The Company

as CommunityThe impact of social media on the corporate world:

analysis by five specialists and practitioners

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PrefaceRoy Amara, former President of the American think tank Institute for the Future used to say: “We tend to overestimate the effect of a tech-nology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.”

Today, social media are presenting all the characteristics of that type of disruption. The private sector has already made this major change: Nielsen announced in February 2009 that Internet users are now spending more time on social networking sites than using e-mail. It must therefore be only a matter of time before these sites make their impact felt on companies’ processes and operating methods.

CrossKnowledge has been quick to take an interest in these new modes of commu-nication, certain that they’ll improve the ef-fectiveness of teaching methods and the development of employees’ skills. These new conversations cannot however be divided up into so many “functional silos”, as the com-munity company is redrawing new spaces within and outside the business, a new rela-tion to time and new relationships between individuals, whether they be clients, partners, suppliers or employees. We therefore believe it necessary to look at how these collabora-tive methods will affect all the tasks of human resources departments.

All those involved agree with John Chambers, CEO of Cisco, when he stresses that the tech-nology is not the issue; the cost of access to software resources is falling all the time thanks to the SaaS (Software as a Service) model and open-source community projects. The changes to organisations, processes and leadership models will be profound and long lasting. Implementing these changes may meet with reluctance and require risk-taking, but there will be significant gains in productivity and agility for companies which take this route, as the initial feedback from Cisco or Best Buy already shows.

CrossKnowledge and its partners are com-mitted to accompanying you along this route and this white paper is the first contribution to a conversation that it will be our pleasure to continue with you within an online commu-nity dedicated to the community company and to Social Learning.

Jérôme CoignardInnovation Director

CrossKnowledge

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IntroductionHow will attitudes to social media and the use of current and future tools impact the world of business? Is the business environ-ment, drawn inexorably into the future, be-coming too complex to forecast? What place does management have in a world where the boundary between the virtual and the real is blurred?

This white paper explores the issues sur-rounding social media within the business world, asking the opinion of five observers from very different fields. From an academic viewpoint, François Silva, sociologist, lectu-rer at ESCEM School of Business and Mana-gement Tours-Poitiers and associate lecturer at CNAM (Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers) in Paris, describes the new forms of work organisation. Michel Germain, deputy director of Arctus and associate lecturer at CELSA (a top communication and journalism school in Paris), speaks on the impact of 2.0 applications in development practices and skills management. Carlos Diaz, CEO of blue-Kiwi, explains the link between tools and bu-siness. From a practical viewpoint, Stéphane Roussel, Senior Executive Vice President, Human Resources at Vivendi, describes the implementation of a tool created within SFR. Finally, Dominique Turcq, President of the Boostzone Institute, presents, as a consul-tant, his understanding of the impact of so-cial networks on business.

In a continually changing world, we, in this white paper, want first and foremost to consi-der potentialities: human potential, but also the potential attitudes to the new issues rai-sed by social media. A social medium has se-veral different aspects, including technology, social interaction and creation of content. So-cial media use collective human intelligence in the spirit of online collaboration. The im-pact of professional networks on business strategy will thus alter the organisation of that strategy.

This paper is not just a summary of techno-logies linked to Web 2.0, but a study of the impact of these technologies on individuals and on the corporate world as a whole. The people we have spoken to have examined the effects on a business’s strategic vision and its organisation and leadership. On this last point, middle management appears to be a difficult link to deal with. Support and training will thus be of utmost importance in under-standing these impacts.

Could this be a pivotal moment, with com-panies having to review their training fra-meworks to take into account the emergence of new fields of communication and ways of accessing skills?

The study of these issues offers both people and businesses the chance to work together

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creatively and make sense of a situation that people frequently find hard to navigate or which often leads to a fear of change. Only a coherent approach to the issue will lead to increased productivity without impairing the human resources on which business is built.

Humanity has always lived through times of great change. Every age it has passed through has been based on beliefs and (new) technologies, responding to the needs of in-dividuals anxious to adjust to a new space-time. A time of great change is a period in which society looks for meaning. Informa-tion is already a tool, the principal tool, that people use to perceive and understand this environment. Language and culture help people filter this information, while communi-cation tools help them process it.

Whenever a group of individuals has to pro-cess a larger quantity of information, they invent a communication tool to assist with the transition from one space-time to ano-ther. When a great change occurs, a society swings between innovation, which keeps its systems in motion, and stability, which pre-vents a descent into anarchy. Sociologists call this the “edge of chaos”; psychologists use the term “homeostasis”. This function ensures that the system remains stable by preserving what exists, while also incorpo-rating the information likely to threaten its equilibrium. Then comes self-regulation, in which the system transforms itself to adapt and remain stable. Top management and em-ployees all need support and training to help them understand change. The development

of information and communication tools is a response to the challenges society faces. This is what individuals and businesses lived through in the last century. Approximately every decade, a technical or technological innovation has contributed to the evolution of society. We have thus passed from the prin-ting age to the energy age, and thence to the digital age. Means of communication are also means of speeding up access to knowledge. Our communication tools (engraving, slate, print, television, computer, etc.) and our be-haviour when faced with these tools have not only modified time and space, but also the culture of societies. Each stage in the use of tools has modified the filters of our percep-tion… and the imagination of human beings.

Today, the Internet marks a great change in our society. Although computers help store and share information, the Internet, in contrast, gives people the impression that distance no longer exists and that actual time is compacted and shortened. In a world of constant motion, we increase our opportuni-ties of accessing the entire planet, with the perception that its territory is shrinking.

For a few years now, the acceleration of stra-tegic changes (new activities, new products, new demands, globalisations, mergers and acquisitions) has been driving general mana-gement, management committees and HR departments to rethink their organisational structures. Training must evolve in order to adapt to these new circumstances.

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The culture of exchange and openness en-couraged by the emergence of social networ-king sites enables companies to accelerate their decision-making processes, and in-crease their capacity for innovation and com-mercial productivity. Faced with these new challenges, making the most of talents is paramount. Social networks help businesses improve competitiveness by being more responsive. Web 2.0 is however not merely a technological revolution, but primarily a cultural change. By creating a networked organisation, it encourages the participation of employees, clients and partners. Informa-tion is thus shared vertically and horizontally. This sharing prompts reflection on the role of management, and especially top leadership, in the corporate structure, and the form that training takes.

