Frost  & Sullivan along with Verizon Business and Microsoft conducted research around the impact of collaboration within the enterprise.  The results of the study showed that collaboration is a key driver of company performance (the study was conducted in 2006).  A global collaboration index model was developed which looked at variable factors that affect collaboration as well as several variables that affect company performance.

A culture of openness contributed 36% to collaboration quality whereas the impact of a structure of decentralization or use of collaborative technology in strategy implementation each contributed 16% to collaboration quality.  Again the largest factor for collaboration quality had nothing to do with technology but with people an culture.  Strategic planning and collaboration technology for strategic planning (not implementation) each contributed 6% and 5%, respectively.

The highlight of the research project was that 36% of a company’s performance was due to its collaboration index, 16& was due to strategic orientation and 7% was due to market and technological turbulence influence.  Here is how collaboration affected the various aspects of business performance:

From the key numbers from the chart, collaboration impacts:

• Profitability by 29%
• Sales growth by 27%
• Profit growth by 26%
• 41% of forces driving customer satisfaction
• Productivity by 36%
• Product quality by 34%
• Product development by 30%
• Innovation by 30%

I found the report to be very interesting and definitely deserves a considerable amount of attention in the Enterprise 2.0 space.  I haven’t found a report as comprehensive as this one yet (have you?).  This report was released in 2006 and it would be very interesting to see how these numbers have changed over the past four years.  If you ask me, this report needs to be placed in front of every key decision maker at every enterprise company.  This report is a great starting point to help build the case for Enterprise 2.0 and is greatly supported by the list of over 50 Enterprise 2.0 case studies that I have found online.  The question after all of this becomes, now what?

We have an analytical report supported by over 50 case studies and examples of Enterprise 2.0 implementation but this doesn’t change the fact that many collaboration challenges still exist.  It’s interesting to note that the report doesn’t once mention the term ‘Enterprise 2.0′ (perhaps not coined yet) but the concept and idea behind collaboration and Enterprise 2.0 is very much in sync.

At the time this report was created, many of the popular enterprise software vendors such as Blue Kiwi, Jive, Social Text, and Spigit were either yet formed or just getting started, yet collaboration wasin full swing.  Further evidence support the notion that collaboration is centered around people and not around technology.  Technology can facilitate more efficient forms of collaboration and knowledge sharing but its effectiveness is an issue of deep and widespread integration and adoption.  Collaboration needs to be addressed from and individual and an enterprise benefit standpoint.  The enterprise benefits have been discussed extensively and include things such as reduced costs, improved innovation and ideation, and improved company performance (see chart above).  However, there are also individual benefits of effective collaboration which Frost & Sullivan have clearly identified:

The challenge that I believe we are seeing today in Enterprise 2.0 is a very strong focus and push around tools instead of strategy.  Collaboration is nothing new and goes back to caveman days where teams had to work together to hunt animals.  Cavemen didn’t have an enterprise social software platform to discuss ideas around where and how to hunt, yet they still managed to do a fantastic job of hunting.  Why then today are we so focused on platforms and tools when the real issue is around culture and people?  I’ll talk more about some of the potential hurdles (as well as other topics) in the near future, but for now read and digest the report so we can discuss it.

What do you think of the report?  Is there anything especially interesting that jumps out at you?  Did I miss or overlook something?

I highly recommend that you read the full report on the impact of collaboration as there are several other key points of interest that are worth reading.

I’ll admit a lot of people were a bit nervous when I told them I was going to the Middle East, after all it’s perhaps not the most desirable destination for a young Jew; but everything was fine.  I had a 16 hour flight from San Francisco to Dubai and then a 45 minute flight from Dubai to Muscat.  I flew Emirates which is now my favorite airline for international travel.  The food is great, the entertainment system they have is unbelievable, and the flight crew is friendly and top notch.  I arrived in Muscat and took a cab to my hotel, the Shangri-La, which I believe is a 5 or 6 star resort situated on the beach near some mountains, it was gorgeous (paid for by a client, I was speaking at their conference).  The airport in Muscat is not large but fairly easy to navigate.  You have to remember to make sure that you have cash on you.  Converting Omani money was actually not possible for me at the San Francisco airport (they said you need to special order it) but don’t worry, you can use the Dubai Dirham in Oman as well (1 US dollar is around 3.7 Dirham and 1 US dollar is around 0.4 Omani Rial).  You have to be careful with some of the cab drivers as some of them are crazy drivers and have a tendency to smoke and/or curse quite a bit while driving, I didn’t have that experience but I heard several other folks did.  Remember to be sensitive to their culture and religion, remember where you are.

