These are merely my views on what aspects of Social Business (see definition) are critical and should be taken into consideration before any initiative in this area, by an organisation of any kind is undertaken. I have looked at these before, each item in isolation at least, never before as an an entire list. I am compiling this list as a means of reference but I would dearly love to get other views. Is it worth compiling such a list (i.e. does it have value) and are the points I listed relevant? Have I missed any or got any wrong? If you have an interest and a moment I’d really appreciate your input in a comment.

SUCCESS BEGINS WITH ACCEPTANCE Social Business requires change. It incorporates new ways of working based in part on new technologies and for any initiative to be successful, it requires change. Change in management, process, culture, etc. A prerequisite for successful change is accepting a need for it. There is no right answer, only the right answer for your organisation or your stage of evolution. It may not be appropriate for your organisation, ever. Don’t embark on the journey because everyone else is, do it because you’ve researched and understood what it means and in your heart you’ve accepted that it’s the right path for your company. You’ll have greater success if your heart is in it and your efforts are authentic.

PROCESSES IN THEIR PLACE Business is often delivered more efficiently through routine processes and workflow, i.e. where tasks can be made routine. Unfortunately life has a way of throwing curved balls (exceptions) and these cannot be handled in a routine way and there is a likelihood, in this ever faster paced and changing world, that exception handling becomes the norm. This means processes can no longer be rigid, especially in the software the supports the processes.
The key points about processes and the technology supporting them are threefold:

• As far as possible, processes should be left in the (people) network where they and complexity should reside, not embedded in software
• Where processes are embedded, a promise of the new breed of lightweight social software is it can easily be changed to reflect changed processes and therefore to handle exceptions better
• It is nevertheless imperative for software (social or otherwise) to compliment workflow and for it to be useful to users and the business.

ITS ABOUT THE CULTURE STUPID The 900 pound gorilla of culture can be ignored but at your peril. Culture is a function of people’s behaviours and norms that become entrenched in an organisation. It permeates everything the company does. There’s no need for a mega consultation or study to understand what the company culture is. Often all you have to do is look at management and the way they behave and see the messages that flow from them to understand it. The point is to think about your organisation, how it ticks or doesn’t and then plan accordingly. Social business requires a more open, transparent, trusting and collaborative culture and you either already have it or need to achieve it (Zappos are the poster child if you want a reference point). Booz & Company have also just completed their Global Innovation 1000 study which explains why culture is key in driving better performance (free pdf of report to download).

SOCIAL BUSINESS IS A PETRI DISH – EXPERIMENTATION Often businesses that make a success of their social activities are those not afraid to muck in and try something new. It is a mantra of a new breed of startups to launch small and early, fail/iterate fast and grow organically. Some large companies would do well to take a leaf from their book as some already are, but not just for their social business efforts. Then there is the approach you take in adopting social technologies and new practices, assuming you are starting from scratch. Piloting and prototyping efforts sometimes work better than the big bang route. Focusing on small groups, functions or outcomes and then progressing if it works or not. The big bang route with full on promotion could follow trial efforts. Especially if innovation is what you are trying to achieve, and which company doesn’t, this requires experimenting and prototyping (Leonard-Barton, 1995), arises from knowledge creation in firms (Nonaka & Takeuchi, 1995) and relies on recognition of opportunities (Tushman & O’Reilly, 1997), then social business platforms with their freeform factor and serendipitous engagement models are for made to fit. Generally, non-stop improvisation, prototyping, and low-risk efforts are more likely to yield big wins than taking giant, all-or-nothing risks as covered in this superb book: Little Bets – How breakthrough ideas emerge from small discoveries.

IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHERE YOU ARE GOING, ANY ROAD WILL GET YOU THERE – STRATEGY This encompasses three key areas in my view:

• Timing. Time bounding your initiatives in the short term might make them more effective and you can use this as a basis to push for certain actions. But key is to have the long term in mind and where you want to get to and by when.
• Purpose. Purpose is one of those intangible but important components like culture. I’m not talking about a rigid ROI plan, a requirement nonetheless, but mapping clear goals that will pull the collective effort along
• Incentive. In other words, whats in it for each stakeholder to engage with your organisation (employee, customer, etc.). Reward systems are a positive way of getting people to contribute. They can be tangible benefits like money, prizes, time off, Google 20% rule, etc. They can be less tangible and gamification (badges, points, etc.) is a fun way of rewarding participation that is gaining traction in certain quarters (Gamification In Play At Enterprise 2.0) and Gartner predicts over 70 percent of Global 2000 organisations will have at least one gamified application by 2014. Emphasis on target activities that you might value are also important, e.g. come up with ideas to reduce costs on project x by y (cost)

IN GOD WE TRUST; ALL OTHERS MUST BRING DATA Whether you believe that if it cannot be measured, it cannot be managed, or have less respect for data, it is now there in abundance to be leveraged or ignored. Either, as “big data”, it is a basis for the next frontier for innovation, competition, and productivity (as McKinsey report) or its simply a question of being able to listen better, monitoring and measuring your brand through social media or your employees in internal social networks. Similar to technology and culture though, this is one area where you ignore all the data around you at your peril – because if you are not leveraging it, your competitors may very well be.

BUILD IT AND THEY WILL NOT COME – SUPPORT/TRAINING The fallacy of “building it and they will come” has long been proven. All strong communities require hard work. Training for simple technology solutions (as many of the better light-weight social software solutions are) is not so much an issue as it is for new working practices. Newer working practices are aligned with culture change and change management in general and for this a raft of human behavioural reorientation is needed. With community support you cannot do enough. Especially in online environments its important to address the needs of the community and to have dedicated resources that do this. Just check out what the Community Roundtable say or read this classic article: Community management – The ‘essential’ capability of successful Enterprise 2.0 efforts.

KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE, AND YOUR ENEMIES CLOSER – SECURITY/TRUST Trust amongst users that the info they share will not be compromised or used against them by bosses or colleagues (in internal circumstances) is paramount. Also that their data and privacy is secure (in both internal and external social networks). Any service or platform that purports to serve a community of users needs to ensure that the right environment of trust and security is established through clear policies, technology components and processes, etc. So much for keeping the data inside and secure amongst users. Of course the other key point is keeping the wrong people out. Not too difficult with platforms hosted behind the firewall (on internal servers). Although far from completely impenetrable, still it’s a little easier than with services hosted in the cloud. Governance, risk management and compliance to regulations are all areas that in the age of Sarbanes–Oxley need to be addressed clearly – what better way to do it than in a clear, transparent and collaborative environment online.

So once again, is it worth compiling such a list (i.e. does it have value) and are the points I listed relevant? Have I missed any or got any wrong? If you have an interest and a moment I’d really appreciate your input in a comment.