Businesses must take the main added value from social media: the professional networks that will change relationships between partici-pants in the business world. The initial effects will be felt in strategy development and mana-gement. The change will be achieved with a (r)evolution in the behaviour of individuals wi-thin the business world, combined with better mastery of technological tools linked to the transmission, distribution and communica-tion of information. Similarly, the change will be made concomitantly with the exit of the baby-boomers and the advent of a generation that has known only this type of tool, such as Generation Y (digital natives). Community companies have understood the “network” concept, although in a different sense from the field of computing and telecommunica-tions. In semantic terms, to have a network is to have a set of points and persons working for the common good, in permanent interac-tion with the surrounding conditions in which the communication occurs.

The meaning of the term community is less clear. It has been popularised in recent years through media use, linked to use of the Inter-net. In abstract terms, a community is what is common to several people. This is applied to a group living in a community and forming a (visible) structure, such as a political, eco-nomic or cultural group. In the first definition we see emotion; in the second, organisation.

Will the business of tomorrow be a commu-nity of individual organisations? Will it work in project mode? Will it be a set of diverse com-munities, linked together and to the outside? By “professional” we mean networks of col-leagues, employees or individuals, from the same sector, industry, etc. In reality, when it comes to social media, it is still difficult to distinguish between specialist networks and personal or family networks (Viadeo, Face-book, LinkedIn, Plaxo, etc.). Generation Y re-minds us that we must reconcile professional and private life without confusing them.

Will social media be a new social practice that redraws both time and space? In the age of knowledge, this specific feature will facilitate an open-mindedness that will greatly increase the possibility of acquiring knowledge.

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ContentsThe community company: towards a new social contract

Stéphane RousselSenior Executive Vice President, Human Resources, Vivendi

The effects of social networks on business strategy

Dominique TurcqPresident of the Boostzone Institute

Towards the 2.0 business and e-transformation

Michel GermainDeputy Director of Arctus, Associate Lecturer at Celsa

The community company, a source of know-how connection

Carlos DiazCEO, blueKiwi

The emergence of the networked collaborative business

François SilvaLecturer at ESCEM Tours-Poitiers, Associate lecturer at CNAM

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There was no reason why Stéphane Roussel, a graduate of the Paris School of Psychologists, should have become head of human resources for the Vivendi Group. He originally intended to dedicate his working life to disturbed children. But in 1985, Xerox offered him a position while he was doing an end-of-studies internship. Mr Roussel stayed there for 12 years. In 1997 he joined Carrefour, where he built a worldwide human-resources policy. At SFR, he played a key role during the merger with Neuf/Cegetel and the process of outsourcing call centres. Within the Vivendi Group, he was also the driving force behind a policy to encourage diversity and initiative. He then had the idea of using social media to revolutionise information transmission and counter a blog offensive used by employees with grievances.

The community company: towards a new social contract

Stéphane RousselSenior Executive Vice President, Human Resources,

Vivendi

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Web 2.0 is not just a technological revo-lution, it is primarily a cultural changeCommunication is changing because indivi-duals’ behaviour is changing. Accessing and sharing information must therefore change also. Businesses must be able to apply a glo-bal approach to the situation, using a com-bination of technological tools and human assets.

With this in mind, Vivendi’s human resources department used social media to re-examine its internal communication model.

SFR took as its starting point the observa-tion that young people did not choose the business they would join purely according to salary or distance from home to work. More specifically, it was the internal and external environment of what the business offered them, such as Internet use, that influenced them. Generation Y, quite possibly, is spee-ding up this movement. Managers, who were not open to these technologies and the be-haviour patterns they produced, were losing first-class potential.

On this basis, therefore, SFR thought about introducing an internal system along the same lines as Facebook.

There were two main reasons for the creation of this Intranet space with participatory tools. The first was offensive and positive, the se-cond more defensive.

mySFR: towards new expectations of information sharing…With this design, we wanted to take a fresh look at traditional systems. SFR is a leader on the mobile Internet mass market, there-fore we needed to be just as innovative on the inside, for our employees, as we are for our clients. This is the first aspect, the offen-sive and positive one. Our asset is that the average age of our workforce is quite young (35); they were born with the cultural codes and behavioural patterns linked to informa-tion technology. To use mySFR as a vehicle for this culture, we needed to make it as user-friendly as the Web and blogs, with the same level of interaction.

The first tool in mySFR is a blog for sharing information on current events at SFR. For those working at SFR, it is an advantage to know what is being said both externally and internally. The print media review is now ob-solete, replaced by the interactive press re-view. Articles that glorify business, and those that criticise it, are both on line, with no cen-sorship. The idea is to share information and allow employees to react whatever the nature of the article. This tool also creates a conti-nuous exchange with managers, with a quick response time.

The second tool was inspired by social networking, and this is one of its key uses for SFR. We took the annual appraisal as our starting point but wanted to make a complete break with what had already been done and take things much further.

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So we asked our employees to present them-selves another way. On Facebook, everyone presents themselves the way they are and the way their various experiences have sha-ped them. The basic idea is to present the employee in a way different from the stan-dard CV, which reduces a person to their pro-fessional life alone. Employees explain their professional experience and also their inte-rests, passions and ambitions. They highlight the skills that they have developed outside of work. As well as describing their activities and interests, they can create communities around a subject, so you end up with em-ployees grouped around common interests or cross-disciplinary work areas. This choice is consistent with our social-responsibility po-licy, according to which we grant additional leave to people who work with charities that we support.

The third tool revisits the “ideas box” concept and helps create themed discussion groups. For example, as part of our sustainable-de-velopment policy, employees used mySFR to help us find ideas that top management had not necessarily thought of. This set-up has been a success and helped many people find out about subjects that they may have known nothing about.

The second reason for introducing mySFR was a defensive response. We really capitali-sed on this tool during the merger with Neuf/Cegetel. During industrial or economic dis-putes, companies are often attacked through websites (Total, Danone, etc.). Controlled by those with a stake in the process, social part-ners or consumer associations, these sites are given heavy coverage by the media.

