When visiting a local company last month, I was given a glimpse of their requirements for their new Knowledge Services Framework vision and requirements.  It was inspiring and incredible.  They had mapped all the functions that they perform, identified existing systems that matched, and then had measured each of them to the following vision.

Here is their requirements as presented.  The highlights are theirs.

leverage consumer applications proven to augment existing work processes (parity plus)

specifically targeted to business requirements and opportunities

access with only a browser and an internet connection

no reliance on proprietary systems or technology

development based on open industry standards

built upon a semantic web framework

embraces and enables BYOC model

no operating system dependency

provides web service capabilities

tuned options for mobile devices

no browser dependency

no net cost increase

no desktop footprint

100% cloud ready

Vision into Reality

Okay, very pretty and exciting, but we all know from experience that idealistic visions are usually really good on slides, but falter in reality.  Can this be made to work in a large (multi-billion dollar), established company with a full suite of legacy products?

After what I saw, I would say Yes.

They had looked at their existing systems and if they didn’t meet the requirements, the vendors were told the issues and given a chance, over 1-2 years, to update their product.  When they didn’t, they were replaced.  This isn’t the act of rash adopters.  This is planned and thought-out.

For new functionality, like blogs and enhanced collaboration spaces, they identified new products, many of them open source, that met their requirements.  With open standards, like CMIS, they were plugged-in to the architecture.

They are building a private cloud that allows them to install applications into either Amazon’s platform or locally based upon their needs.  They are currently using Amazon’s cloud primarily for development now, but will start mixing it up shortly.

Someone brought in a Mac and said that he now did all his work on it.  He had one Windows image to work with a legacy piece of software that needed IE, finance related I believe, but he demonstrated the freedom from the tightly configured company-owned laptop.  With a browser and Internet connection, he was good.

They are looking into Semantic capabilities.  They want to uniquely adapt the social web with the semantic web in context of [their] business processes.  They have a firm grasp of what they are trying to accomplish and are talking to multiple people about how do execute.  They aren’t leaning on one "expert", but seeking a complete picture.

How Do You Measure Up?

I’ve read a lot of people talking about transforming the Enterprise with new technologies.  I’ve seen them talk about enabling people to work.  This is a complete transformation.  Will users leverage the new stuff?  Well, they’ll have to use a lot of it because it will be where critical information is stored.  The champions have also been selling the idea across the company as the technology evolved to meet their requirements.

It is some cool stuff, potentially the coolest I have seen in technology world to date.  I wish them all the luck in the world and hope that I get an opportunity to help out.

This is one project I would not delegate to my team.  I’m not worried that they couldn’t deliver, I just want to play with the cool toys in the beautiful architecture.

It just occurred to me that my recent quotes on Fierce Content Management make me sound like the Statler and Waldorf of the content management industry. I really don’t mean to sound so negative but, from where I sit, software company acquisitions are nearly always bad news. My clients are software customers and [...]

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This brings back
memories. The Most Admired Knowledge Enterprises (MAKE) award has been around
for some time. Back when I was with a large consulting company and involved in
our knowledge management practice, I spoke at the awards meetings in London several
times.  These were the days of
better travel funding and the relatively early days of KM. I am pleased that
this award is still around and still relevant.

For the first time, Apple was named the
overall Global MAKE Winner. North America took top honors with 7 Winners,
followed by Asia (5 Winners) and Europe (3 Winners). Teleos in association with
The KNOW Network conducts this award. There were also 5 'Global' Winners whose
organizational structures reflect the 21st global knowledge economy.

A panel of experts made the picks based on these
criteria:

- creating an enterprise knowledge-driven culture

- developing knowledge workers through senior
management leadership

- developing and delivering knowledge-based
products/services/solutions

- maximizing enterprise intellectual capital

- creating an environment for collaborative
knowledge sharing

- creating a learning organization

- delivering value based on stakeholder knowledge

- transforming enterprise knowledge into
shareholder/stakeholder value

The 2009 winners include some long time winners
and some major companies that you would not associate wit KM in the 90s. 

