Fear 2.0

That's my all time favorite slide from a powerpoint deck called "Sowing the seeds of enterprise2.0 in a global organization" by Corporate punk.

I was reminded of that slide today when I read Read/WriteWeb's piece Fear of Web 2.0 about Web 2.0 adoption at the corporate enterprise level which brings together two interesting threads:  lagging adoption of desktop applications and fear. 



While organizational adoption of social media tools for external communications strategies is becoming more common, not to mention lots of practical advice such as this recent white paper: The Revolution will be Socialized and the many how-to primers for nonprofits like this one.  It appears that corporations believe that desktop applications and office documents should not have a social life.    MacManus refers to the Google Apps vs Microsoft Office debate as evidence of this. 

With the "I'm sticking with DOS" button analogy, I'm probably showing my age, but new technology emerges that has the potential to replace or improve upon an existing technology, people resist.  There are people or even organizational cultures comfortable with using the existing tools and are slow to change, while early adopters and agile cultures keep learning and  moving.   In many cases, the slow to change eventually adopt or they no longer remain relevant to their constituents, donors, or loose their edge.

So, does anyone remember when Word Perfect (circa 1994ish) was making the move from its DOS interface to its Windows GUI?   A very large number of their longtime users stayed with DOS.  As an early adopter, I remember switching, despite how strange it felt.   Anyone still using it?  Yet, at the time, people were questioning "How could serious work ever be done using a pull down menus?

The second thread has to do with fear that web2.0 tools would be misused by their staff.  Last week, I wrote about the tension between individual and organizational use as it relates to individual staff members representing their nonprofit organization on Social Networking sites.   Eric Eckle left a   
comment about what lies beneath that fear -- how digital social networking can be more threatening

"With online social networking, the individuals assume a higher profile vis a vis their employer than in the past. Individuals most likely to take advantage of these opportunities tend to be younger -- and perhaps more prone to indiscreet or inappropriate activity under the "banner" of their employer. I understand why this keeps senior management at high profile organizations up at night."

In a post trying to understand social networking behind the firewall adoption issues, I wondered whether this was a generational divide that will play out in workplaces over the next 15-20 years?   The Shed 2.0 blog, creator of Charlotte, suggests in a comment that age isn't as much as a factor we all think.  He says these attitude groups cut across ages:

1) people who just don't get it,
2) people who have fun with Web2.0 stuff
but can't make the connection to E2
3) people who can't see the
point of Web2.0 but can see how E2 will bring added value to an
organization.
4) people who understand social networking both inside and outside of the firewall, but these folks are rare

MacManus goes on to dissect a report from Forrester called "Web2.0 Social Computing Dresses Up for Business" which answers the question, "Why should our company or organization care?" 

"It’s the ability to more efficiently generate, self-publish, and find information, plus share expertise in a way that’s so much easier and cheaper than earlier knowledge management attempts."

I've covered some aspects of this in my screencast and workshop on "Tagging for Collaboration and Knowledge Sharing For Nonprofits."  Certainly tagging as a cure to information load and an easy way to share information for resource strapped nonprofits that afford fancy enterprise KM systems.   My colleague, Michael Stein (East Coast) has written about how wikis can be used by nonprofits for documentation.

MacManus goes onto to describe the stealth adoption practice that I've seen in nonprofits as well. (I'm thinking of the KM4Dev Journal where I was a guest editor and the article "A stealth transformation: introducing wikis to the UN."

"Web 2.0 tools have almost certainly already entered your organization under the radar through unsanctioned employee usage. This raises the stakes and criticality of taking action sooner rather than later."

Forrester suggests The solution is to embrace web2.0 - but "on your terms" and recommend that companies create "Web 2.0 policies and usage guidelines."   I've seen slide shows and excellent blog posts from educators about policy 2.0 and the higher education perspective form Brian Kelly's Web2.0: Opportunity or Threat for IT Support Staff?  I bet within 6-12 months you'll see a title on Amazon along the lines of "How To Develop and Write An Effective Web 2.0 Policy," or maybe a new chapter will added this one.  Maybe it already exists?

MacManus also summarizes another report called "Passionate Employees: The Gateway to Enterprise Web2.0 Sales -"  Corporate employees are beginning to use Web 2.0 tools such as blogs, podcasts, wikis, RSS, and social networking in their daily lives. The adoption, however, is uneven, with some employees willing to go to great lengths to use these tools, while others steadfastly refuse to adopt.  According to MacManus, Forrester puts the current figure of people using Web 2.0 tools in the enterprise at 15% - and usage is higher at smaller companies.  I suspect the usage at nonprofits is lower than the 15%.

MacManus' conclusion will sound very familiar to those who have worked with nonprofits around adoption of any technology:

Yet web 2.0 is all about open-ness and collaboration. The latter is particularly important in enterprises. The real reason why IT fears web 2.0, as John Martellaro pointed out recently, is that it upsets the historical need for control and power in IT departments. The reason web 2.0 is finding it difficult to penetrate the enterprise is not that IT can't see the value in it, but that they fear it may erode their control and power.

Comments

[Dennis Howlett]

I remember only too well the WP shift from DOS to the new GUI and it was 1992-3, just before I retired from the world of 9-5 work.

I really enjoyed the new way of doing things then as it was about the same time Windows 3.X was entering the frame. But then I'm an 'edge' guy who likes to play with new things.

[Laura Whitehead]

Perfect Title!

[Nick Booth]

I was recently approached by someone in a local authority for advice on how to circumvent the sructures which defend this position of fear - including websites which don't allow staff to share what they know with the public.