During the business transfer, we managed communication successfully but under- estimated the impact of this kind of website. While not disputing the need for freedom of

expression and the legitimacy of these sites’ existence, we were disturbed that the media reported more readily on the content of sfren-colere.com (‘angrysfr.com’) than on our own communications. Contributors to the website remained anonymous, thus depriving us of the right to respond. We therefore introduced a blog where everyone could express them-selves. It had one simple rule: anonymity was not allowed. Contributors gave their name and took responsibility for what they wrote. In two years, we have had no problems with inappropriate or defamatory comments.

mySFR exists so knowledge can be shared. An informative and collaborative area, it does much more than just help employees to ma-nage their careers. They can use it to inno-vate and create; they make a contribution to the business’s strategy and development. In the future, we see mySFR opening up to other features and allowing everyone to play an active part in corporate strategy.

Finally, the introduction of mySFR is changing not just communication, but also human re-source management and therefore access to training. Employees can thus be trained and train themselves. In many businesses, training is seen as separate from other ele-ments. This approach is restrictive, however, as it is difficult to understand and complete training without making it part of a coherent whole. Our employees support this concept because they understand the rationale behind it. For SFR, this makes knowledge meaningful.

A new social practice that redefines both time and spaceBy creating this new participatory Intranet process, SFR has set the tone in the field of communication and HRM. Communication tools such as blogs and social networks are in synch with the company’s culture and va-

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lues. For Stéphane Roussel, only pursuing a collective HR policy would be unthinkable. In-stead, there should be a dual policy, i.e. both individual and collective. Employees need to be taken into consideration individually within the collective frame-work that the business represents.

However, it was necessary to strike the right balance in terms of accessing the concept. Too open and it would have been of little va-lue; too restricted, and the employees would not have joined in.

This new practice introduces two concepts: a change in the way people relate to time, and the creation of new spaces.

Let’s first look at the time aspect. With hard copy, you generally give yourself 24 hours to reply to something. With mySFR, this time- frame is much shorter. We have some 10,000 employees and there are about 10 “posts” per day on all kinds of subjects. The themes touched on are generally practical and most often linked to what’s happening in the field, but they can also be strategic. This helps bring the outside world back into the business.

For top-down information, especially regar-ding business strategy deployment, the concept of time is vital as it determines the role of every person involved. We always give managers a good fortnight to make sense of the strategy.

With regard to the concept of space, mySFR broadens the scope of the way we look at what people do. The development of intan-gible assets and human capital is increasin-gly important. The creation of mySFR will help develop the employer brand. The tool is hugely helpful in terms of human capital, allowing the discovery of skills that might have been overlooked in a more traditional system.

Take, for example, an assistant who runs a charitable organisation in her spare time. This means that, outside of work, she has management experience. So when she wants to become a manager, we will naturally take this outside experience into consideration. By stepping into this extended collaborative field, employees stand a better chance of raising their profiles and receiving greater recognition for their abilities. And this means they have a better chance of taking on other challenges within the business.

Businesses must be able to apply a global approach to the situation, using a combination of technological tools and human assets.

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In France, we tend not to talk much about what we do outside of work, which effectively creates two different worlds. Tools like mySFR can both assist an employee’s personal deve-lopment and help us understand new ways of “mapping” skills. By including everything we do in our lives, we have more chance of recei-ving recognition in a community; this helps us manage time in a different way.

Employees can create a community, a “wiki” on a subject that interests them. By doing so, they generate a new work space, where know- ledge and expertise help trigger creativity. This function is not yet widely used: firstly because the employees who are ready for it are not Web 2.0 savvy, and secondly because those who have grown up with the Internet worry that their managers may not approve. Such mana-gers do not understand these tools, fearing that someone who is using the social network is not really working.

With regard to the divide between private life and professional life, there has been a marked change in attitude. The area in which work is done is changing. During the day, many employees surf the Internet and talk online with friends. In the evening, others work at home. Surfing the Internet should be seen as work-related behaviour even if what you are looking at is not directly work-rela-ted. Reading information generally helps to improve knowledge.

Taking information on board is not yet viewed as a kind of training.

Similarly, the gap between the virtual space of mySFR and physical space has changed.

Previously, managers went out into the field. They always had a powerful hold on their territory. Virtual communication changes all this, allowing people to move into new ter-ritory. However, in order to maintain consis-tency, managers continue to occupy the field through their teams.

As we increase the number of people who use this tool, we might see communities including suppliers or pilot consumers. We have fun-ded a chair at the HEC School of Manage-ment in Paris to study this very issue. Like other businesses, we used to give students case studies based on past experience. Now, the existence of mySFR means we can get them thinking about current topics.

Participants’ profiles depend mainly on their education, culture and behaviour…Although younger people tend to get more rea-dily involved than older people, it also depends on people’s role in the company! Marketing people, regardless of their age, get involved more easily than technicians, precisely because their work is not technical. And a programmer will raise a question with our Chairman and CEO less often than a product manager will.

Although HR and communications departments have quickly bought into this concept, opera-tional managers have not, as management methods change less quickly. However, those who do use mySFR see its value both in terms of effectiveness and in terms of their careers. They are the first to spread the word and be-come ambassadors for the concept, genera-ting greater levels of participation.

Suggestions are implemented and publicised on an ongoing basis. There is naturally some resistance. For example, you’ll get people who say that an idea put online has already been mentioned by someone else. But these are isolated cases, and have more to do with the

HR policy must be both individual and

collective. Employees need to be taken into consi-deration individually within the collective

framework that the business represents.

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personality, culture and education of the indi-vidual.

We are increasingly moving towards multiple tools with highly individualised processes, but still in a collective context. Not everybody ne-cessarily sees them in the same way. The diffi-culty lies in creating professional communities without making them too rigidly structured.

