25% of the worlds population currently use the internet a massive 1.7 billion people.

The number of users has grown by 380% in the last ten years. The biggest growth areas being the Middle East, Africa, and South America, but growth is occurring everywhere.

0.001% of all information stored on the internet has any relevance to my current goals.

Unable to credit any specific person with this quote and as time goes on the number of zeros between the decimal point and the 1 continues to grow.

On-line advertising response rates are typically lower than 2%.

This is well known and advertisers often forget there are two types of web user the person who is focused on a goal and the casual surfer. The focused person is not interested in the advert irrespective of its relevance – to respond is an interruption. The casual surfer only responds if an advert is relevant.

Visitors make a decision in just eight seconds whether to remain on a web-site.

Marketing Sherpa have given us this gem in their Landing Page Handbook. I know from my own experience that there are some sites that I have visited where the stay is less than two seconds. So we had better make it interesting.

Looking for information, services or products, more than 80% of Internet users rely on search engines.

Naturally without a direct link to the important information we have to search.

85% of these searchers don’t click on sponsored or paid links.

Interesting, maybe people are less inclined to support advertising feeling that un-sponsored links represent a fairer viewpoint. 63% of links appearing at the top of search results get the majority of clicks. This demonstrates the importance of good search engine optimisation.

59.8% of men and 67.2% of women go on-line while they’re watching TV.

We humans are multi-tasking creatures. Have laptop will multi-task. How much is this driven by television advertising is not known or are we all looking up the biographies of the stars of the latest hit show?

China has the largest number of Internet users at 384 million.

Not bad for a country where democratic freedoms are limited. Yet plenty of sales opportunities do exist for the astute corporation.

Each of these has an impact if how we should be focusing many of our business development efforts.

It is not so much a case of an enterprise remodelling itself around a technology, but leveraging a series of technological platforms in order to get closer to its customers and the marketplace at large. Through the aid of Social Media it is relatively easy to visualise how a corporation selling consumer based products can leverage tools like Twitter to build visibility, but it less obvious how this benefits a corporation whose customers are other businesses. There should however be little difference between the approached, it is simply the audience that changes, between the B2C and B2B models, and the amount of work needed in order to win new business.

How the corporation manages that relationship should remain the same. The key aspect is that doing business is being focused more and more on a trust based relationship. Business owners do not want to buy a product because they are told this by an advertisement (whether on TV or in a trade publication) that it is the best they need that statement to be affirmed or denied through their trust network. Building the collaborative corporation does not gain support by “rail[ing] against the old corporate order and proclaim that they’re working for its downfall” this is simply not the case, yet the new world must be understood to be implemented.

Business has always been founded on our ability to communicate, right from the first time we humans ever traded or bartered. According to Ramon Vela how we buy things has changed. People are less influenced by slick advertisements and more by what they know about the person they are buying from and whether they can trust them. Vella provides training for technology sales people entitles “Becoming the Trusted Advisor” – the basic concepts here though can apply to much more than technology sales that is Vela’s forte.

Enterprise 2.0, Collaborative Enterprises, etc and how business leverages Social Media is all the people in the equation not the technologies. It is about visibility and being seen as the expert in your field; contributing the the knowledge base in the marketplace; providing value even before building a commercial relationship; and problem solving. Obviously this article is only scratching the surface of the problem, please add your views.

In becoming active on any social media site it is your Profile that says most about you and will assist you in making connections. It is therefore important that you pay attention to having a clear and well understood profile. I am connected to every type of person, including:

◊ Minimalist profiles – giving the barest information, their job and company.

◊ Maximalist profiles that use every character of space that can be used in each section.

Ironically both approaches are wrong. A profile should allow a visitor to decide whether you are a person they may wish to connect to.

Let us be clear before we go a step further. Sites like LinkedIn are NOT purely for job hunters, they are sites that professionals use to build professional connections. Yes a percentage of the population are currently seeking a job. Other members of the community are also building business connections. Whatever your current aim social media sites like LinkedIn and Facebook are here to stay and will be a part of a professional’s portfolio well into the future. The job-hunter of today will become the sales manager of tomorrow and will leverage their Social Media network as a business tool.

The profile should most of all be professional, and it should headline your capabilities and achievements in a way that invites people to want to connect with you. Remember you on-line social media profile is NOT your on-line resume, if you wish to do that then please make use if Visual CV or Emurse and leave it at that. You need to use your social media profiles consistently with what you are looking to get out of the medium, thus only if your are job-hunting should it look like a resume.

