Brought to you by
Online Collaboration
Online Collaboration
Expert's Opinion
Ed Brill
Product Management, IBM Lotus software
Ed Brill is Director, Product Management, IBM Lotus software. In this position, Brill and his team are responsible for the product and market strategy for Lotus Notes and Domino, market-leading collaborative software. Brill participates in several online communities and blogs at www.edbrill.com. He can also be found on Twitter @edbrill, and on LinkedIn and Facebook.
SEE ALSO: infoBOOM! Editor Opinion
Jim Malone
January 12, 2010
Why Participation Matters
Technology has helped turn the corporate culture upside down.
Two decades ago, most individuals inside most organizations measured their value to their companies based on what they knew. An employee's unique knowledge, or talents, was his or her asset, what made them indispensable to their employers.
Today, forward-thinking companies value participation more than discrete knowledge, and the collaborative technologies adopted by such companies allow them to innovate faster and win in the marketplace.
An Open Book
This cultural change has happened as a result of open technologies. Everything from e-mail and text messages to Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn has encouraged individuals to share their knowledge, personalities, and interests online.
The synergy that results from finding and affiliating with others who share common interests often leads to better business relationships, information flow, and decisions. Instead of protecting my knowledge, a self-sustaining feedback loop encourages me to share it -- inside my company and with the world at large.
Advancing Business & Career
For me personally, I began blogging in 2002 as a creative outlet. By 2005, blogging and other social networking tools, from IBM and in the market at large, had become an integral part of my job as an IBM sales executive. By 2008, collaborating online led to both business successes for IBM and career advancement for me.
The ability to discuss market conditions, customer successes, and technology with a broad, global audience helped me grow, but it also assisted those participating in the conversation to find like-minded connections. Rather than feeling like they were the only person with a particular technical or organizational challenge, they were now able to openly discuss opportunities -- and collectively overcome obstacles.
Knowledge, Alone, Has Limits
In today's workplace, a cultural expectation of collaborative sharing is taking hold.
"Knowledge is power" is still true, but that knowledge must now be created and shared openly to help companies with innovation and delivery of value to customers. Participation demonstrates knowledge, and leads to faster innovation through more creativity and problem-solving.
In the future, there simply won't be any other way to drive a business forward.
Tags:
print
Email
Link
What difference does social media make to business effectiveness
Ed Brill is Director, Product Management, IBM Lotus software. In this position, Brill and his team are responsible for the product and market strategy for Lotus Notes and Domino, market-leading collaborative software. Brill participates in several online communities and blogs at www.edbrill.com. He can also be found on Twitter @edbrill, and on LinkedIn and Facebook.
Kevin, yes, IBM has what I consider to be best-in-class "social media guidelines". They can be found here.
http://www.ibm.com/blogs/zz/en/guidelines.html
Going beyond the words, though, we have instilled a culture where these words really mean something. Twice in my blogging career, external parties have contacted the IBM chairman's office about something I wrote. In both cases, IBM "backed me up" because they knew it was factual information that was expressed in the context of the guidelines.
I think cultural and also technical components are required to make participation successful.
As Director of IT with Quadion Corporation, Kevin Hansen is responsible for all aspects of IT technology and strategy across Quadion Corporation and its divisions worldwide. Mr. Hansen joined Quadion Corporation in 1996 and has since worked in a variety of IT, Sales and Marketing capacities. During this time, he has led the consolidation of divisional ERP systems into a unified enterprise system, the implementation of a corporate Lotus Notes based CRM package, and the deployment of Unified Communications tools including Lotus Notes Sametime and Cisco Voice over IP systems.
Ed-
Great article! Can you provide some insight related to how you (and perhaps IBM) go about ensuring that people properly use these tools to walk the fine line between being transparent and giving away something too soon. Obviously I'm sure a company policy exists to this end but I'm wondering if you could provide some simple bullet points to keep in mind for other organizations who are earlier in the process of dealing with these tools as they begin to proliferate through an organization.
Ed Brill is Director, Product Management, IBM Lotus software. In this position, Brill and his team are responsible for the product and market strategy for Lotus Notes and Domino, market-leading collaborative software. Brill participates in several online communities and blogs at www.edbrill.com. He can also be found on Twitter @edbrill, and on LinkedIn and Facebook.
There can be risks to participating -- over-sharing of information, lack of filters, premature disclosure. But to sit by idly and let the conversation take place has opportunity costs around relationships but also transactions. People want to deal with people. Knowing that they have a connection with people is a major aspect of successful social networking -- not just amassing Facebook friends or LinkedIn networkers. A true dialog, in authentic voice, will lead to more trust and openness, which will lead to better business.
Ed,
What is the cost of participating versus the risk associated with not embracing social media marketing?
Is it more of a return on relationship, rather than a return on Investment.? Does the social network foster F2F interaction at events like Lotusphere?
Jim Malone, Senior Editorial Director of CIO's Custom Solutions Group, is a veteran journalist and communications professional with more than 20 years experience in tech publishing and public relations. As a writer, editor and public relations professional, he's worked with leading companies on web content strategy, thought leadership, and communicating to high-level IT decision-makers. Since joining CIO, he's worked with clients to produce innovative custom content across all channels, including the web, print supplements, social media and webcasts.
InfoBOOMers can connect with Ed at Lotusphere 2010, set for Jan. 17- 21 in Orlando, FL. Check out his blog for how best to find him: http://bit.ly/8mQZTW.
And check out the Lotusphere 2010 page right here on infoBOOM!: http://theinfoboom.com/event-details/lotusphere-2010
Insightful post, especially given how you highlight the impact of social networking and other collaborative tools at both a personal and corporate level in a company as large as IBM. Somewhere between the individual and the large corporation sits small and medium-sized businesses, and the rise of social networking and collaborative tools has become a significant enabler in helping those businesses better compete on both the local, and in some cases, global level. Social networking represents a relatively low cost way to promote one’s business, as well as gather feedback on potential customers, partners, and everyone in between. Tools like email and an established web presence help small businesses stay in contact with consumers who can be just around the corner, or even on the other side of the globe. The importance of collaboration is further highlighted by the fact that the majority of small business now have more than one location, meaning the ability to find, access and share business information and personal expertise is an invaluable part of doing business. Many IT vendors are taking note and putting lots of focus on these smaller businesses. For IBM, solutions like Lotus Foundations do an excellent job of helping those small business set-up collaborative environments.
These types of social mediums have revolutionized the way in which I go about my job! This is especially true when they are able to integrate with other collaborative productivity tools my company has invested in. A good example is LotusLive. It allows me to find experts that I may not know otherwise, access information previously unavailable to me quickly, and then coordinate and team on my projects effortlessly. And since LotusLive has widgets that can live in my emails user interface I never have to reach too far!
Very nice piece. There is no better way to share information today then via a blog post, or a Tweet linking to that post. Being visible on social networks and the Internet is a great way for people to connect, share opinions and collaborate.
Leave a comment
All fields are required