Mimosa Systems acquisition by Iron Mountain was an interesting surprise.  Interesting in that it brings the oldest records management company into the forefront of the latest in eDiscovery.  Iron Mountain was started in 1950 when an abandoned iron mine in Kentucky was used to store bank records and is now located in over 39 countries.  [...]

The management within a company finds it needs to replace their existing, custom developed ERP system with a modern standard ERP system. A major ERP vendor brings their best sales people to a meeting with the management, equipped to the teeth with the most impressive product PowerPoint slide decks they could up-bring (that is, bullet-rich slides with a lot of interconnected 3D boxes that makes the ERP seem very advanced and capable).

The sales people manage to convince the company management to buy the most expensive license of their ERP system. All modules they could possible use, and a few more, are included in the price. As an extra bonus, the license agreement also contains a few “Easter eggs”, including a free license of the vendor’s state-of-the-art and very versatile portal software.

The company – some folks at the IT department – discovers the Easter-egg with the portal software. Like boys with toys, they can’t wait to open it and see what it does. So, they install the software on a server – “for evaluation purposes”.

Sometime later, a business unit identifies a need for aggregating all the information and tools they need in one place. They’ve heard that some competitor does that by using a portal solution, and that a portal solution is just what they need too. So they turn to their IT Department, telling them they need a portal solution.

The boys at the IT department (not many girls around) get all fired up. They tell the business people that they in fact already have a state-of-the-art and very versatile portal software in their enterprise software portfolio. Since the ERP system is a corporate standard and is mandatory to be used by all business units, so must the portal software that came along with it. Besides, it is free of charge. In fact, it is already installed on a server. With an IT strategy having consolidation as a key component, introducing new enterprise software is simply out of the question (even if you could argue that the portal software is not officially introduced and used).

The business people understand they don’t stand a chance against this strong setup. Besides, when looking at the slide decks that the vendor left them with, the portal software seems to be pretty much what they are looking for. So, they decide to skip the part of the process where they define their needs and requirements in more detail and start looking for different alternatives to evaluate and eventually purchase. Instead, they invest their money in an implementation project, seeing the promise of a short time to platform and quick and tangible business results.

The implementation project is executed and eventually a portal solution is launched. Soon enough it turns out that they did not really get what they expected, but to ensure return on their investment, they decide to force adoption with directives and policies. Maybe they will also work out some the kinks, possibly by purchasing a bunch of 3rd party software.

It does not take very long until the following has happened: The users are unhappy and frustrated and do whatever they can do to find reasons for not using the portal solution. The expected results are nowhere to be seen, and the portal solution quickly enters maintenance mode. It is just too expensive to develop it any further. But as some people have invested a lot of prestige and their entire careers in this thing, nothing can be done about the situation.

A couple of years later, the business people identify a need for aggregating all the information and tools they need in one place. This time, they don’t need a portal solution. Obviously, portal solutions are not the recipe for success. Now success is spelled differently. Instead, they need a versatile platform with a lot of capabilities, from search to business intelligence.

So, they turn to their IT department…

It would be very interesting if you could list 5 faults you find in this story, and come up with 5 things to make it right.

(thanks @letterpress_se for inspiration)

Finding experts is a problem. Creating a closed stagnant database is a poor solution to that problem. But creating a dynamic system is a much smarter approach. First of all you get people answering questions — which saves time and money. And secondly, by leveraging social computing tools (and staying away from emails that hide conversations) it becomes clear who the experts really are. Employees might want to answer questions to demonstrate what they are capable of. And administrators can manage the system so that no one person gets too many questions…But having this kind of system solves a set of business problems that the old database would never solve.

