Enterprise Architecture, IHS
4. Significance of Social Computing
4.1 Why Social Computing?
The true value of communities stems from the collective intelligence of participants and the on-going interaction and collaboration. “People are no longer just consumers of content and applications; they are participants, creating content and interacting with different services and people,” said Betsy Palkowsky, a senior strategic marketing manager at IHS.
4.2 Collective Intelligence
Collective intelligence is “the knowledge found in employees’ heads and in the databases and unstructured documents found across the organization.” [1] This is absolutely critical for an organizations with a large number of employees, partners, and customers.
As more people contribute their knowledge, be it by tagging, providing feedback, or adding content, more people will embrace these solutions. Participants become the owners of key knowledge even as “individual experts and content providers come and go, reducing the potential danger of demographic shifts or business cycle changes.” By having that information available, productivity can sharply increase as “people can quickly find critical information and subject-matter experts.” [1]
4.1 Why Social Computing?
The true value of communities stems from the collective intelligence of participants and the on-going interaction and collaboration. “People are no longer just consumers of content and applications; they are participants, creating content and interacting with different services and people,” said Betsy Palkowsky, a senior strategic marketing manager at IHS.
4.2 Collective Intelligence
Collective intelligence is “the knowledge found in employees’ heads and in the databases and unstructured documents found across the organization.” [1] This is absolutely critical for an organizations with a large number of employees, partners, and customers.
As more people contribute their knowledge, be it by tagging, providing feedback, or adding content, more people will embrace these solutions. Participants become the owners of key knowledge even as “individual experts and content providers come and go, reducing the potential danger of demographic shifts or business cycle changes.” By having that information available, productivity can sharply increase as “people can quickly find critical information and subject-matter experts.” [1]
4.2.1 Examples of Collective Intelligence
4.2.1.1 Stumpmedia
Stumpmedia: http://www.stumpedia.com/
Stumpedia.com, as indicated on the website, “is a social search engine that relies on human participation to index, organize, and review the world wide web.” [19]
4.2.1.1 Stumpmedia
Stumpmedia: http://www.stumpedia.com/
Stumpedia.com, as indicated on the website, “is a social search engine that relies on human participation to index, organize, and review the world wide web.” [19]
4.2.1.2 Twine
Twine: http://www.twine.com/
“Twine is a new way for you to collect online content – videos, photos, articles, Web pages, products - and bring it all together by topic, so you can have it in one place and share it with anyone you want…it helps you collect information in a new, highly personalized, convenient way. You can use Twine alone, with friends, groups and communities, or even in your company.” [20]
Amongst the features of Twine are: [20]
Uses semantic understanding to “get to know you.” It automatically learns about your interests and makes connections and recommendations tailored to you.
It organizes your content by topic for easy tracking and sharing.
Find other people with similar interests.
Personalized recommendations.
Twine: http://www.twine.com/
“Twine is a new way for you to collect online content – videos, photos, articles, Web pages, products - and bring it all together by topic, so you can have it in one place and share it with anyone you want…it helps you collect information in a new, highly personalized, convenient way. You can use Twine alone, with friends, groups and communities, or even in your company.” [20]
Amongst the features of Twine are: [20]
Uses semantic understanding to “get to know you.” It automatically learns about your interests and makes connections and recommendations tailored to you.
It organizes your content by topic for easy tracking and sharing.
Find other people with similar interests.
Personalized recommendations.
5. How can Social Computing Help?
5.1 Internally
5.1.1 Capture Knowledge
The knowledge that employees, past and current, have about business processes, projects, or practices is very valuable. Documentation in its traditional sense has always been lacking and it’s always difficult and frustrating for new employees to get up to speed.
Surveys in the industry have shown that “70% to 80% of executives at large companies are worried about the coming brain drain from retiring workers.” According to the same surveys, “fewer than 20% [of these executives] have done anything about it.” [Fortune, July 19, 2006]
It’s therefore, important to encourage adoption of social computing tools and integrate them as part of a daily process for the benefit of current and future employees.
5.1.2 Expertise Location
The Burton Group summarizes that as “who knows what and who knows whom.” [2]
Employees tend to look for external resources for assistance (search engines, blogs, discussion forums, or network of professionals). This often involves a substantial amount of time and cost in searching for a solution or implementing a solution without the knowledge of an expert (who may already exist within the same company). [3]
Having a knowledge pool to draw from and the ability to easily identify experts becomes critical. Social computing tools, by virtue of captured metadata or deduced patterns from users’ actions, can easily help in identifying these experts.