I spent 3 nights in Muscat and while I didn’t get to see as much of the country as I would have liked I did get to venture out a bit to explore.  Muscat is a much more traditional country as opposed to Dubai which is very westernized.  In Muscat you can expect to see many people wearing the traditional Muslim dress.  English is spoken by many and most people you will meet are warm and friendly.  I was amazed to see how clean Muscat was, it was actually one of the most cleanest cities I have visited in quite a while.  If you venture out to the Sukh (old market) you will see the little harbor which reminds me a lot of being in Italy where you have shops on the waterfront and people just strolling through the night.  It’s also worth to take a look at the old city and the palace.  On a random side note I was told that Michael Jackson owned one of the villas there.  I’m sure Muscat is really nothing like what most people imagine when they think of the Middle East.  What you see or read about in the television or newspapers is not a fair representation of all of the Middle East countries (Turkey is another good example).

The Shangri-La resort is absolutely gorgeous but quiet.  I had this theory that zombies were roaming around and kidnapping people at night, it was that quiet.  The food at the resort is great but of course a bit pricey, as is everything else there.  During the day most people just lounge around on the beach and relax, it’s definitely not a place to go if you’re looking to party all night.  My favorite thing was the giant chess set that they had set up on the beach.  The entire resort is a bit surreal as you feel as if time doesn’t exist.  You have several gourmet restaurants, man made canals running through the walkways that you can go tubing on, gorgeous pools, an amazing beach (with came/horse rides available), and a gym/sauna/spa.  When I went the weather wasn’t too hot, I’d say it was mainly in the 80’s but it definitely wasn’t 130 which is easily what it can climb to during the summer time.

I really had a great time visiting Muscat, Oman and definitely recommend that you make your way out there one of these days.  Have any questions for me?  Please let me know!

Here are some videos from the trip (I have HD videos but converted them to MPEG4 to embed on this site, videos weren’t that high quality after I converted them so I might just stick to MPEG vids for the Dubai videos when I put them up).  You can find some of my photos on Flickr in the Muscat, Oman and Dubai, UAE album.

I was recently interviewed by the Wall Street Journal and was asked what the three most important things are for small businesses as they pertain to Social CRM (this applies to large businesses as well).  My response focused on listening, acting, and integrating the customer into the business.  Here’s a brief high level run-down of what each involve.

Listening

Nothing new here right (I hope)?  The entire starting point for SCRM is being able to listen to what your customers have to say about your product, your brand, and your competition.  This is where tools such as Biz 360, Google Alerts, and others come into play.  You have to really understand where your customers exist online and what sort of conversations are taking place.  These can range from support issues to general feedback related discussions.

Acting

Again, hopefully nothing new here but still something important to address and something that I feel companies are still struggling with.  Listening is an important first step but without action, listening is not effective.  Acting breaks down into two parts.  The first is acting on something internally within the enterprise (perhaps a product feature suggestion or marketing idea).  The second is acting on something directly with your customers such as solving a support issue online (think Comcast).  Take a simple example of companies that have Twitter accounts or Facebook Fan Pages yet do not utilize these assets for anything more than a customer database aggregator.  In either of the mentioned areas, it’s crucial for your customers to know and feel as though you are taking action and not just staring at them with eyes glazed over.

Integrating the Customer

This is something I believe is at the heart of Social CRM and really focuses on improving the customer experience and creating advocates.  Integrating the customer takes listening and acting to the next level  by essentially bringing in customers to act as if they are a part of your company.  We have seen this somewhat with various support communities on sites such as Dell or with Comcast where customers actually help solve each other’s problems online.  Customers are oftentimes rewarded by being given a voice in future product development or road map plans (as well as other incentives).  Customer need to have more say on what happens within the enterprise and need to be more involved with decision making.  Currently, many companies still have this belief that they can develop a new product or marketing campaign and then push it out to the consumer.  Companies should be marketing and developing new products or services alongside their customers and not just what they think their customers want.

If you were asked for your list of top three things for businesses as they pertain to Social CRM, what would you say?

