Building the Social Enterprise

The Xpragmatic View #148
July 30, 2010
by Marc Buyens (@mbuyens), Xpragma
marc.buyens@xpragma.com
url: http://www.xpragma.com/view148.php
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"Technology and technology-driven change has virtually nothing to do with igniting a transformation from good to great. Technology can accelerate a transformation, but technology cannot cause a transformation." Jim Collins. Good to Great.

The Enterprise 2.0 debate continues. The social enterprise, process-focus, organisational change, it's about people... these were some of the themes that we found in the blog posts of the past week. The E2.0 community continues struggling with this frustration that something big is within reach. However, for some reason, we do not succeed.

Many of the posts explored this apparent duality that social tools are, by excellence, the perfect enablers for a more open, collaborative, transparent enterprise. Yet, at the same time, adoption seems extremely difficult unless these characteristics are already, to some extent, in place. The culture thing. A chicken and egg situation.

So, comes then the unavoidable question: "Can social tools ignite the transformation that is needed to get to the Social Enterprise?"

Those who have read some of our previous posts will know our opinion on this. Enterprise 2.0, the social enterprise, adoption... they are just dreams. They will not happen. At least not via the implementation of so-called social software tools, which is in essence the definition of Enterprise 2.0 as coined by Andrew McAfee.

This opinion has nothing to do with a perceived absence of value in these tools. On the contrary, these tools add real value and companies should use these tools to leverage their existing capabilities.

Tools add value because they extend our existing capabilities, not because they give us non-existing capabilities. Put the right tool in the hands of a craftsman and he will create wonderful things. Put it in the hands of an average person and very little interesting will happen.

In everything that we view as the success of the Web 2.0 phenomenon, the basis for the success was that it extended the natural social behaviour, the natural personal desires and ambitions of the participants and that the "environment" did not impose restrictions on the deployment of this extended behaviour.

When bringing social tools into the enterprise, we are playing a completely different game.

In the enterprise, there is no natural behaviour. The whole context is artificially constrained. You cannot deploy your full capabilities since you are framed in a narrow job description with various controls around you.

Of course, we see the value these tools can bring. We want to use them because they can make our life easier, our work more productive, more interesting... but this requires that the frame around us is removed, that the enterprise is transformed.

This, unfortunately, will not happen.

The enterprise, as it is today, does not have its current form because there was a lack of social tools. Enterprises are structured the way they are because that form is wanted, because it supports certain objectives, such as economies of scale, cost efficiency, risk control and especially, because it protects the rights and privileges of certain stakeholders.

The social enterprise is a splendid vision, but it will not happen by implementing E2.0 tools. The enterprise will not be transformed.

Becoming a social enterprise, a real enterprise 2.0, requires that the basic mission and vision of the company change, that it abandons this path of being a wealth transfer machine in service of the shareholders and the top execs. This means BIG change.

Therefore, while Enterprise 2.0 is a nice dream, we fear that it will not happen by transforming the existing enterprises. The challenge is simply too big. It will likely happen by replacing the older legacy enterprises by new companies that operate on completely different values, using completely different concepts.

Most likely, they will all use various forms of social tools, not because they expect any form of transformation or serendipity effect from them, but simply because they are natural extensions of their default way of operating.

Enterprise 2.0 done right. And boring.

About Marc Buyens

Marc Buyens is analyst, management consultant and owner of Xpragma. He started Xpragma in 1999 after a 20+ years career in the IT sector. Today, he provides advice, training and mentoring services focusing on the intersection of technological evolution, organisational change and business strategy: a messy world of unfulfilled promises.

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