Survey on the use of IT in french companies

February 20, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Two weeks ago I was invited by Microsoft to attend the presentation of a survey on the use of IT in fench companies. Two things made it really interesting

• Although the fact new generations were transforming the use of IT, there was no global study to quantify and qualify it.

• The methodology was neutral and exhaustive : they started with general considerations and focused step by step to get to business cases. So the survey provides sociological elements, that were qualified, assessed, turned into busines practices etc… Each step was managed by a specialized partner (Eranos, Added Value, Ifop andt BearingPoint ).

Let’s see what’s in.

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Millenials : racing drivers without driving licence

December 28, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Whether we rely on a recent Accenture survey or all what we can read all around the web, future generations will deeply change the way people work in the workplace.

Somewhere it’s an incredible chance since they already developed all the behaviors that are suitable for employees in an agile and interconnected  But many studies seem to agree on a more worrying thing : their wery weak inderstanding of corporate’s issues, would it concern operative things or necessary information governance.  In a few words, they are talented racing drivers who still need to take their driving test. I fully suscribe to Tom Davenport’s views : believing that companies will change at once to give this generation what it asks for is illusory. Of course things will change, but not in a snap ping.

One could telle we didn’t know more when we entered the workplace fot the first time. But I don’t thing we were carrying such a need for break which will need a mutual alignement between enterprises and new joiners.

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Enterprise 2.0 : my predictions for 2009

December 18, 2008 By 3 Comments

Honestly I was not sure I would conform to the annual predictions tradition. Finally, since my 2008 edition was not that bad (shift from “social tools at people’s disposal” to the acknowledgement it needed inclusion in business process) and Susan kindly asks for it, I’ll try to do something interesing this year.

That said, I will divide my note in two parts. As any good “thoughtleader” sometimes mistake predictions for his own wishes, I’ll try to be lucid enough to clearly separate both and end my note with a few pious hopes.

Let’s start !

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Filed Under: Economy & New Models, Enterprise 2.0 & Social Business, Management & HR, Web & Usages Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Techno populists come to power at Unilever, GE…and in your company ?

October 15, 2008 By Leave a Comment

I discovered the term “techno-populist” while reading this businessweek article. This expression, originally due to Forrester, designates people who flout their company’s IT policies in order to use in their professional lives the tools they use in their private life.

Wendy wakes joined Unilever when she was 27. Within the marketing department she quickly experienced the consequences of a very strict IT policy. And the young recruits she works with finds it even harder. As Business week writes, for people born after 1985, the discovering of the corporate world is a real technological shock. Unlike what our generation experienced when the enterprise was a kind of eldorado where we could use state of the art tools and computers we could not have even dreamt of, we have to recognize that the corporate world looks rather like Jurassic Park compared to what I can use in my private life (globally speaking, because I’m very happy with what my company provides me).

The you woman didn’t give up and wrote to her CIO, explaining to which extent people may be more efficient with general public, less prehistoric, and free tools. Six months later she was offered a new job : spreading the use of these tools within unilever.

Unilever now wishes to give its employees more “digital freedom”, allow connection from outside the firewall, use their own PCs provided some security rules are respected. With an identified goal : an increase in productivity and lower costs. Even when they’re not free, the tools in question have pricing models that have nothing to do with what companies have used to know till now.

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Digital natives, e-culture, e-students

September 22, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Everybody focuses on the digital natives, the e-culture, and how those who are coming after us will deeply transform organizations.

Another point is the underlying question of the use of new tools in the educational process. Because Digital Natives are Digital Learners, what perhaps count much more than anything else, if they can’t learn, their difference may of very few use.

It points at important issues regarding to the way the eductional system and their professors are interacting with them.

What consequences can be drawn from these quotes :

  • “my parents use e-mail … I text instant message“
  • 76% of my teachers never used wikis, blogs, podcats
  • once a weekn 14% of my teachers let me create something using new technologies ; 63% never…

Humm…aren’t they the 21th century students and the future of our workforce, those we’ll have to rely on to face dramatically new business challenges ?

Filed Under: Knowledge & Information management, Management & HR, Web & Usages Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Digital Nomads : today’s community for tomorrow’s workers

August 19, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Perhaps you’ve already heard about Digital Nomads. More than a site it’s rather a community for those who break the traditionnal link between working and being at the office and use the right tools to be connected and able to work anywhere, anytime. Alone but not isolated : digital nomads often interact more with their ecosystem, are more informed about what the others are doing and keep more the others informed than people who work close one to another in traditional offices usually do.