Collaborative tools are no replacement for meetings…mySFR has not replaced meetings. We know that there are disadvantages to processes and tools: a tool is one thing and physical contact is something quite different. Nothing can replace a face-to-face meeting. The key, perhaps, is to meet less often, but to make meetings more productive. For example, it is always easier to explain a lack of mobility to a manager in person rather than by using a collaborative tool. What we say is never the same as what we write, but the two methods complement and strengthen each other. This is something I learned during my time at Carrefour. In a hypermarket, many different events happen over the course of two days. So it really is necessary to meet in person at least once a week. You have to take an across-the-board approach.

At SFR, the aim of a meeting is not to com-ment on the business’s current state. Instead it is a question of showing/demonstrating changes in the company to the employees. We assess management’s ability in terms of response times to information being ex- changed. Like pilots using a flight plan, mana-gers must make adjustments in real time and constantly check all the parameters.

So every morning someone from the HR de-partment comes along for about two hours and goes through all the subjects, without an agenda. The point isn’t just to tell each

other everything that’s happened during the week but to ensure that we’ve fully understood the events that have oc-curred and are going to occur. We have to make sure that everyone has

properly understood. There are no minutes, and the system is very effective. mySFR and meetings, when combined, form a productive whole.

What role do managers play in a colla-borative space?For a manager, it’s not the information that makes the difference, it’s the meaning that he attaches to the information.

With the “collaborative space” system, he no longer has as much time to think things over. In this kind of setup, a manager has an important role to play. To succeed, he must have a hands-on management style, while still acting as a leader. However, it doesn’t always work out that way.

We find ourselves once again with a very French paradox. In businesses, we are expe- riencing increasingly sharp and sudden changes, with managers questioning their roles. Today, some managers are looking at things in the same way as their employees. Ten years ago, that didn’t happen. The main reason for this behaviour is the fragility of relations between people. It used to be true that once managers reached a certain level, they would automatically represent autho-rity. They had real responsibility. Now, with all these communication tools, they carry less weight. The boundaries are less well defined, if they still exist at all.

So when you have intelligent middle ma-nagement, managers must be that much

For a manager, it’s not

the information that makes the

difference, it’s the meaning that he attaches to the

information.

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stronger if they want to have an impact. Those who manage to show they are strong will be more richly rewarded than before. Knowing how to take risks and master rela-tional strategies is a major asset for a com-pany. At a certain level, it is not intelligence or expertise that makes the difference, but the ability to stay the same, whether one is addressing an employee, a trade-union re-presentative, a politician or the media. It’s important for managers, whether dealing with people via the collaborative tool or one-to-one, to stay on-message in terms of their role in the business.

Deployment of the strategic plan must generate innovation and responsi-veness…Messages on corporate strategy sent through the internal communication system must immediately be assimilated by mana-gement. Assuming that the manager deploys the strategy correctly, it is up to him to find the skills, within his own teams or elsewhere, to carry it through. mySFR plays a central role in this process.

It’s too early to know to what extent the tool has helped enhance managers’ strategic vi-sion. Ideally, we’d have information flowing back and forth, continually fuelled from be-low. This tool should encourage innovation and responsiveness. At present, however, it destroys the system because information comes down from the top too quickly. The manager isn’t given enough time to process the information, so the response comes back too quickly as well. It’s a major drawback when you get a senior executive talking di-rectly to employees.

The more high-performance tools we offer, the more groundwork has to be done on the manager’s role, both downwards and upwards. Some people are excellent at

weeding out less impor-tant information and only sending the really impor-tant stuff up to general management.

Collaborative tools help them with this, as ma-nagers no longer need to waste time being ambassadors. Freed from this role, they can dedicate themselves 100% to their particular area , while still processing information from other areas. This means employees can do cross-field work without asking permission from the manager in the other area. Care must be taken, as in France we work in a very top-down system. In this case, the tool is likely to run into problems.

A collaborative tool: a tool that will help instil valuesWe used the merger with Neuf/Cegetel as an opportunity to work on this subject. With five values at SFR and four at Neuf, we decided to make 5 + 4 = 3. We kept SFR’s “responsi-bility”, which defines the institutional side of the company, the “daring” of Neuf, which cor-responded both to their identity and to our culture, and finally “simplicity”, a value that was not found at either company. We explai-ned why we kept one value from SFR and one from Neuf. It worked well and the Neuf/Cegetel employees were delighted that one of their values was being kept. For them, it was also a means of retaining a part of their identity. We spent eighteen months thinking about these values, and mySFR contributed considerably to the work involved in choosing them.

It’s essential to spend time on corporate va-lues. For example, for the merger of Caisse d’Épargne and Banque Populaire, the two companies channelled considerable energy

It’s difficult to oblige employees to use a collabo-rative tool. There are always those who get involved

and those who don’t. We can’t force people to

get involved.

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into moving from red and blue into purple. There was no dominant or dominated bu-siness. The subtlety of the change in colour is interesting, and certainly has a unifying effect.

When SFR/Neuf/Cegetel merged, whichever company our employees’ originally worked with was irrelevant. Everyone knew that we would be evaluating skills, rather than playing favourites depending on which of the merged brands people came from. As a result, all three values immediately gained unanimous acceptance, especially “simplicity”.

Social medium, future tools for the community companyWhen a concept such as mySFR is being developed, those who choose not to use it exclude themselves. It is difficult to com-pel employees to use a collaborative tool. There are always those who get involved and those who don’t. We cannot force people to get involved. Some contribute without the tool, others use it; others combine both ap-proaches.

Listening to our employees’ expectations remains an important part of our human resources policy. With mySFR, we are there-fore attempting to combine technology with human capital to strengthen this listening process, and help make our employees more employable.

We don’t want to make this tool a gimmick, popping up everywhere in the Vivendi group. Instead, we want our employees to provide the ideas. It’s a chance, and this is what is interesting here, to have a few surprises as the tool develops. It is therefore difficult for us to predict how it will develop.

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The effects of social networks on business strategy

Former expert with France’s Economic Planning Authority, and former McKinsey & Cy partner, Dominique Turcq now teaches regularly at the best schools of management, including HEC. Founder of the Boostzone Institute, a consultancy company and research organisation, he is principally concerned with how the world of work relates to society at large, especially in the fields of strategy and forecasting. His clients are Fortune 500 companies. During our interview, Dominique Turcq shared his fascination with the impact of social media on the development and implementation of corporate strategy.