Content comes in different shapes and context. Some needs ‘locking-down’, other content is ‘open’, while elements develop as it is pushed, modified and enhanced. There is not a ‘one solution’ fits all process flow within each stream, nor within each site area within a community site. Some communities have areas which are controlled by a central team, and no-one else can update/add. They also have areas which are open and require no authorization or approval to publish and enhance. Other communities are more centrally controlled with some locked-down areas.

What we do provide is a ‘governance structure’. Generally speaking the governance structure provides visible ownership for each area of a site. The owner is best placed to determine the requirements of content production for their area – from the user, risk and stream perspective. When we sit down with each ‘owner’ we then structure the content flow process and build as required. An overall ’steering group’ would ideally determine the overall suitability of the workflow, however, experience suggests this is more a rubber stamping process.

Decisions that affect innovation are no different than other decisions. They are based on information. How much information, what kind of information, whether a company chooses to use certain information, and how well a company interprets available information, is the key to decision-making success.

Information isn’t always easy to obtain however, which is probably a good thing actually. Information – having it and not having it – becomes the basis for competitive advantage. You can only hope your information is better than your competitor’s.

In collaborative organizations, people interact spontaneously regardless of level, role, or region. This encourages broad input into product and service development, process improvements, and marketing campaigns. Rather than present a marketing plan or campaign after it’s already developed, why not get sales, finance, and corporate communications involved early? Then the plan has cross-functional buy-in baked right in. And it’s likely a stronger plan, because it reflects less-insular input.

In the product design arena, command-and-control organizations inform factory workers what they’ll be building and how. These workers are on a need-to-know basis. Collaborative organizations engage factory workers in the design of the products and the manufacturing processes. This breaks down the barriers between product development and manufacturing and reduces the impact of silos. The collaborative approach also reduces product development time and ultimately produces a better result.

Harold Jarche: “Social computing in knowledge-intensive workplaces“

The lines are blurring between marketing and training just as they are between learning and working. The connectivity enabled by social computing gives us an opportunity to identify overlapping areas and redundancies in organizational human performance support. A unified support function, focused on really serving workers and helping them grow, could significantly reduce the 77% of CLO Magazine survey respondents who feel that people in their organization are not growing fast enough to keep up with the business.

Every department in the enterprise is part of the problem:

• IT: for locking down computers and treating all employees like children, closing off a wealth of information, knowledge and connections outside the artificial firewall.
• Communications: for forcing employees to use approved messages that do not even sound human.
• Training: for separating learning from work.
• HR: for forcing people into standardized jobs and competency models that do not reflect the person.

It’s time for all departments to become part of the solution.

Martin Henricson joins EPiServer as CEO, allowing planned promotion of current CEO Peter Larsson to Executive Chairman of the BoardMartin

Chicago, IL, February 12, 2010 — Henricson, 49 years of age, joins EPiServer on February 12th as CEO in preparation for an Initial Public Offering (IPO). Prior to EPiServer, Martin was CEO for Bure Equity and Tradedoubler, both public companies. During Mr. Henricson’s tenure as CEO for Tradedoubler from 2002 to 2007, the company grew to become the on-line marketing leader in Europe, with revenues over 3 billion SEK.  He also led the successful IPO of the company.

Mr. Henricson replaces Peter Larsson, who has been appointed to Executive Chairman of the Board at EPiServer. The former Chairman of the Board, Hans Otterling, will become a member of the board.

”Peter has done a tremendous job for EPiServer as CEO.  The goals which Northzone, Amadeus and Monterro set for the company when making the investment in 2007 have been achieved. Upon our entry, we also set the long-term strategy for EPiServer and as planned Peter now takes an active position as Executive Chairman of the Board,” says Hans Otterling, retiring chairman of the Board.

read more

Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky with one hand waving free,
Silhouetted by the sea, circled by the circus sands,
With all memory and fate driven deep beneath the waves,
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.
- MR. TAMBOURINE MAN

A change is as good as a holiday, they say. Well, after ten brilliant years at the company now known as LBi, it’s time for a change. I wasn’t looking for anything, but an opportunity came along that, had I turned it down, I’d probably regret for the rest of my life. More on this here; I plan to keep this blog going strong – time and lawyers permitting.

