What I didn’t miss in Boston

First I was very disappointed not to have time to attend the  Enterprise 2.0 conference in Boston. As a lot of people I was very interested in the Davenport Vs McAfee debate, hoping we’ll learn a lot of things from it.

Finally I don’t have the impression I missed anything because the debate didn’t point on what I think is really important about enterprise 2.0

I don’t really see in what asking whether 2.0 tools are an evolution or a revolution is relevant. The fact is there are tools and demands to use them in a professionnal context. Saying similar tools already existed and didn’t change a think is neglecting what really matters : there is now a demand for new organizational practices that didn’t exist before, for the simple reason that business has changed, production has changed, immaterial is exceeding material, people have different needs to achieve their work, the way people use computers in their private sphere radically changed too, building a new emerging culture.

The question is not about tools, it’s about the demand tools meet. Perharps, since there’s no “official” definition of enterprise 2.0 with which everybody agrees, can I suggest that “enterprise 2.0 is the meeting between demands for a new king of organization and the availability of tools that can support it”.

Tools won’t to anything by themselves…and without tool the demand would stay unsatisfied.

Another point is they talked a lot about tools, a little about people..and not about the enterprise by itself. That’s neglecting what I think is central : enterprise 2.0 is to make people more efficient to do their daily job that’s to say to achieve enterprise’s driven goals in an organizational pattern defined by the enterprise itself.

Since we talk about change in organization, changes in the way people interact for business purposes, enterprise has to be associated. One can’t say enterprise 2.0 is a “win-win” deal between enterprise and employees and say enterprise has nothing to do, nothing to say and just have to wait to see what will happen.

In fact that’s the missing point in a lot of enterprise 2.0 discussions : focus on tools, saying it’s all about people (but never say anything about managament and organization issues), and totally ignoring enterprise’s constraints and stakes.

We won’t give enterprise 2.0 any credibility if we don’t pay enterprise any attention and don’t involve it in the process.

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Bertrand DUPERRIN
Bertrand DUPERRINhttps://www.duperrin.com/english
Head of People and Business Delivery @Emakina / Former consulting director / Crossroads of people, business and technology / Speaker / Compulsive traveler
Head of People and Business Delivery @Emakina / Former consulting director / Crossroads of people, business and technology / Speaker / Compulsive traveler
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