You should be able to have a consistent profile across a range of social networks, yet focus on the specific needs of the media used.

Where you can link your profile to both your personal blog and workplace website this will allow a connection to have as complete a picture of you as possible. Please also update this information on your profile when you move jobs.

So what is your name? I know you know what your name is, but consistency is key. Some connections of mine like to use pseudonyms and in some circumstances it guarantees anonymity. I am connected on Twitter and Facebook to a CEO, who shares day-to-day insights in the daily working life of a CEO (see onthefringe). I understand his need for secrecy as it allows him to make forthright remarks but also whilst I know his identity I am sworn to secrecy, but know we will be working together on future projects.

LinkedIn does not like the use of pseudonyms, but most other systems are OK with them.

Where ever possible be consistent in your username, use vanity ones where they are available. Facebook has recently implemented named user accounts, which allows me to find connections more easily. For example where possible I use ‘pgiblett’ for all of my Social Media accounts, but will never use this name for anything where security is required like Internet banking. Personally if make changes to my on-line profile then I will make all the changes to LinkedIn before permeating it out to my other profiles. One of the problems here is that certain profiles can become out-of-date and forgotten very easily. I am sure I have inconsistencies, although I now work through a documented list of profiles once I have completed profile changes.

Pictures are an important part of a Social Media profile. Fair to say that this topic alone could fill a large article, so I will make a brief statement. You should always have a picture or avatar and the one you select should be reasonably professional. LinkedIn insists that the picture should be of you and not your dog or your grandchildren. I think that such a rule is over the top, but I do think your profile picture should be professional.

Not too long ago, on this site I asked the question “Is any Business Benefit Gained by Adopting Collaborative Technologies within the Workplace?” at that time I concluded that whilst there were significant benefits they would only be viable in certain types of business or situation.

Since that time, I have been on a personal journey that has taken me into new realms of IT. Right now my thinking is incomplete but I am convinced that business networking, collaborative technologies, and web 2.0 (and some call this Enterprise 2.0 – a term I personally dislike) are a necessary part of the changing business landscape. Having been through very tough times I feel that today the business that adapts best to the new world is the most likely to survive.

Why Business Networking?

We have seen a significant rise in the use of Social Networking platforms. According to www.compete.com usage of all of the primary social networking sites has risen:

◊ LinkedIn up 13% in March 2009 (+143% over 1 year ago)  at 12.7 million visitors.

◊ Naymz up 15% Mar/+77% over 2008

◊ FaceBook up 23% Mar/+195% over 2008 at 91 million visitors.

◊ Xing up 26%/+118% over 2008

◊ Twitter up 77%/+1202% over 2008 at 14 million members.

It should be noted that while each of these sites claim larger membership compete.com is only measuring actual visits, e.g. the active membership. Each of these sites has a part to play in developing how business leverages the web. In developing the Internet we have moved from few contributors and a large set of spectators to a growing world of writers and commentators. The old relationships are changing. The Internet has become a way to say anything that you want to say. I dare say that the old quote the “in searching on the Internet only 0.001% of what is available on the Internet is of any relevance to a person’s interests” is now massively out of date and we ca add at least 2 zeros between the point and the one today.

In “Leveraging the Social Media Sales Channel” I stated that a new attitude needs to be adopted. One of the key concepts of networking is that you must give in order to receive. This is true of social media marketing techniques. Also advertising is different from involvement.

The rising world of Business Networking is one that adopts new techniques in order to build trust and win business by becoming a trusted advisor. This demands giving something of value in order to get something of even greater value. I must be willing to assist a prospect solve a problem (without charge) so that I may secure them as a client. This has many parallels to Social Networking except that I am not watching out for Auntie Mavis’ latest update on her world tour, the corporation is looking at building connections based on common goals and capabilities.

The Web 2.0 platform is likely to be a complex one, but it will allow the corporation to go in a multitude of new directions. In my research to date there are are at least 3 areas of importance:

◊ Collaboration – both internally end with external partners

◊ Advertising – can be targeted based on location and demographics

◊ Revenue Generation – leveraging the ‘Social Media’ sales channel

I know there are a great number of others areas that are important. I would like to hear from you as to what you think is important to developing your business through the Buisness Networking channel. Email me via editor@cio-perspectives.com, or leave a comment.

