Notes from Andrew McAfee on What Corporate America Thinks of Enterprise 2.0 from SXSW

Sorry, I got there about 30 minutes late, and so I have only partial notes for this session.

Andrew McAfee

What Corporate America Thinks about Enterprise 2.0

#corpamericathink

• How to talk to your bosses about technology
• Use before and after comparisons instead of demos
• example: search using MIT’s internal search, versus Google search
• when i want to find the MIT search site, I use Google
• “strength weak ties”
• “granovetter weak ties”
• 49 search results from MIT research, but not one was the right one
• use Google Scholar
• granovetter weak ties
• first result: the right paper, can download the full text, the list of citations, etc.
• google scholar put together in someone’s spare time over a few months
• Present theories and frameworks, not jargon
• grounded in bullet-proof previous work
• example: a knowledge worker’s view of the enterprise
• concentric circles
• none -> potential -> weak -> strong ties
• then explain how facebook helps build, strengthen, manage the weak ties
• Present data, case studies, narratives
• Not about Google, Amazon, etc.
• “I make dog food for a living, literally, my company is 60 years old, not 10, college students aren’t running to work here, I’m not Google”
• Examples:
• Internal Uses Case Study
• Access to Knowledge (68% report 30% improvement)
• “We can’t do it because we have security concerns” --> Really, because the CIA is doing it, and they have some serious security
• “If only HP knew what HP knows, we would be three times more productive” - Lew Platt, Former Hewlett-Packard CEO
• Activate Peer effects
• Anticipate and allay concerns
• don’t wait for the questions, and don’t appear to be some dewy-eyed technologist. 
• Show that you understand their problems is very important
• Don’t treat business colleagues like geeks, or dopes
• Very few are geeks
• None like to be talked down to
• Don’t talk to them like they are part of the problem
• 2.0 Adoption Council - http://www.20adoptioncouncil.com 
• Helps people get 2.0 stuff adopted inside corporate organizations
• Questions
• How does Enterprise 2.0 related to new leadership inside organizations?
• The job of a leader is to find the spark of genius inside an organization -- Nelson Mandela
• So many times I have found people inside an organization saying “Yes, I have that data you’re looking for, no one here is interested in”. 
• The technology toolkit to find these sparks of genius has gone from zero to 60 in just a few years
• Age demographics of workers
• The default mode of working has switched from working in private to working in public -- at a certain age group
• It’s a really important shift, and many older knowledge workers have a had time adapting to that.
• “The world can benefit from some of our point-to-point interactions if they are done in public.” -- some undergrads explained to McAfee
• “Why would I wait until my work is done to share it? Then it is too late to get any help.”
• Forward thinking executives now understand customer service has shifted, the expectations have shifted. The corporation is no longer driving the customer message.
• it takes time
• a technology revolution does not immediately create an organizational revolution
• the organization needs to get the message from the top. if they think it is just another flavor of the month, then they’ll wait it
• what about organizations in the public sector: governments, academia, etc. seem slow to adopt.
• there are more similarities than differences, but one key thing is that business is in competition, and if they don’t keep up, they will fail. government doesn’t have that pressure. 
• what about the cluetrain manifesto
• it is very focused on the marketing communication...how to deal with current and prospective customers
• the marketshare of old things versus new things is shifting, but not as apocalyptic as they described
• tried to implement yammer in organization, and it failed miserably. now i am afraid to try anything else.
• if you are a believer, try to address a different part of the organization or a different need.