Navigation paths, click-streams, and feedback provided by users (comments, tags, forwarded links etc.) can also provide an indirect and accurate way to locate expertise.
5.1.3 Innovation
As more users are contributing and collaborating on content, whether actively by adding content or passively through click-stream feedback, content can be indexed and quantified for other purposes such as marketing, complementary service, and products. As more people share their insight and add new knowledge to the pool of existing knowledge, geographical and organizational boundaries will become less visible, which further drives innovative solutions.
5.1 Internally
5.1.1 Capture Knowledge
The knowledge that employees, past and current, have about business processes, projects, or practices is very valuable. Documentation in its traditional sense has always been lacking and it’s always difficult and frustrating for new employees to get up to speed.
Surveys in the industry have shown that “70% to 80% of executives at large companies are worried about the coming brain drain from retiring workers.” According to the same surveys, “fewer than 20% [of these executives] have done anything about it.” [Fortune, July 19, 2006]
It’s therefore, important to encourage adoption of social computing tools and integrate them as part of a daily process for the benefit of current and future employees.
5.1.2 Expertise Location
The Burton Group summarizes that as “who knows what and who knows whom.” [2]
Employees tend to look for external resources for assistance (search engines, blogs, discussion forums, or network of professionals). This often involves a substantial amount of time and cost in searching for a solution or implementing a solution without the knowledge of an expert (who may already exist within the same company). [3]
Having a knowledge pool to draw from and the ability to easily identify experts becomes critical. Social computing tools, by virtue of captured metadata or deduced patterns from users’ actions, can easily help in identifying these experts.
Navigation paths, click-streams, and feedback provided by users (comments, tags, forwarded links etc.) can also provide an indirect and accurate way to locate expertise.
5.1.3 Innovation
As more users are contributing and collaborating on content, whether actively by adding content or passively through click-stream feedback, content can be indexed and quantified for other purposes such as marketing, complementary service, and products. As more people share their insight and add new knowledge to the pool of existing knowledge, geographical and organizational boundaries will become less visible, which further drives innovative solutions.
5.1.4 Collaboration and Community Building
Social networks provide an excellent means for interaction and fostering relationships.
There is empirical evidence that social networks can increase productivity and efficiency. A Baseline article (Social Software’s Culture Clash – February 21, 2008) lists a 25% reduction in email attachments at one company and a 10% increase in productivity at another company based on implementing wikis. [3]
These networks take collaboration to the next-level where users can start sharing their insight, best practices, and past experiences. The knowledge captured will not only help in building relationships that transcend geographical or organizational boundaries, but also help new colleagues adapt to their new roles.
5.1.5 Recognition
One of the reasons employees would contribute is the desire to be discovered and recognized. It helps project managers and executives to discover new ideas and identify people with passion about certain subjects. [1]
Social networks provide an excellent means for interaction and fostering relationships.
There is empirical evidence that social networks can increase productivity and efficiency. A Baseline article (Social Software’s Culture Clash – February 21, 2008) lists a 25% reduction in email attachments at one company and a 10% increase in productivity at another company based on implementing wikis. [3]
These networks take collaboration to the next-level where users can start sharing their insight, best practices, and past experiences. The knowledge captured will not only help in building relationships that transcend geographical or organizational boundaries, but also help new colleagues adapt to their new roles.
5.1.5 Recognition
One of the reasons employees would contribute is the desire to be discovered and recognized. It helps project managers and executives to discover new ideas and identify people with passion about certain subjects. [1]
5.2 Externally
There are numerous benefits for offering online communities for our partners and customers:
- Directly elicit feedback from our customers.
- Serve as a promotion vehicle for existing or new products and services.
- Analysis of passive contribution (click-streams and navigation paths) can provide insight into our customers’ interests.
- Create new sources of revenue by providing premium services.
- Once a model is built and tuned, it can be easily replicated and adapted for all products and services.
- Help reduce product support costs by having customers help other customers and providing a knowledge-base.
- Allowing users to add meta-data around our offerings can greatly enrich the value of our content.
- These communities can serve as a testing ground for new releases.
- Customers can share stories about our products and services that may drive purchases from other customers
- Customer voting on content can give us direct access to our customers’ pulse and may give us insight into usage patterns and valuable information on what products should be further enhanced.
- Communities may become a great source of attracting talents.
- And finally it’s another way to gauge customer delight.
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