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I just returned from the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston — my first time there. The whole concept of enterprise 2.0 is a passion for me — so I figured that in the wake of the conference I’d talk a little bit about WHAT enterprise 2.0 is all about and WHY I think it’s a big deal.
While not everyone may be familiar with the e2.0 term, most people HAVE heard (ad nauseam) about Social Media and User Generated Content. And those concepts are related — although not the same. Social Media — and another favorite buzz-term, “User Generated Content,” — have already been disruptors in numerous industries. For example, “News” isn’t just what major media conglomerates tell us it is. It’s what all of us believe it is. And that has changed the face of radio, television, and especially newspapers, forever.
And while we all know what the news business ISN’T anymore, we don’t necessarily know what it WILL BE. We’re in a state of transition — that much is clear. And there was some really interesting dialog at e2.0 about the nature of that transition. Are businesses evolving? Or are we truly in a state of revolution?
Ross Mayfield, the founder of SocialText (and one of the most quotable guys you’ll ever see) had this to say in the evolution/revolution debate:
“Revolutions only happen when people don’t have a choice. Nice, easy evolutions occur when people have lots of choices.”
I found that pretty interesting . . . and it made me think about how that might apply to the healthcare industry. How much real choice do consumers have? For that matter, how much real access to information do they have?
Some folks at the Dachis Group whose thinking I admire just released a map of their vision for the social business (another, perhaps more sophisticated, way of articulating Enterprise 2.0).
Social Business Design Originally uploaded by David Armano While you’d have to read what David Armano or Peter Kim say about this to understand its full impact, what I can say is this: The social business is not about technology. And it’s not about PR. Or, more accurately, it’s about both of those things, but also much more. It’s about company culture. It’s about the way people work together. It’s about innovation — often open innovation. It’s about collaborating differently inside and outside your company. These are all things that we’re working through now at Humana.
So is social business an evolution or a revolution? If I had to make a call, I’d lean toward the latter. I think we’re coming to a place where new business models will reign — but we haven’t discovered those models yet. But in this economy, we’re running out of choices. And just ask Ross Mayfield what happens when people no longer have a choice.
Photo by Alex Dunne
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