A recent Baseline article starts with the tag line “Global enterprises must develop a business process framework to ensure the success of collaboration technology implementations.” Overall the article makes a number of good points — but it also left me feeling a little uneasy. The whole social networking/collaboration workspace seems so dynamic I wonder if the typical time cycles of an enterprise decision process can keep pace with rapid technology growth and end-user expectations.
There is a need to preserve content and essential to allow content to flow between different tools. But a focus on specific technologies — Jive, Lotus Notes, Sharepoint or whatever — may not address the most important question — what happens to the content when the inevitable next-best-thing comes along? Instead of central IT dictating a specific software package, why not dictate a set of common standards that any approved system must adhere too. For instance use of RSS/Atom feeds for all content updates, integration into the enterprise user authentication system, and an open API. A content repository would be set up to aggregate and archive content from all the approved and registered system either through the RSS feed or utilizing the API. Leave user the freedom to innovate with the collaborative toolsets that work for their needs. And let IT focus on security and archive concerns, which will insure that corporate knowledge is preserved no matter what the twists and turns.
The only thing we know for certain is the tools will change and probably sooner rather than later. Why lock users into today’s solutions, when they may not be best-of-breed even in the near-term? Instead of dictating solutions, set standards and focus on protecting the real value — the content.
Baseline Magazine – October 2009
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Randall Rode's online home for thoughts, notes, and experiments with a wide range of technology topics. Visit the about page for info on my recent projects and professional background. I welcome your comments!
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