook or LinkedIn for the company, but it has a much more profound objective than social networking sites. It represents a technology-led paradigm shift that will reshape the culture and processes of organizations within five years. This article explores the very heart of social business: the emancipation, distribution and consolidation of knowledge – which aligns neatly with the traditional roles of publishers and libraries to date. It looks at the background, in terms of economic theory: increasing the value of ‘labour’ over ‘capital’, and the promise of social business: to make better use of the knowledge embedded around the organization, looking at examples from the real world and assessing the cultural implications, such as valuing patterns over process or influence over hierarchy. In conclusion, the article presents a final vision for social business: loyalty and gamification, the future of work and the end of the traditional workplace.

Covering topics such as ‘Background economics: the evolving dynamic between labour and capital‘, ‘The promise of social business: optimization of knowledge‘ and ‘Understanding the value of pattern over process‘, Rooven presents an overview of what Social Business is and how Collaboration Matters takes it to our customers.  This isn’t about technology for technology’s sake, instead as an enabler for a paradigm shift ‘that will reshape the culture and processes of organizations within five years’.

You can download the paper free from the UKSG site.

Advertising Social Business

by with One Comment Misc

Seen in New York City today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXogl7ntGTw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbbQo-fCCm0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP_L-WCntBI

And the ad itself?

Whatever you think of the idea of destroying your own office (I’m not too sure about the details of the ad myself), wouldn’t it have been encouraging to see IBM Connections (and IBM Social Business as a whole) being advertised in this very public and visible way?

[It is one of my dreams to say ‘IBM Connections’ to just one of my non-technical friends, acquaintances or family and them say ‘yes, I’ve heard of that’…]

Alistair Rennie on becoming a social business

by with One Comment Misc

IBM’s GM for Social Business, Alistair Rennie, explains what it takes to become a Social Business.

A couple of interesting points to note.

Alistair’s job title seems to have changed from being GM for IBM Collaboration Solutions to being GM for Social Business. This seems to be a common shift now, indicating that Social Business is becoming the external brand, whilst ICS is in the internal organisation. I think this is a good move.

It’s fascinating to see a 7 minute video on IBM’s vision of Social Business without a single mention of IBM Connections or any other products. This is fantastic, as it really is a discussion about the importance of cultural change, business process, user adoption and so on, with technology as the enabler rather than the key element.

Nice work, Alistair.