However in leveraging such a channel a new attitude needs to be adopted. One of the key concepts of networking is that you must give in order to receive. This is true os social media marketing techniques. I would count myself as a keen observer of trends and have noticed that IT vendors have adopted two distinct approaches in respect of social media intervention. these are:

1. Leverage the technology and another advertising channel, or
2. Become fully involved in the channel

Advertising is different from involvement. Many software companies have a presence on Twitter. This morning I saw an announcement that one systems integrator was opening a new office, I have been following the company for several months now and this was the first post I had seen from that company. Other vendors are involved in regular discussion on the site and do assist the community whenever possible.

The occasional announcement falls well short of full involvement in the channel. Many IT publications for example will follow back everyone that follows them, after all social media can be a great source of news as well as a publicity channel, yet CNN has nearly 25,000 followers yet it follows only a handful of people. Leveraging social media is a two way street irrespective of the business. Tony Hsieh, the CEO of footwear provider Zappos, is committed to leveraging the power of social media to grow his business, in fact they have become the number 1 footwear retailer on the web by making customer service a competitive weapon. The company will become involved in general discussions about marketing on social media sites.

Being fully involved in the channel  includes assisting other people get their message out (especially if is is complementary to a future direction that you are considering) and providing support and assistance. It requires more than merely making announcements, it is about collaborating and assisting someone else even if there is no immediate financial gain.

Addendum 2/13/09:

It is worth looking at the following presentation:

Channels go Social Media by Michael Durbral and Axel Schultze

This will show you how some media companies are looking at this problem. Other marketing companies need to jump onto the bandwagon. They look at the need to move from reacting to transforming your sales channels. I don’t recommend much sales material, but this is interesting. They recognise the fact that most Internet users ignore advertising and hate cold callls. Marketing has certainly changed.

Not too long ago few, if any, in the workplace could really justify accessing the web from their workplace. Justification would normally relate to access to externally hosted services that added value to the corporation, or alternatively to conduct research or resolve problems, and for the IT department download patches and upgrades.

Over time applications have become thin client and have migrated to the web browser. Web access at work has become much more the norm – although there are normally limits to the sites that can be accessed. Of-course the web has evolved rapidly in the last few years, in particular with the addition of several web 2.0 services, such as:

• Instant Messaging
• Wiki
• Web Logs
• Social Tagging or Bookmarking
• Social Networking
• Ideas and interchange

It is argued that there is between a 2 and 6 fold productivity enhancement for any given large organization to adopt collaborative technologies. It can also be argued that early adoption will be progressive and lead to a corporation being at the forefront of an industry. Whilst the Internet is evolving the corporation must understand the business benefit each of these collaborative technologies bring and decide whether access to them is appropriate within their organisation, department, or workgroup. Any technology will only bring real benefit when it is intuitive, easy to use, and has a clearly stated value proposition.

When an organisation complements these technologies with unified communications strategy, that can operational and travel expenses, maximize employees productivity by better leveraging the ability to share knowledge in a online way, etc..

Instant Messaging

Is possibly one of the most prevalent tools in-use today. If used correctly it can allow a mechanism to communicate facts and actions in a timely manner. I have seen this empower communications between business partners, enabling corrective measures to be taken in a timely manner. The example I have personally seen was keeping open IM sessions throughout the warehouse picking process. The warehouse manager noted that the order for a customer seemed smaller than normal – turns out one item was short by a factor of 10 (e.g. 12 were on order instead of 120). The net result of keeping this communications channel open was rapid correction of a problem.

This represented an instant cost saving to the company as the normal impact of this error would have been sending an almost empty truck on an extra trip to add the extra items the following day (losing any profit made from this customer this week).

Ironic that the original connection was purely social between two long-term colleagues and friends.

Wikipaedia and Blogging

The biggest risk with the ability to ‘blog’ from work are twofold opening the corporation up to breaches of confidentiality and the risk of libel. Items on a corporate web-site are by definition published by the company, even if there is no official backing for the statement.

Certain tools have an innate benefit, especially when used inside the corporation, one example of this is the use of a corporate Wiki – which can be a great tool to educate new employees in the nomenclature, meanings, and procedures used in the corporation. It is ironic that the corporate Wiki is taking off just at the time that Wikipedia – the free encyclopaedia – is being slated as containing too much ‘fiction’.

We do live in an age of information. The problem is that more than half the information out in cyberspace is plain wrong or useless, just 0.01% is of any great value to any given situation.

