Social Tools In The Enterprise. Contradiction In Terms?

guest post by David Cushman

I often hear people talk about deploying social tools ‘in the enterprise’.

And that’s a good thing. A great first step. But I wonder if the description is a sop to the fears of those-who-would-control?

Keeping things closed, internal, secret, locked away; makes the boss feel safe, doesn’t it?

But to get the greatest value from ‘social tools’ you have to see through the walls and act beyond them.

The adoption of social tools ‘in the enterprise’ has the effect of throwing up a silo around where and how those tools will be used. Internal wikis, private blogs, employee forums etc.

I know there are cases where they have been seen to work very well. But I wonder if even in those cases they could have worked still better by open thinking: opening up the silos and letting the conversation flow within and without the silo walls.

Ideas are not IP, implementation is.

Let’s not talk about deploying social tools in the enterprise.

Let’s talk about adopting social tools. Period.