For those who are looking for examples, evidences that show “it’s possible” and “it’s make for creating value” and “it’s not only about IT companies”, I suggest to have a look at what’s going on at P&G.
They’ve been using blogs and wikis for seven years to create and share information. In january they decided to open a one and only web entry to all these contents..and more, in order to provide their people with a coherent suite. A big change ? Yes but they are confident, proud they are to count 10 000 employees on facebook and 16 000 on linkedin. Who’s talking about banning Facebook ?
P&G’s vision seems to be the right one : making it a business tool and not a nice to have, which needs to assume and embrace the challenge instead of shily trying and waiting for success to come (and in this case, believe me, it never comes).
They also insist of the need of pilots but with the purpose of globalizing them, which is the only way to create value. And to funnel all that, in order to find a place between structure and chaos. That reminds of someting…
Of course they already use mail and phone, which are the most flexible tools ever. But those tools doesn’t allow to reuse information, to classify and ensure its readyness.
The strategic goal is also clear : fully realize the company’s 100 000 people potential instead of working like 1 000 companies of 100 people.
What’s key to success ? 99% culture, and 1% technology. In my opinion cuture would be useless without tools but things have to be taken in the right order. And if you want an alignment that works, corporate culture that makes practices possible is the essential breeding ground that will make tools successful. At this time tools won’t be gadgets anymore but will be seen as supporting strategy, and that makes things quite different.
It’s really worth taking a few minutes to read the full entry here.
You can find the "original" french version of this blog here