Dominique Turcq President of the Boostzone Institute

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Example of a collaborative organisation: Cisco On 15 October 2008, in front of a group of students from MIT, John Chambers, the CEO of Cisco, explained how he turned his business into a collaborative organisation. Thanks to this new model, he was able to progress from one initiative per year to twenty-six conducted in parallel. The move involved a radical change of approach for him, as it went against his natural tendency to run everything himself and ended the company’s pyramid structure. He had to bid farewell to a quarter of his managers who refused to follow these new work methods. It’s easy to see how this new approach led to a number of profound changes at managerial level. Fifty people and a whole year of work were needed to introduce the new techno-logies. But the most difficult and lengthy process was altering behaviour patterns and introducing a new form of management. Too often we imagine that the solution lies in tech-nology, but this is a serious mistake. Users need to be capable of using several techno-logies at once, not just one, even though the companies who develop these technologies unsuccessfully try to integrate new applica-tions into their basic package. For example, Facebook tried to become Twitter1 with its “what are you doing today?” feature, but this is still not working well, as Twitter is currently the leading application for microblogging.

Companies need to integrate access to these different technologies into their organisation. As with Cisco, this will require willingness on the part of the chairman and commitment from the business as a whole at all levels.

Maximising the strategic impact of social mediaWhat we need to talk about is impact, as these media will change both strategy and manage-ment. Strategy is the science of allocating scarce resources to a given objective. The scarcest resources these days are people and information. People are connected, either internally or externally, through new social me-dia: professional networks. These networks will have an impact on the corporate world, an impact that will translate into major changes in both strategy and management. In fact, the collaborative mode will allow more effective pursuit of the three principal objectives essen-tial for any business to survive: productivity, innovation and commitment.

We should be suspicious of the aficionados of new technologies who think that they should be a strategic lever for businesses. Those sel-ling ERP2 made the same exaggerated claims a few years ago. Technology means nothing without proper management of the change in the organisation using it. In contrast, the com-pany that can use both new technology and

1 Twitter : Twitter is a social-networking and microblogging tool that allows users to send free messages called tweets, with a maximum of 140 characters, via the Internet, either by instant messaging or by SMS (definition at www.wikipedia.fr on 23 July 2009).

2 ERP : Integrated management software (Enterprise Resource Planning).

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organisation can gain real advantages over its competitors in the field by creating two in-tangible assets. The first is the “information asset”, which is based on the capacity for managing, codifying and circulating informa-tion more efficiently and using it to serve the objectives laid down in the strategy. Secondly, there is the “relational asset”, which measures the company’s ability to encourage all its employees to interact better with each other and with the outside world. This involves new forms of communication within the business, such as company directories, forums, inter-nal and external communities, and so on: all radically different structures that encourage collaborative working.

Strategic visionTop managers know how to build up a strate-gic vision. Things become complicated when unforeseeable variables have to be integra-ted, such as swine flu (or another pandemic) or events whose severity cannot be predic-ted. The financial crisis is in this category of event. Unpredictable variables also include the profound impact of social networks on the corporate world. Nobody can currently predict their true impact as they will bring about a dramatic change in all jobs and hence in interrelations, and because this is a systemic impact, its magnitude cannot be estimated. The large-scale arrival of Genera-tion Y3 from 2012 onwards, and the end of the baby-boomers4 era in 2020 also consti-tute data that should be taken into account in strategic vision.

The strategic plan: a beta-plan5

In order to take account of these unpredictable

variables that are continually growing in our environment, businesses must always have a strategic plan drawn up as a beta plan. However long the duration of the plan, be it three or ten years, businesses must learn to work with beta versions, both in relation to the strategic plan and in relation to the budget dedicated to it. This is borne out particularly in a crisis, when it is impossible for top management to make twelve-month forecasts for their business. Working with a beta version allows adjustments and changes to be made easily at any stage. This method is already applied in small and medium-sized businesses, but it will require huge changes in larger companies where the rigidity of the budget and the three-year plan creates real constraints just when flexibility is essential.

Changing work organisationsGenerally, businesses come up against pro-blems when a strategic plan is rolled out. Knowing how to implement a plan, how to ensure that people understand and follow it, and how to encourage employees to change systems and behaviour patterns, are the great challenges that top management faces today. General de Gaulle used to say “l’inten-dance suivra” (material support will follow). Unfortunately, this is only rarely the case in the corporate world. It is thus hardly surpri-sing to see that strategic consultants are often also organisational consultants. The organisational changes we will face will be much more significant than in previous years. The term BU (business unit), coined in the 1980s by McKinsey & Cy, marked a major change in the field of business management. It involved changing a business into a number

3 The term “Generation Y” indicates people born between the late 1970s and the mid-1990s.

4 Baby boomers are those born immediately after the Second World War.

5 The beta test is the second test period for a computer product prior to its publication. By extension, the term “beta” indicates a process during a test period.

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of small entities, entities that were required to have the same flexibility as an SME. The benefits of this new approach were particu-larly well suited to the needs of the time. Now the need is to reinvent the concept of the Bu-siness Unit. Is it a community? Is it a group of communities? Is it a new method for ma-naging belonging to different networks? What will be the implications of these concepts for individuals and the organisations to which they belong? All these questions have been asked, and are as yet unanswered. Alongside that, a new form of management still has to be invented. Our organisation into silos will evolve. There will be fewer silos, and their na-ture will change. Management will then need to be reinvented to adapt to this new organi-sational structure. These are the challenges we will face over the next ten years.

Knowing how to identify the leadersI do not believe in the intelligence of the masses, or in their wisdom. I do not think it reasonable to believe that strategy can be drawn up on a participatory basis. On the contrary, one needs to be able to identify, within a unit, those who can contribute in one way or another to drawing up the strategy. This may not be feasible today, as we do not have the necessary tools for this identification

process, but it will be feasible tomorrow as social media are providing solutions within this domain. We are beginning to identify lea-ders who have good ideas, and we know how to evaluate them. For example, if you go to a forum, it won’t take you long to recognise the two or three individuals who stand out from the other three thousand participants. They will be the ones who are interested in wor-king together with other employees to draw up the strategy.

