Intranet-2.0 | Bertrand Duperrin's Notepad

Social computing revolution at Procter and Gamble

March 21, 2008 By Bertrand DUPERRIN 1 Comment

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 ? [Read more...]

Filed Under: Enterprise 2.0 & Social Business, Intranets and digital workplace, Management & HR, Web & Usages Tagged With: corporate culture, Enterprise 2.0, intranet, intranet-2.0, procter and gamble, social computing, Social Networking, social networks, social-software

From repetition to differenciation

February 19, 2008 By Bertrand DUPERRIN Leave a Comment

Companies find hard to adopt the “2.0″ attitude, just because it targets an unexploited field of the organization. Since novelty applies to an unexploited domain, why trying to understand it since we don’t use it. Saying that, the question is more about sensibilizing companies about exploring new performance and knowledge fields in order to face new challenges rather than adopting tools that don’t match current practices.

As I read in Social Media, it’s more important to explore new fields than evaluating it with our present certainties. Entreprise 2.0 discussion can be resumed this way : knowing how to take differenciation into account while we were only focused on repetition.

I say “take into account” because it’s not about replacement but about complementarity. And it applies to many fields.

Intranets are made for working

January 28, 2008 By Bertrand DUPERRIN Leave a Comment

I’m afraid not as many people as we can expect are aware of that when social media in emerging within the enterprise.

As a matter of fact I attented one of Jane McConnell’s famous breakfasts, which theme was “2.0 and globalisation, collaboration and personnalisation” a couples of day ago and three points held my attenion.

• Stop focus on the 2.0 buzzword which doesn’t mean anything for most people and is confusing for those who aren’t in and stick to what O’Reilly said about it : “it’s the web as it was supposed to be”. For the unitiated, 2.0 means “erase and replace” what’s is frightening within an organization although the truth is we’re just adding functions to explore what we couldn’t explore before.

• Jane identified three kind of companies : those for which the intranet is a business tool, those for which it’s not still clear and those for which it’s rather a top-down media dedicated to sending information from the enterprise to the people. The first are more forward in tools integration, personalisation of contents, and web 2.0 experimentation.

• The first point was confirmed by some questions from the audience. For example “I’m in charge of internal communication, with the raise of UGC how can I ensure structuring information is diffused ? Isn’t there a conflict ?”. Answer : not at all. One tool, one use. New tools will allow you to explore new kinds of communication but they don’t question the use of appropriate communication tools to structure the organization.

Web 2.0 tools favor day to day interactions, knowledge sharing, co-thinking, co-building…which are people day to day tasks. This unstructured part of their job isn’t incompatible with processes and control : it takes place within them. The more intranets will be considered as a business tool, the more attention will be paid to the so called intranet 2.0 tools, and their use in the context of business processes. This is one of the main differences between intranet and internet : the internet is a space where people behave as they feel like, the intranet is a space where purposes are business-driven. Whenever they are web n or n+1n tools are made to fulfill business needs that have to be clearly identified.

This reminds me of a discussion that took place on my french blog exactly one year ago. We were arguing about how to define an intranet. My answer was that I couldn’t give a satisfactory definition of an intranet, but what I could say was it was the reflect of an enterprise’s management and organization. Jane’s study gave us the proof last week : the enterprise that wants to improve synergies between individuals, take benefits from connexions and relationship between its people and between people and information, makes everything possible to go beyond structuring tools in order to make the intranet support the way it wants its people to work.

Filed Under: Intranets and digital workplace, Management & HR Tagged With: intranet, intranet-2.0, management, organization, web-2.0

Netagoraphobia, definition and cure

May 14, 2007 By Bertrand DUPERRIN Leave a Comment

Do you kno netagoraphobia ? Nevertheless it is becoming a very important stake on the internet and on the webizing intranet. By the way don’t look for this word anywhere else, it seems I invented but a lot of people are already aware of that. What’s agoraphobia : the fear of large spaces and by the way the fear of crowd, the opposite of claustrophobia. The less we can say is that people are close to become claustrophobic in silo-build enterprises : no way to get out the precise role they have in the process, limited right to have initiative, impossibility for searching transverse ressources and competence…and, obviously, communications and interaction tools that goes with all that. Nothing possible excepted what is supposed to be. Bye bye innovation…
Enterprises trying 2-0 things are aware they need to give space and intiative to their partners. I say partners car we don’t only talk about collaborators : clients, suppliers, subcontractors are also partners of the extended enterprise.

If we refer to the profusion of means people have suddently at their disposal, the average internaut gets a little bit lost. The internaut, which was used to be only a spectator doesn’t know what to do now he’s told to be an actor. And, fearing to do something wrong, he doesn’t do a thing.