To all my LBi colleagues, thanks for the wonderful times, the beers and the things you’ve taught me. You’ve got an awesome gig going, and the road ahead looks rosy. In particular, thanks to the exec for their vision and guidance, the technical architects for all their wisdom, and my development teams for fucking up far less projects than the industry average.

To the Dream Team (@mislip, @laurajaybee, @dacrumb, @skinnybouffant and @shakster), congrats on a job well done and I’ll be watching a certain site with eager anticipation. And a huge huge thanks to my boss, Mark, for keeping me honest for the last few years.

To end my Paltrow-esque blubbering – to all my wonderful, well-informed clients that read this blog, thanks for letting me go near your projects, and for making most of the work a pleasure.

We’ll always have The Pride. It’s been real.

P.S. If anyone wants my old job (the best job at the best agency in London), mail careers@lbi.com for the attention of Mark Agar and the subject “I want Jon’s old job”. I’m serious.

Last week I attended the Webtrends Engage 2010 event in New Orleans. See this weekend for my reports on eating and live music in New Orleans. I covered some of the sessions on this blog. While there I had a
chance to speak with their CEO, Alex
Yoder, on an individual basis.  We
went over some of the major directions for the company.  Alex started by saying their core
principle was openness.  They are
culturally open as a company. They provide direct access to everyone, including
himself.

As part of this directive of
openness they recently provided access to their knowledge base to the general
public. This included how-to-dos for their products, bugs, fixes and other
company information that had been behind a firewall and only previously
accessible to customers. Now it is available to anyone on the Webtrends site.

They are also sharing the
lessons that they have learned inside their company. Alex said that they deal
with many of the same issues that their clients face so they can learn from
each other. This sharing also helps to build a stronger sense of community with
their clients.

On the technology side they
partner with a number of providers to round out their capabilities. These
include Radian 6 on the front end and Teradata on the back end. Alex said that
things are moving too fast for one firm to say that they can do everything. It
is often better to partner than to build.

They are also open from a
technology perspective. They provide open APIs for both data extraction and
data collection, one of the few firms to do both. On the data extraction side they
allow for integration of their data into other tools within the enterprise.
This helps Web analytics to get out of silos and into executive dashboards for
greater visibility. Their data on customer activity can also go into CRM
systems to allow for more complete customer records. Their findings can also
trigger action-based emails to employees to promote proper responses.

On the data collection side
Webtrends can incorporate data where Javascript cannot go. They can look at
anything that is digital, such as the records of in-store transactions, to
provide a complete record of customer activity.  They can also work with certain mobile devices.

Looking in the future Alex
said that Webtrends will continue to further optimize customer interactions.
There is a lot of marketing money flowing from traditional media into social
media. Webtrends wants to expand its support in this growing space. Mobile
devices is another growth area where they are working to enhance their
offerings. As marketing people need to work across a broader array of channels,
Webtrends wants to provide for better campaign management and coordination
across all of these channels.

Alex brought up gaming
consoles as another device where there is both marketing and analytic
possibilities. He recently received a Playstation3 for Christmas. It has a
large hard drive and an Internet browser. He can do email and chat and play
games remotely with others. Communities are developing around these games and
these communities will be fruitful targets for related marketing activities.

Alex said that his gaming
console has also taken away the need for cable TV as he can get what he wants
online. I have many friends who have also dropped cable and use their laptop
for TV through services such as Hulu.  When people watch TV through an online device there is much
greater opportunity to collect data and interact with viewers than the
traditional TV set. Alex said that the gaming console will likely become a channel
for direct response ads in the near future. It already has some ads and related
product information.