Susan Scrupski

Susan writes the ITSinsider blog and is also the founder of the 2.0 Adoption Council.  Susan is definitely one of the forward thinkers in the space who is always trying to move the industry forward.  She doesn’t blog as often as some of the other folks listed below but you should definitely be paying attention to her community sites.  In fact, I highly recommend you go to the 2.0 Adoption Community site and browse through their blogroll for some great E2.0 bloggers and analysts.  Susan has done an awesome job of bringing together the E2.0 industry and has a lot of exciting things planned for 2010.  Susan also puts together events and webinars (along with leading companies/individuals) to help guide and educate the industry.  You can also find Susan on Twitter.

Dion Hinchcliffe

I first met Dion in person during the E2.0 expo in San Francisco and then had some time to chat with him at a party hosted by Crowdcast and Andrew McAfee (I wonder if Dion remembers this).  Dion writes in several places but his most prominent blog is on Zdnet.  Dion has been around for a while and has a strong background in both technology and in dealing with enterprise size companies.  His posts are always in depth and thought provoking, not to mention the fact that his visuals are fantastic and clearly explain concepts that can be a bit gray at times.  I’ve learned a lot from Dion’s writings and from the content he shares.  Although he does have a Twitter account, he reserves it primarily for posting links to quality content that he either creates or finds on the web.  His Twitter stream alone is enough to educate you on Enterprise 2.0.

Dennis Howlett

Dennis is another Zdnet blogger and he’s one of the guys out there that will tell you like it is.  He’s been called the referee of the Enterprise 2.0 space, not because he is a skeptic but because he is a realist and a pragmatic analyst.  He questions thoughts, assumptions, and actions that are taken by companies and vendors in the E2.0 space.  Is he always right?  Probably not.  Do I always agree with him?  No.  However, Dennis think about issues in a critical way and usually asks some thought provoking questions.  Dennis is also on Twitter so be sure to say hello to him.

Mike Gotta

Mike writes quite extensively on collaborative thinking and his posts are usually pretty comprehensive and in depth.  I find out about a lot of my E2.0 news from his blog.  Mike provides everything from commentary on E2.0 issues to product and tool reviews and strategic analysis of the space.  Mike is currently an analyst over at the Burton Group (Gartner) where he works on content and collaborative strategies with clients.  If you’re looking for some great insight into the E2.0 space, then Mike is definitely one of the folks that you need be following and yes, he is also on Twitter.

Gil Yehuda

I’ve had the opportunity to chat with Gil quite a bit over the past few months and I definitely believe he is one of the leaders in the E2.0 space (otherwise I wouldn’t be interested in working/partnering with him).  Gil worked for Forrester as a senior analyst and also spent time work at Fidelity investments where he helped develop and implement various E2.0 initiatives.  Currently is employed by Yahoo! as the Director of Open Source.  Gil also wrote a framework for Enterprise 2.0 adoption which is worth a read.  Gil explores several issues in the E2.0 space and has diverse interests in E2.0 so one day you might be reading about how to get started with E2.0 and the next day measuring community strength.  This makes for a great set of topics so there is plenty to learn from Gil.  Gil is also on Twitter.

Rapportive integrates directly into Gmail and all of the information sits to the side of the email window.  From this screenshot, you can see that the email message on the left hand side and all of Jeremiah’s information is on the right.  In this example, I can see exactly what company Jeremiah is affiliated with, where he exists online, his geo-location, and I can also add a little note about Jeremiah to help me remember a particular conversation or point of interest.  See that little arrow next to “superbowlads?”  If I click on it, I get a stream of Jeremiah’s most recent tweets.  For those of you that know Jeremiah though, you will recognize that his Twitter account is incorrect as is his current company of employment (he currently works at Alimeter and his Twitter ID is @jowyang) demonstrating that Rapportive is definitely not perfect yet, but it is a step in the right direction.

Rapportive says they allow for custom integrations which I have absolutely no idea how to get to or use.  However, in the near future, they will be integrating with several paid services such as Salesforce, SugarCRM, MailChimp, UserVoice, Eventbrite, and Zendesk, just to name a few.  I think this should make for a killer tool once it’s completely launched and integrated with some of the other platforms out there.  I’m actually very interested to see what this is going to look like.

Imagine if a company such as Amazon, eBay, or Best Buy would be able to automatically collect all of this information every time a customer purchases something from their site (unless they do already which I doubt) or contacts their customer service and support department via email.  What if this data (along with the little note I add) integrated directly into a company CRM system and was able to automatically segment customers?  I see a lot of potential for what Rapportive is doing.

I encourage all of you to check out Rapportive and give it a shot.  Let me know what you think.  I personally find the tool extremely useful.