Enterprise Social Networking: Finding Value In Serendipity
Enterprise Social Networking:Finding Value in Serendipityby Daniel W. RasmusIf the only economics you have to work with come from the industrialage, then everything looks like a factory.Most organizations want to justify their investments ahead of time. When the world isorderly and linear, such justifications are pretty easy to develop. The often haphazard,unpredictable world of the Internet, has caused even the most conservative ofprofessionals to doubt their approaches to measurement. Even in cases where returnon-investment calculations offer positive, near-term value, they don’t seem to tell thewhole story. Once enterprise social networking, for instance, is implemented in a firm,people apply it in unexpected ways, creating returns that were unanticipated by thetechnology’s original advocates.Because most financial systems are designed to look only at the world through thelinear, industrial age lens, those systems end up, even when they work, reflecting onlyclear process returns for software that exists outside of process—time saved, reducedcosts, faster communication, etc. This paper will explain why social media software isgoverned by rules that allow organizations to anticipate the returns. In the SerendipityEconomy, the only way you know you are receiving value is by actively participating inits creation.This paper explores six attributes that differentiate the Serendipity Economy fromindustrial age economics.Process SeparationTime DelayUnforecastable alidation ConfigurationFor a deeper exploration of this topic, see Welcome to the Serendipity Economy andThe Serendipity Economy and Social Media, both available at:http://danielwrasmus.com/Research.aspxDaniel W. Rasmus, the author of Listening to the Future and Management by Design, is an independentanalyst focused on the future of work and the technologies transforming work experiences.
Enterprise Social Media: Finding Value in SerendipityThe process of creation isdistinct from valuerealizationprivacy and other activities alreadydocumented in other electronic mediapolicies.What this means for you: organizationscan’t look to enterprise social networkingin strictly process terms. Ideas generatedoutside of the social network may gainvalue through dialog, and those firstcreated within the network will likely berealized outside the confines of thesoftware.Yammer becomes a back-channel forside conversations about restructuringand change. People grumble andsympathize. Work isn’t conductedthrough Yammer.Communication is a process. No matterhow effective the members of aconversation are at communicating, theideas being transmitted are often ofindeterminate value at the time they aretyped. The value doesn’t arise from theprocess of communication, but from theengagement with the ideas beingtransmitted. And those ideas may havebeen generated on pieces of paper, typedinto a dialog box or scanned as an image.None of those “production” processesadds value to the message, they are onlyeffective in moving the message around anetwork more efficiently.Value realization is displacedin time from the act thatinitiated the valueWhat this means for you: whenorganizations implement enterprise socialnetworking it may take several weeks, oreven months, to realize value.Here’s an example:On April 17, 2011, 7-Elevenholds an annual meeting inDallas. The companyintroduces its franchiseowners and staff to Yammer.They provide few rules outside of thoserelated to common courtesy, information 2011 by Daniel W. Rasmus !On 7-Eleven’s “birthday,” a store owner inBoston spontaneously posts a picture ofwhat he is doing in his store during thisday of celebration and promotion. Otherfranchise owners and their teams followsuit. Soon Yammer is alive with thestores posting pictures of the “birthday”celebrations. They establish newconnections, but realize no measurablevalue.The next day, this spontaneous sharingturns into careful examination of thephotos and serious conversations aboutmerchandising and practice sharing. Noone knew it would be Boston. No oneknew it would be merchandising. TheSerendipity Economy asserted itself.Three-months after deployment,franchise owners, who might never haveknown each other, discovered a newchannel for sharing business practices.Value is not fixed, and cannotbe forecastedWhat this means for you: whenexamining interactions in enterprisesocial networking, organizations will notbe able to pre-determine the exact valueof conversations that take place on asocial network, unless the social networkserves a constrained process. Widedeployment of enterprise socialnetworking will generate a range ofvalues, and examining the network priorto the implementation of the software willdanielwrasmus.com!2
Enterprise Social Media: Finding Value in Serendipitynot be able to determine what potentialvalues may arise.social network must be in place to assessdevelopments arising from the network.Here’s an example:The act of posting a photo is a process.The act of applying merchandisinglessons learned from a peer is a process.The second process validatesthe first, but onlya thirdprocess canvalidate theapplication ofthe newmerchandisinglessons. The sharing andprocessing of ideas only generates valuewhen applied, and the application resultsin realized value. In the case of retail, thevalue of a new idea may be proven usingstandard sales reports, as long as thenew idea clearly drives improved sales. Inan innovation situation, where a new ideais being generated, it may ultimately bethe development of a market for the ideathat proves its value, or even the failureto create a market, therefore generatingnegative, yet valuable information, aboutwhat a group of customers may or maynot want.Executives at 7-Eleven headquartersstarted to look for other serendipitousactivity related to Yammer. When theycorrelated standard sales reports withYammer activity, they discovered anotherunanticipated insight: those storesactively adopting Yammer representedsome of their best performing locations.This created a chicken and egg question:which was answered by looking athistorical sales data. The stores usingYammer were high performing locationsbefore deployment. Yammer was beingadopted as a new tool to extendmanagement capabilities, increaselearning opportunities and improvecustomer engagement. 