One of the benefits that the Web Log, or Blog as it has become known, is the capability for anyone to publish whatever they wish. This writer has two separate blogs serving different purposes. To a large extent if Samuel Pepys were alive today he would be the master of the Blog and we would all feature in it. However the problem with so many blogs is that the standard of writing is generally low, and the contributions are often poorly researched and badly written. It could be argued that most add very little value to the corporation, but then there is the occasional expert blog that turns out to be the nugget in the rough.

IT people will know that there are blogs that have been created by experts on every piece of software available, and the workaround or fix is out there somewhere. It is often the first place they turn when they identify a problem. This type of blog can add value as it puts the developer in-touch with an expert (that is often one of the authors of the software).

The same could be said for business problems – blogs exist on a variety of subjects, e.g. implementing the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), just perform a Google search on your latest pain-point and someone else may be able to identify the steps needed to be taken to resolve the issue.

Tagging and Bookmarking

The benefits from associated with social bookmarking are associated with drawing traffic into a website through search engine optimisation. The tagging is supposed to give a boost to searches and draw traffic to a popular site. Within a day of your submitting your website to these bookmarking sites, you can expect to be visited by all the major search engines. Social bookmarking sites claim to guarantee a lot of traffic to flow from these sites to your site. Submit a detailed profile where you can list all your web pages and also post links to your sites, thus it is a form of self-branding.

The question is who determines popularity? In the proverbial battle between Mac and the PC, or between Microsoft and Linux can be swayed one way or the other by a determined set of social-bookmarkers favouring one side or the other of the debate. This can make competition for the corporate website against those with an axe to grind. The biggest concern therefore is that other influence the final search ranking, so the benefits can be seen at the most as marginal.

Can the benefit of social bookmarking outweigh the benefits of paid links? The paid link will bring you to the top of a relevant search, but the cost has to be considered for a small business. It can certainly be more precise than the whims of a casual passer-by tagging the site (or anti-site). There are also other methods to promote a web-site.

On the flip-side sharing bookmarks with colleagues can have a business benefit. We can both be looking at the same site, in working towards a common goal (but on the other hand it is possibly simply to email the link – that is the way we always used to do it).

Social Networking

It is true that people use the telephone, the fax, email and the Internet for purely personal use, and most organisations have usually given some latitude here. However research has shown that in most organisations it is a small number of people are responsible for a large amount of web usage. Adding Web 2.0 applications, particularly Social Networking into the mix does allow more opportunity for overburdening the corporate network. It is this more than anything that concerns the average corporation.

Corporate applications, email, data messaging etc all place a burden on the corporate network, which needs to remain fine-tuned to maintain optimal performance levels. The traditional view is that any use of corporate resources for entirely personal purposes creates an unnecessary burden on the corporation – e.g. making that photocopy, taking the pen from the stationery cupboard are actually a theft, however few organisations are willing to prosecute any but the most flagrant of breaches. Abusing corporate internet access falls under the same category.

The flexibility of Social Networking allows the potential for some employees to use large chunks of time on-line communicating with their friends and forget that are expected to work. The biggest concern with certain sites, e.g. FaceBook and YouTube, that are well know for providing video content. It is this video based content that is starting to take-up a large percentage of Internet bandwidth. Is there any justification for downloading/playing the video from last Saturday’s party to show to your friends at work? Probably not.

However there is another side to the concept of Social Networking – professional based sites such as LinkedIn, and industry specific networking sites, like IT Toolbox, offer a capability to extend our professional network that is not inherently about FUN but has an over whelming business goal. The principals of sharing are present. The risks of libel and breaches of confidentiality also exist here as a statement once made is permanently published

If you have a pressing business problem then you are likely to obtain some advice on how to solve that problem, or be referred to a specific expert through business focused social networking sites, the end result a solution. However should we seek an external consultant before we look at the expertise within our own organisation? During my consulting days I remember engagements I remember days of consulting effort had been spent when the ultimate answer came from the subject matter expert ‘down the hall’ who the project team had simply forgotten to involve in the project.

For certain disciplines (e.g. Information Technology) there have always been on-line reference sources or bulletin boards to assist in resolving that problem. Professional networks do combine well with expert blogs in order to provide answers (that is one of the reasons why I record good answers onto my web log – to ensure that they are retained for history sake).