We can fear the same thing will happen when 2.0 tools will take their place inside the intranets. Even if those tools are supposed to break down walls between people, walls everybody acknowledge they’re counter productive, they may not have the expected effect. First, because as a conditioned reflex, people may think it’s one more flash in the pan and will wait how the managers will act before revealing themselves (what is considered as a big risk). Second because profusion of means doesn’t imply emergence of new uses. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Enterprise 2.0 & Social Business, Intranets and digital workplace, Web & Usages Tagged With: Communities, Enterprise 2.0, intranet, intranet-2.0, netagoraphobia, social computing

Is it possible to be 2.0 without being “web” ?

May 8, 2007 By Bertrand DUPERRIN Leave a Comment

Another memory from the Intracom Conference, when talking about intranet 2.0 adoption, the role of those intranets on efficiency and colaboration and potential barriers…

If web 2.0 can be defined by uses, would it be possible to be 2.0 without web ?

And my answer is : yes but…not everywhere and not too long.

Step back in history…and consider ancient Greece agoras. A place where people gather and exchange, allowing direct and participative democraty. In fact it doesn’t rely on many things : the presence at a unique place and moment of all city life’s stakeholders, information sharing with a fluid circulation, a community of interest founding some trust. Finally, aren’t those the daily and practical goals that enterprises try to achieve when going 2.0 ?

To make in short, this sole example is the proof thats it’s possible to be 2.0 without being web. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Enterprise 2.0 & Social Business, Intranets and digital workplace Tagged With: Enterprise 2.0, intranet-2.0

Intracom panel in review

May 3, 2007 By Bertrand DUPERRIN Leave a Comment

As I said in my last note I attendend an intranet 2.0 experts panel at the last Intracom conference in Paris. The three panelists (Jane McConnell, Padawan..and me) had to give their vision of intranet 2.0 and answer questions of an audience that seemed to be very interested in this new era of intranet and its stakes.

A proof of the audience’s maturity was questions didn’t focus on tools but on their surrounding : what does it imply, are tools opportunities to make something else, are those new practices risky ? At the end we talked a lot about the context in which tools are used, what I think is a very good thing. People often focus on tools, forgetting which is their primary purpose, and success implies every stakeholder in the projet always keep in their mind the reason why they choose to use such tools.

So here’s a small digest of what I retain from the panel and some conversations I had during the pause. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Enterprise 2.0 & Social Business, Intranets and digital workplace, Management & HR Tagged With: Enterprise 2.0, intracom, intranet-2.0, web-2.0

Voted best expert blogger at Intracom Paris

April 30, 2007 By Bertrand DUPERRIN Leave a Comment

Last week I attended the Intracom 2007 conference in Paris. This year’s theme was “intranet 2.0, the peopleware era, back to user and e-transformation”.

I found the audience very mature about intranet 2.0 things. For example I was part of a panel with Padawan and Jane McConnell and I really found people asked us the right questions, not about tools by themselves but about what they imply and what has to come with. It gave me a lot of good ideas for future notes…

At the end of the panel, my french blog was also prized at the Intrablog awards, as the “best expert blog”. Of course I’m very proud of it but since the subject is so wide no one can totally cover it, I’d also like to mention my two “competitors”, Jane and Padawan whose blogs rather complement mine than compete with it.

And the good news for non-french readers is they both have a french and an english version of their blog. I really have to fill the gap between this blog and my french one
More about the panel in an upcoming note…

intracom

Filed Under: Enterprise 2.0 & Social Business, Intranets and digital workplace Tagged With: intrablog, intracom, intranet, intranet-2.0, web-2.0

So Web 2.0 doesn’t work…or misunderstandings about communities

April 25, 2007 By Bertrand DUPERRIN Leave a Comment

Some where waiting for it…we got the news last week : web 2.0 don’t work. It’s the conclusion of a CNET article : nobody collaborates on the collaborative web.

Have we been fooled ? Are all the alleged benefits of web 2.0 only a cloud of smoke ? Sure this kind of conclusion can scare people at the time the need for evangelization is still very important.

In my opinion, web 2.0, should it be inter or intranet is not collaborative or participative by definition. Web 2.0 is community web, and because it’s community web, people share and collaborate. A slight difference in the definition that finally has a lot of importance.

It’s not because you provide people with tools to publish, share, collaborate… that they will do so. People need to know what to use it for, publishing, sharing etc… must help them to reach a goal. Where there’s no goal there’s no need, and not much uses of the tools. [Read more...]