The Executive Committee: the primary business communityThe strategic director is a fast-vanishing species in the corporate world. Until two years ago, I was the chairman of Afplane, the French Association of Business Strate-gists. I fought so that all the members of the Executive Committee could join this associa-tion, whether they were financial directors or human resources directors. For me, each member of the Executive Committee plays an important role in drawing up and imple-menting strategy. The Executive Committee, nowadays, does not function as a commu-nity. It is merely an ill-defined area where people discuss ideas and results, and share information of mutual interest. However, no Executive Committee has a forum, that is,

Executive Committees must set an example by being the primary business community. A business capable of doing that will have a great competitive advantage that will help it to become a community company by reproducing throughout its ranks everything that is done at the highest level.

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an area for asynchronous exchanges. Many work via videoconferences and telemeetings, but hardly any have an interactive work plat-form. This is an absurd situation, given that, in a world where we need to work together, Executive Committees must set an example by being the primary business community. A business capable of doing that will have a great competitive advantage that will help it to become a community business by repro-ducing throughout its ranks everything that is done at the highest level. Cisco clearly under-stood this, and the results were soon seen in the business’s performance.

Identifying the real optionsThe “beta” concept which we saw for the strategic plan must have two dimensions. The first dimension makes the business agile, pushing it to build flexibility and always be on the alert. This allows the business to see what needs to be changed and make the change even if it seems radical. The second dimension introduces the concept of the “real option”. A real option is something you do on a pilot basis (hence the no-tion of “option”), and that can at any time be acted on, not acted on, or rejected. This means it is possible to go ahead with initiatives that have not been fully validated, and whose life-span depends on how useful they turn out to be in helping the company achieve its goals. It’s up to senior management to identify the real options that are available and that can be deployed. For example, over the past three years it was very important for companies to take out real options on Second Life. It was important to have an ‘island’ to understand who was visiting the site, what was going on there, how it all worked and what kind of virtual interactions were taking place. Today,

Second Life is on the wane and it makes sense to abandon this option and leave the island.

On the other hand, it makes sense to see certain social networks inside or outside the business as real options, once again in or-der to observe what’s going on. I believe in particular that it is important to be on Twit-ter, a network that is currently a real option. Twitter will have only one lifetime; one day it will decline and be replaced with something else, but right now it embodies the advent of microblogging. By exercising this option, we see how it works, what mistakes other people make, and what applications are possible when this type of network reaches maturity. The leaders’ new fieldsA leader asks a whole series of recurring questions: “Can I be a good leader without being in the field? Can I remain a leader for long if I’m in the field too much?” A new field of expression, the blog, has now appeared. If I’m leading a company in the retail sector, I have to be out there in the shops; but if I spend too much time with store managers, I can no longer attend to the management of my business. The same applies to the new virtual territories. A manager who spends too much time on his blog inevitably ne-glects the management side. So is a blog necessary? A manager must be present in all fields: internally, on the markets and with clients, partners, suppliers and financial, political and institutional players. To do this, he must choose the form best suited to his abilities and the business’s needs. Today he can choose between physical and virtual presence. He has to define the form of his presence in the field, and ensure he strikes the right balance between time spent in the field and time spent on management and other activities. This issue is not new, but the

These networks will have

an impact on the corporate world,

an impact that will translate into major changes in both strategy and

management.

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arrival of social networks has made it more pressing.

The virtual world arrives within the real worldEverything that is said today can become virtual, and what is said in the virtual world remains virtual. In other words, what you do in the real world already exists in the virtual world. This will lead to a profound change in our relations with the real world. Businesses must now adapt their communication to the virtual world. This adaptation will result in greater transparency and put a stop to all forms of hypocrisy and stonewalling. It is no longer possible to lie, as the trap is set instantly, and the harm done causes loss of trust. This question of truth and transparency is naturally raised for Executive Committees, but it now also applies to all employees be-cause of the virtual footprints they leave on professional or private networks. Such a change requires expert internal management and a major change in the behaviour of indi-viduals. The approach is identical to the one used in traditional communication. Things just move faster and run deeper.

A new approach to trainingMany of our standard practices in the field of training will need changing. Firstly be-cause we will increasingly be making use of collective training or collective coaching. Collective training allows individuals in a same group to help each other with simple problems, such as developing a macro in Excel, or with more complex issues, such as responding to a client in a specific si-tuation. It is one of the revolutions in the collaborative world, as this method saves time, avoids unnecessary expense (espe-cially travel costs) and improves teamwork

quality and productivity. Alongside this collective training there will be col-lective coaching. Groups of individuals will form and receive outside help from a forum, in which professionals can answer their questions. In parallel,

e-learning will continue to develop, in parti-cular by expanding its scope.

Finally, and this perhaps is the greatest innovation, we will see training courses which mix synchronous and asynchronous e-learning, combined with training in the classroom. Today, it’s obvious that if an employee wishes to undertake training, he starts by searching the Internet to see what is available (asynchronous search of presentation documents) and then opts for training in the classroom or on WebEx6. Businesses must take this new aspect into account in their training plans and find the companies that can give them what they need.

Training: a new challenge for managementLBasic training will continue to use traditio-nal methods, but will rely more and more on the responsibility and commitment of mana-gers. In Japan, this type of training has been around for many years. Every morning, ma-nagers provide their teams with ten minutes of training. Managers play a real part in pas-sing on enhanced information and messages. Everybody can access information, but there is nothing like interaction with management, preferably in person, to enhance these mes-sages. This is a real opportunity for mana-gement: to go back to the front line and

Everything that is said today

can become virtual… This

will have a profound

change on our relations with

the real world.

6 WebEx.com is a professional site that makes it possible to organise online meetings or conferences that are interactive, simple and secure.

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rediscover a form of legitimacy that has been lost in recent decades.