Recruitment seems to be one area where social networks are booming – hiring managers are cutting out the middleman. It is cheaper to place an advert on LinkedIn than to use a recruitment consultant, especially where senior executives are sought. Further more it is possible to research candidates, see the recommendations that have been made about that person in recent position that they have held.

Of course recruiters are not missing out on this game seeking business through the same channels as are a plethora of other professionals, demonstrating their wares to a wider audience than they would otherwise meet, if you need to connect with someone to assist your relocation to California, a graphic design professional in Canada, a writer in New York, then I can help you.

Collaboration within the Workplace

In the course of managing corporate change projects there is always a need to build on multidisciplinary competencies in order to deliver effective change. Corporate-wide projects need the ability to collaborate on a global scale, not to mention the necessity to involve external specialists. The need for collaboration is not new, it has long been accepted that success is bred through collaboration, it is simply a new generation of tools that are making it easier to collaborate, even if project members are not in the same time-zone.

It is recognised that collaboration tools work best in cultures of knowledge sharing and reward. External consultants often get listened to because they have an expert label but solutions can often be found in-house.

Collaboration is especially relevant to:

• Change management
• Corporate project deployment (e.g. ERP or CRM deployment)
• Innovation
• Staff development

The most important component of any collaboration within the workplace is the people involved in the project, in particular those within the business community who will become responsible for day-to-day operations. Behaviour is critical to the success of any activity. It is often necessary to break down boundaries and silos in order to achieve success.

Technology should be used as a means to facilitate collaboration, e.g. tools such as on-line file sharing can be a contributor to success. Collaboration provides team members the capability to capture and debate ideas as-and-when they occur, enabling team members to constructively challenge one another, or identify risks associated with the choices that need to be made. This can have an impact on corporate culture and values.

The anticipated benefits of collaboration are relevant to every organisation. Ironically the use of software to support collaboration is not new, but the extent by which we are able communicate effectively has grown with sharing across the internet.

The ability to collaborate on projects has been present for much of the last 25 years, it is the tools we use to achieve the results that have changed. I have been involved in many international projects, where the whole project is managed centrally without needing to board a plane. Teleconferencing has facilitated this, but what was once only available in the largest corporate domain can now be done from the average PC. It is the use of technology to share information more effectively that can lead to a performance improvement. Thus the means to encourage collaboration are extremely wide and becoming more varied.

For further reading on the challenges of collaboration I recommend the reader look at Tension in Collaboration by Bruce Lewin.

Co-locating teams (and the opposite distance working), web based project management tools, voice and video conferencing, do place a greater need on collaboration but the technology has to be shown to bring a positive business benefit to each individual organisation. It is possible to demonstrate benefit for a change project of any type, but it is more difficult to show the same benefit for other business teams.

Summary

Where an organisations is oriented to collaboration within their relevant marketplace, data sharing between all organisations within the supply chain is instrumental in assuring higher levels of customer satisfaction that may be translated to a better competitive positioning.

Another cultural issue that is evolving is the whole concept around ownership of knowledge, or even the data that supports it. Many years ago a CEO made a statement to me that I have always remembered “the most precious commodity we have in this company is the data that we own”. This has been a guiding principle for most of my working life. Collaboration is important for the success of the organisation, but it is information that allows the organisation to succeed.

There are many Web 2.0 technologies that are now being promoted as new ideas – that are in-fact as old as IT. Instant Messaging it is not a new – it was in use in the 1970’s (OK it was not as swish as modern tools, but the basis was the same – to communicate with someone on-line). Likewise discussion forums have existed as long as we had modems to connect to some form of on-line service.

For other Web 2.0 technologies there are clear benefits to be identified, but not for every worker in every workplace. There is a view that says people will do this irrespective of IT support. The issue however is not about IT getting in the way, but about the corporate officers setting the usage policy. Web 2.0 applications are no different than those before them; corporate officers must still be concerned that corporate resources are used effectively and do not negatively impact productivity or profitability.

What has changed is how we are leveraging these capabilities to change business. Enterprise communications and collaboration requires:

• The right building blocks, including an intelligent framework to combine voice, video, and data)
• A preparedness to share knowledge,
• A workforce that is empowered to integrate and collaborate.

Cisco (amongst others) is researching mechanisms that will provide an integrated workforce experience, see Web 2.0 in the Enterprise for Cisco’s proposal.

I still believe that the best foundation is a business that is seeking to leverage collaborative technology in order empower their workforce and provide tools and knowledge that will facilitate growth.

Peter B. Giblett