The same injection of
intelligence is occurring as people switch to Kindles and other online readers
such as the new Apple iPad. When you drop a print newspaper on a front door you
have no way of tracking what people do with it. With online readers there is a
whole range of data collection opportunities.

Alex closed by saying that
Webtrends is defined by its relationships. These include customer
relationships, relationships with the broader community, and the relationships
that its customers establish with their customers. Having grown up in New
Orleans I added that people here really appreciate the help that comes through
bringing events like Engage to their city. Alex said that this event is also
part of their plan to better support communities.  They have moved a number of the Engage activities out of the
hotel and into the city. 

Last week I attended the Webtrends Engage 2010 event in New Orleans. See this weekend for my reports on eating and live music in New Orleans. I covered some of the sessions on this blog. While there I had a
chance to speak with their CEO, Alex
Yoder, on an individual basis.  We
went over some of the major directions for the company.  Alex started by saying their core
principle was openness.  They are
culturally open as a company. They provide direct access to everyone, including
himself.

As part of this directive of
openness they recently provided access to their knowledge base to the general
public. This included how-to-dos for their products, bugs, fixes and other
company information that had been behind a firewall and only previously
accessible to customers. Now it is available to anyone on the Webtrends site.

They are also sharing the
lessons that they have learned inside their company. Alex said that they deal
with many of the same issues that their clients face so they can learn from
each other. This sharing also helps to build a stronger sense of community with
their clients.

On the technology side they
partner with a number of providers to round out their capabilities. These
include Radian 6 on the front end and Teradata on the back end. Alex said that
things are moving too fast for one firm to say that they can do everything. It
is often better to partner than to build.

They are also open from a
technology perspective. They provide open APIs for both data extraction and
data collection, one of the few firms to do both. On the data extraction side they
allow for integration of their data into other tools within the enterprise.
This helps Web analytics to get out of silos and into executive dashboards for
greater visibility. Their data on customer activity can also go into CRM
systems to allow for more complete customer records. Their findings can also
trigger action-based emails to employees to promote proper responses.

On the data collection side
Webtrends can incorporate data where Javascript cannot go. They can look at
anything that is digital, such as the records of in-store transactions, to
provide a complete record of customer activity.  They can also work with certain mobile devices.

Looking in the future Alex
said that Webtrends will continue to further optimize customer interactions.
There is a lot of marketing money flowing from traditional media into social
media. Webtrends wants to expand its support in this growing space. Mobile
devices is another growth area where they are working to enhance their
offerings. As marketing people need to work across a broader array of channels,
Webtrends wants to provide for better campaign management and coordination
across all of these channels.

Alex brought up gaming
consoles as another device where there is both marketing and analytic
possibilities. He recently received a Playstation3 for Christmas. It has a
large hard drive and an Internet browser. He can do email and chat and play
games remotely with others. Communities are developing around these games and
these communities will be fruitful targets for related marketing activities.

Alex said that his gaming
console has also taken away the need for cable TV as he can get what he wants
online. I have many friends who have also dropped cable and use their laptop
for TV through services such as Hulu.  When people watch TV through an online device there is much
greater opportunity to collect data and interact with viewers than the
traditional TV set. Alex said that the gaming console will likely become a channel
for direct response ads in the near future. It already has some ads and related
product information.

The same injection of
intelligence is occurring as people switch to Kindles and other online readers
such as the new Apple iPad. When you drop a print newspaper on a front door you
have no way of tracking what people do with it. With online readers there is a
whole range of data collection opportunities.

Alex closed by saying that
Webtrends is defined by its relationships. These include customer
relationships, relationships with the broader community, and the relationships
that its customers establish with their customers. Having grown up in New
Orleans I added that people here really appreciate the help that comes through
bringing events like Engage to their city. Alex said that this event is also
part of their plan to better support communities.  They have moved a number of the Engage activities out of the
hotel and into the city.