To do that, however, they need to be trained. There is a real black hole and lack of trai-ning in this area, especially within Executive Committees. In an Executive Committee, cross-field work is simply not done unless the Chairman says so. A recent article in the Wall Street Journal explained that top ma-nagement in America rarely published their profiles on professional social networks, and sometimes their profiles were even missing from internal directories. Much groundwork therefore needs to be done with manage-ment committees, requiring know-how that not every training company has acquired. However, this is where we need to start if we wish to develop this new method of colla- borative working.

The community company: where do I begin?When a company tackles the challenge of be-coming a community company, it must start by understanding what it wants to do, and to do that, set priorities in terms of objectives. Depending on whether it wants to involve it-self more in productivity, innovation or com-mitment, the process will be different. The

three objectives are not mutually exclusive, but they must be placed in order of priority or there will be too much to handle at once. Next, the company must look for places where pilot projects or real options can be put in place. This means you can see whether things are working and analyse reactions. Fi-nally, there is a need to determine what the business can rely on internally. Organisations always contain teams that have already de-veloped collaborative working methods. By using what already exists, these methods can be expanded right across the business. These are the benefits for organisations wishing to acquire a competitive advantage by becoming a community company before their competitors do.

This question of truth and transparency is raised… for all employees because of the virtual footprints they leave on private or professional networks.

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Towards the 2.0 businessand e-transformation

Michel Germain specialises in the management of Web systems. For the past ten years, he has worked as a consultant in the field of ICT (Internet, Intranet, Extranet), providing scoping, project support, evaluations, organisational assessments and change management programmes. Previously, he held operations management positions in the field of communication with international companies (Elf Aquitaine, CCF, etc.). A PhD and a university lecturer associated with Celsa (Université Paris-Sorbonne), he has written Management of New Technology and e-Transformation and Conducting an Intranet Project, published by Economica. He is the founder of the Intranet Commission, which investigates the deployment of new technologies in the corporate world.

Michel GermainDeputy Director of Arctus

and Associate Lecturer with Celsa

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As long ago as 1937 Karl Ludwig Von Berta-lanffy, author of the General Theory System, drew a distinction between open and closed systems. Later on, he explained that every system is subject to two equal and oppo-site tensions. On one hand, homeostasis is the tendency to remain stationary, which is essential for stability of complex systems. On the other hand, there is the capacity for transformation and the desire for change.

These two characteristics are what busi-nesses are experiencing because of new tech-nologies, especially when “we are in a time of systemic uncertainty”, as explained by Élie Co-hen, Economics Lecturer at Sciences Po. Just over 40 years ago, Marshall McLuhan remin-ded us that “the present is invisible”. For that reason, each innovation of any importance produces, within the central nervous system, a self-protective anaesthesia that causes us to forget that “the media are extensions of human faculties (physical or psychological)... The extension of any sense alters the way in which we think and act, and the way in which we perceive the world”.

The sole aim of this preamble is to raise the question of each person’s level of under-standing of ongoing changes in both life and business. Do we necessarily have to wait (perhaps until it’s too late) to see the effect of the major developments that we are wit-nessing? What will be the most significant de-velopments in the near future, at a time when information and communication technology (ICT) already forms an integral part of the world around us?

A quick look at our environment reveals that it has been invaded by communication tools. Mobile phones, games consoles, laptop com-puters, PDAs, smart-phones, BlackBerries, etc. A growing number of everyday items communicate with the Internet.

Internet stages and businessTo understand how Internet has infiltrated the corporate world, we need to distinguish the principal stages in its development. This is not an exhaustive list, but basically there are three stages.

1/ The reality of Web 1.0Although it is now behind us, Web 1.0 initially took the form of production of static Internet sites. These sites allowed both individuals and businesses to begin communicating on the Web by publishing textual information in addition to their other printed publications.

This first step was necessary for cultural acclimatisation. By extension, it helped bu-sinesses to develop, internally and in many different forms, Intranet applications geared towards their employees or Extranet appli-cations aimed at working with suppliers or service providers. The range subsequently broadened to include different services with increasing levels of interaction. This led to the building of e-business that was organised B to E (employee-related), B to C (client-connec-ted), B to B (related to other businesses and suppliers), and finally B to A or B to G (to the authorities and government).

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With regard to the Intranet in particular, this first generation was built up progressively, first by adding information and communica-tion functions and then by adding participa-tion and knowledge-management functions. On the one hand, the concept of collabora-tion involves computerisation of everyday processes (leave applications, expenses, re-servations, work requests, etc.) defined as workflows. On the other hand, it is expressed through Business Units, management or de-partments setting up workspaces through the GroupWare approach. At the same time, the Intranet most frequently evolves from a centralised tool into a decentralised system in which each entity participates in building up a central knowledge resource.

The original self-service system of acces-sing information, which on occasions led to “infobesity” because insufficient thought went into how to structure knowledge, has now given way to the question of how new technology contributes to the efficiency of the business as a whole. Originally a “cost centre”, the Intranet becomes a “profit centre” when indicators are set up to define the return that it provides in terms of pro-ductivity and overall performance.

2/ The seven dimensions of Web 2.0The second form of the web is known as “Web 2.0” or “Social Web”. It differs from the first form in that it involves the users themselves in the production of content through technical devices that are becoming simpler and sim-pler (such as blogs or wikis). It also differs because it has many interaction mechanisms. The value of content is indissociable from the discussions or reactions that it gives rise to.

In business, Intranet 2.0 exploits the various functions and features of the social web. The earlier information service has been replaced with a “profiled” and “personalised” Internet.

Profiling, by means of a suitable administra-tion system, involves determining the profes-sional and hierarchical profile of individuals in order to determine the information they need and the applications they may access when carrying out their duties. The benefits of this option are readily apparent: the person in question benefits from high-quality informa-tion, which is in smaller quantities and thus easier to digest; and the business knows for sure what each person is accessing.

Personalisation complements the previous functions by allowing employees to look at a range of optional contents and choose those that suit them and answer their needs. It could be said that a well-adapted and tar-geted service has replaced a generic and everyday range of services.

This overall process forms part of a new approach in businesses, where a cross-field approach is superimposed onto the tradi-tional vertical structure. Here, concepts of “communities of interest” and “communities of practice” have increasing importance.