7-Eleven,recognizing the foundations of thesuccessful adoption, decided not to toutYammer as the tool to make franchisesmore profitable, but rather decided toinvest in leadership development atunderperforming franchises. What theyfound was that as management acumenimproved at the franchises, their use ofYammer also increased. Contrary toperceptions of enterprise socialnetworking as a distraction, the better 7Eleven managers recognized the value ofenterprise social networking as a sourceof learning through practice sharing.The measure of valuerequires external validationWhat this means for you: externalprocesses must be put into place todetermine if a social network has yieldedvalue. Nothing within the communicationprocess offers valid analysis of an idea, adecision or any other action, so in orderto determine if a social network iscreating value, a process external to the 2011 by Daniel W. Rasmus !Looking at a network in thepresent cannot anticipateeither its potential for valueor any actual value it mayproduceWhat this means for you: It isimpossible to fully predict the value of asocial interaction, and therefore, it isimpossible to determine the value of thenetwork where those interactions takeplace.Imagine you have infinite informationabout everyone in a social network. Youhave deep profiles of interests, careerbackgrounds and all relationshipsbetween the people in the network aredanielwrasmus.com!3
Enterprise Social Media: Finding Value in Serendipityknown. Even with all of that information,no one will be able to determine what thenetwork will next discuss, and whichmembers of the network will be the nextto create something of value.Even creating a complete snapshot of anetwork does not provide any informationabout the network’s context, the externalworld in which it exists, nor the state ofmind of any person in the network. Whatsomeone decides to discuss, or whatthey are compelled to discuss due tobusiness circumstances, cannot beanticipated.The network exists in a state ofSerendipity Potential, which we know bynumber of connections and by diversity,can be increased, but an increase inpotential does not help forecast what thatpotential may yield.Here’s an example:Deloitte Australiabegan usingYammer in Sept. 2008 with no clear goalsor expectations. Yammer has sincehelped transform the organization anddelivered many examples ofserendipitous value. Deloitte found thatprofessionals with 10 or more posts onYammer had an average turnover rate of2%, compared to a firm-wide average of15-20%. These professionals whoengaged in internal enterprise socialnetworking were 8-10x as likely to staywith the firm. Lower employee turnoverhas many clear business benefits,including deeper customer andorganizational knowledge, and reducedrecruiting and on-boarding costs.Serendipity may enter at anypoint in the value web, and itmay change theconfiguration of the value 2011 by Daniel W. Rasmus !web at any timeWhat this means for you: even withperfect knowledge of a social network ata point in time, that knowledge quicklybecomes obsolete as new people join anetwork, members leave and existingmembers learn and grow. This makes thenetwork dynamic in both its configurationand in the knowledge and interests itrepresents.Here’s another Deloitte Australia story: Asecond year Deloitte consultant inSydney Australia has an innovative ideato help a client. He posts it to Yammer at6pm at night with the question: “Will theclient be amenable to this solution?” Anhour later a risk services partner inMelbourne suggests the young consultantconnect with one of two partners. At 8pm,the Head of Consulting chimes in andfacilitates the conversation, directing theyoung consultant to one partner over theother. The next morning the consultantand the partner discuss the suggestionand it is presented to the client. DeloitteAustralia CEO, Giam Swiegers, believesthat prior to the implementation of theYammer enterprise social networkingplatform this idea would have been lost.A demoralized young consultant wouldnot have found the right connections forhis idea, and would give up in light ofinsurmountable organizational friction.danielwrasmus.com!4
Enterprise Social Media: Finding Value in SerendipityThe Tens: Ten Social Media Tips for Leveraging the Serendipity Economy1. Go big or go home Enterprise SocialNetworking is about, well, networking.Limit the network to a few people in apilot and the results will also belimited. The only way to createserendipity is by letting peopleconnect.2. Integrate Social Profiles withPerformance Before a new employeecompletes his or her first day, theirsocial profile should be created andready to searched. The social profileprovides the searchable parametersthat let others know about a personsinterests and expertise.3. Make the System Accessible Don’tjust deploy software and hope for thebest. Design an inclusive social mediaexperience. If the technologyoverwhelms or underperforms, then itwill be quickly abandoned. Successfulsocial media often displacing legacysystems. If this doesn’t happen, thenyou don’t have it right.4. Give people permission tocollaborate Too often organizationslook for incentives to get people tocollaborate, forgetting that they gavetheir workers neither time norpermission to go outside theirassignments and routines to seek newways to provide value.5. Track results There is no metadatafor a serendipitous activity. Someorganizations are using hashtags (#)to identify #value inside aconversation they think will lead tovalue.6. Learn from Failure Not allserendipitous activity is going to lead 2011 by Daniel W. Rasmus !to positive results, but all negativeresults do lead to learning. Use socialmedia as the channel for capturinglessons learned and discussing whatto improve or what to avoid.7. Look beyond productivity andefficiency If all measurements focuson cost reductions or productivityimprovements, then SerendipityEconomy activity will be overlooked.Organizations need to make a specialeffort to recognize serendipitousactivity and its resulting valuebecause their instruments aren’tdesigned to reveal it.8. Executives: lead by doing not bysaying you support enterprise socialnetworking. Executive involvementvalidates the network as a sanctionedtool for work, which helps driveengagement and increases thepotential for realizing value. Ifexecutives don’t actively participate,they devalue the efforts of others andeventually derail open, collaborativework.9. Celebrate value When value isrealized, recognize it, its source andits participants. Make this policy andpractice in order to reinforce thatpeople have permission tocollaborate, and that their efforts areappreciated.10. Be patient Serendipity Economyresults won’t appear overnight. Thatdoesn’t means great things aren’thappening, just that they haven’tbubbled to the surface yet. Stayvigilant and if you do the other thingsin this list, your patience will pay off.danielwrasmus.com!5
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