In short, more than a way of working it’s rather a new daily way of life for more and more people. Please don’t tell me it’s only for independant workers or small companies : more and more companies now have mobility and nomadism programs that are more than experiments. Sometimes it’a about home office, sometimes it allows people to work from wherever they want. Those who read Tim Ferri’s “Four hours workweek” will appreciate… [Read more...]

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Enterprise 2.0 is not (only) about young people

July 5, 2008 By 1 Comment

When people discuss enterprise 2.0 things often shift to Generation Y for whom new tools and practices are a part of their DNA. But I don’t think we have to consider enterprise 2.0 is about those young people and that older ones are barrier to change.

My experience tends to prove it : leaders we can see emerging within companies share a lot of common points…but not their age.

We can see people aged 40 or 50 really embracing the phenomenon and Gen Yers staying in the starting blocks. The contrary is sometimes true too. But as this computerworld study says, generational barrier is a myth. It seems confirmed by the fact the most active member on the CIA’s Intellipedia platform is more than 60.

There are many differences between generations, but not always those we think. [Read more...]

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Tools won’t seduce digital natives. Culture will.

April 16, 2008 By 1 Comment

Recruiting Digital Natives make companies ask lots of questions. Some of their concerns are not justfied, and we can also read many nonsenses.

“They have their habits, their own way to do things, with their own tools…we only have to adopt those tools to seduce them”. Wrong ! They don’t juge by appearances (or as we say in french, “a cowl doesn’t make a monk”. That’s not the way to attract them. Even if they come, they’ll leave soon.

What matters isn’t tools but culture. A certain culture implies a certain way of working, a certain kind of organization, and at the end, the relevant tools to support it. Tools are only the proof that alignment was made. Put wikis, blogs, social networks, IM, make it available oustide the firewall, make people and information accessible without changing anything else and you’ll fail. They won’t come, leave quickly or will be very disapointed, whith the feeling of having been tricked. Claim you are what you are not and you won’t be believed for long. The difference between marketing and reality is aligment.

Then the first thing to think about is “what are our future stakes” and “do we need to change the way we operate”. The operating modes will soon need new tools to support them. And at this time things will be coherent.

And what about culture ? It’s an objective, not a starting point, you can’t decree it (unless you already have the needed one). It will evolve because of both new internal practices and recruitment of people who are like you or like what you want to become. A self-feeding phenomenon.

Believing that tools will make your enterprise trendy is mistaking question for its answer : he point is not about attracting digital natives but attracting those who’ll serve your goals and being able to take the most of their potential. Provided their skills match your needs….

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Enterprise 2.0 : the last step before the project economy ?

April 15, 2008 By 1 Comment

A few months ago I wondered if we were on the road to an externalisazion of enterprise’s non structuring function, which may paradoxally put value creation outside the enterprise. In this situation the enterprise’s only job would be to manage outsiders according to its needs. I don’t say it’s a good or a bad thing, it’s only an objective possibility.

Someone reminds me of this note and told me : “it’s more real than you may think : if we could measure ressources used to fight against the weight of the system compared to those reallu used to create value it would scare a lot of people”.

Let’s come back to the model that may be offered by the future enterprise. Let’s have a look on the engagement model proposed by the digital natives which looks more like partnership than employement. Let’s, at last, have a look at the Coase Theorem (enterprise’s size depends on transaction costs…but how much costs information today ?). Let’s also consider solutions like innocentive for example…

The most obvious conclusion would be to say that if companies can’t, internally, combine employement and partnership model, decreasing not only information acquiring costs but also the cost of use of all its intangible assets (ie making them available and usable, not only being satisfied they are “inside”), we may soon reach a tipping point. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Enterprise 2.0 & Social Business, Management & HR Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Switching from work to partnership

March 14, 2008 By Leave a Comment

Many people try to guess how enterprises will look like in the future. I’m afraid no one can answer thins question. In the other hand there are trends we can’t ignore : in the same way baby boomers dramatically transformed the companies they joined, digital natives will dot the same with our companies.

But prudence is required : everything we can read is sometimes “overplayed”, and I have no doubt our digital natives will have to climb down when they’ll realize some of their expectations are not viable on a long term track within an enterprise. And they won’t all be the mutants that are often described. But one thing is sure, an heavy trend is emerging.

I’ll also consider this evolution in relation to a phenomen I wrote about some times ago : the risk (or opportunity) to see , for economic reasons (information acquisition cost) or sociological (better personal standing), people positioning themselves outside the enterprise, as partners, service providers, instead of being salaried. French speaking people can also read this note about the end of defined work time, as new generations think of goals to achieve and no more about time you owe your employer. So we can draw some conclusions. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Enterprise 2.0 & Social Business, Management & HR, Recommended Bookmarks Tagged With: , , , , , ,
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