Web 2.0 beyond the corporate firewall

Johannesburg, 11 Jun 2009

“Web 2.0 impacts both your customers and your employees, which is important to understand because one set works for you and the other set pays your salary,” said Mike Stopforth, CEO of Cerebra, speaking at the Human Capital Management using Web 2.0 conference, in Johannesburg, this week.

Drawing from his experience of working with brands such as SAB, Absa, and Kelly, Stopforth shared some key lessons on social media implementations beyond the corporate firewall.

Stopforth put his audience on the back foot when he started off his presentation by saying Enterprise 2.0 is not for everybody. “Some organisations just don't need what this offers,” he stated. Stopforth explained that the previous generation's business model was based on intellectual property as the competitive edge.

That model was flipped on its head with the invention of the Internet, when knowledge became freely available and shared. ”What used to be 'knowledge is power' has now become 'knowledge is power-shared,' he pointed out.

Quoting the Cluetrain Manifesto, Stopforth explained: “A powerful global conversation has begun. Through the Internet, people are discovering and inventing new ways to share relevant knowledge with blinding speed. As a direct result, markets are getting smarter - and getting smarter faster than most companies.”

Fostering communities

Social media within the organisation is about creating a culture of collaboration, said Stopforth, advising that an organisation's culture should drive the social media implementation. “Social media has very little to do with technology and a lot to do with people. We are seeing ordinary people publishing extraordinary things,” he explained.

Stopforth argued that social software is not an ICT problem, but should be designed to augment existing IT infrastructure and not replace it.

He said projects at which he had failed were characterised by the lack of someone taking ownership of the project. He advised that the initiative have a champion within the business who will own and run with it. He further pointed out that while code is a commodity, community is priceless. “You cannot just assemble people who like each other,” said Stopforth.

Social media is about the user experience. When building these projects, it's important to keep in mind who will need to understand it; people need to be able to navigate the software with ease, advised Stopforth. “Concentrating on the user experience will help you gain perspective about your business,” he added.

Web 2.0 is an interactive solution; to make these platforms work organisations have to become internal evangelists, according to Stopforth. “The technology on its own is not enough; it is about community and engaging with the community.”

Coming full circle, Stopforth concluded that social media is not for everyone and advised companies not to “flog a dead horse” when it came to failed implementations. “If the project is not helping the organisation engage with its customers and enhance its human capital management, then it is time to end the project.”