To gain a better understanding of the nature of the Social Web, it seems important to spe-cify its different dimensions. The Social Web combines the multiplying effects of social networks and social signals, the “rich media”, geomanagement, graphic interfaces, noma-dism, composite applications and dynamic in-terfaces, concepts that we will develop later.

3/ Social networks and social signalsThe significant progress made by social networks is an expression of the formalisation of Web communities and the willingness of Internet surfers to come together according to their interests. It confirms the central place of individuals within the networks. Various forms of social networking include the PSN (professional social network) such as LinkedIn

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and Viadeo, the FOAF (Friend of a Friend) or relational networks with co-opting such as Friendster, Meetic or Netfriends, share sites (YouTube, Dailymotion) and socialising sites (Facebook, MySpace, Flickr). Recently there has been an expansion in thematic networks (for senior citizens, such as SagaZone, for children, such as Club Penguin, and for stu-dents, such as Studigg), as well as confessio-nal (religious) networks. This diversity reflects the way Web communities are structured. An individual may belong to several different networks at once, and this reveals his/her dis-tinct tastes and personality traits.

The concept of “social signals” also plays a key role. It is based on exploiting the tracea-bility inherent in the use of the Internet. The combined total of tracks left by an Internet user can define his profile and interests. Web-credibility mechanisms draw on these multiple tracks to determine the preferences of surfers with regard to specific content. In particular, social signals lead to the concept of “Folkso-nomy”, in other words, the identification of the precise vocabulary adopted by web users du-ring their searches to deduce its correlation with the taxonomy of keywords used to orga-nise site content. This dimension of the So-cial Web also takes account of the alerts that

Internet users receive through RSS links. These allow users to “tag” information that they find useful, revealing their interests in the process.

And in business…Any business is at worst a social network that does not realise it, and at best a working or-ganisation that has only sketchy knowledge of the system of connections between the individuals that make it up. The first mate-rial expression of this is found in the internal directory and organisation chart. Updating these raises recurring issues in terms of what parameters to use to identify indivi-duals (private, family, professional, geogra-phical, etc.), what changes have occurred, and how much is known about changes in individual . At the same time, the internal di-rectory becomes a central application for the networked company, because of the process of webification. The meta-directory makes it possible to precisely determine rights mana-gement and overall administration: who can access what information, how and to what extent?

In a 2.0 business approach, updating infor-mation in the directory and the related orga-nisation chart, is now carried out on a decen-tralised basis by the individuals themselves

Any business is at worst a social network that does not realise it, and at best a working organisation that has only sketchy knowledge of the system of connections between the individuals that make it up.

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and no longer on a centralised basis by a specific management team.

The employees themselves are the most hea-vily involved in updating, in that they are the primary beneficiaries; they are the most ac-curate source of information, especially when it relates to personal situations. Getting the individual to do the updating is a significant managerial change. Each individual becomes responsible for his or her own “internal” mar-keting. They may even be asked to expand upon so-called “essential” and “compulsory” information with more personal information on their skills, previous professional expe-rience, software skills, countries visited, lan-guages spoken, etc.

The increased gathering of data accessible through the directory is transforming it into a mine of information and skills within the bu-siness. The HR department could be the first to benefit from this, refining its HR planning methods and promoting internal mobility, etc. On another level, the process makes it easier for employees to identify skills them-selves. In addition, this directory makes it ea-sier to create and manage internal expertise networks.

In business, social signals are the reverse of the systematic traceability that results from the use of information and communication technologies. This risk of institutionalised “policing” is certainly open to criticism. There is also an aspect of self-regulation and gover-nance, which is likely to make both initiators and contributors more careful about what they do.

On another level, the concept of traceability can also be used positively, while still res-pecting the individual, to support the ma-nagerial dynamic of the business. In fact, contributions by an employee to blogs,

forums, workspaces or updates to the Intra-net provide a quantifiable indication of their level of participation in network systems, and therefore their contribution to the business. Instead of making the mistake of doing a purely “volumetric” (and thus meaningless) assessment of what people produce, it is possible, through more subtle analysis, to measure the real contribution made by em-ployees.

This area in particular gives human resources managers new food for thought on methods for evaluating contributions. In more deve-loped forms, the fact that Intranet adminis-tration methods are moving towards decen-tralised contributions makes it possible to quantify contributions. Again, the procedure allows new evaluation parameters to be defi-ned according to the objectives set for each person.

Rich mediaThe term rich media refers to the increasing use of animated images on the Internet as well as simple text. In addition to the strength of its visual and emotional impact, video be-comes interactive (as will television in the near future). Video podcasts are multiplying on Intranet and Internet sites because they are easy to produce using digital cameras and mobile phones or “smart phones”. The spread of rich media on the Internet has been made possible by increasing authorised bandwidths, due to the spread of fibre optics in particular but also due to the bandwidths of Web-enabled mobile phones. Specifically, producing images is clearly becoming easier and quicker than writing and publishing text.

Similarly, the 3D universe is testimony to the progress made by virtual worlds. The combination of video games and Web 2.0 has given rise to the “metaverse”, or meta-universe. This results from the convergence

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of visual representations of reality and their appearance in virtual space. In varying pro-portions, the metaverse combines notions of identity (self-representation) and interactivity on the one hand, and graphic interfaces and dynamic relational networks on the other hand.

There are already several different types of virtual universes: generalised universes, such as Second Life, There, HiPiHi and Kaneva; those with restricted access, such as World of Warcraft; or private universes, such as the virtual worlds of Intel Software College, Michelin, Qwak or Vastpark. These universes offer significant benefits for e-learning by of-fering a wide variety of possible simulations, case studies and group work scenarios.

And in business...For about ten years now, businesses have been making increasing use of graphic and dynamic data (pictures, sounds, videos, etc.). Where documentary resources used to involve just texts and figures, they now in-clude an increasing variety of media.

But this is not all. The traditional predomi-nance of the written word is being progressi-vely eroded because of its limitations in terms of production time (drafting), especially as validation and publication procedures are still based on traditional hierarchical and often time-consuming processes. Now, small-scale audio-visual productions (video podcasts, etc.) are creating a paradigm shift. This does not mean that pictures will automatically replace text, but that they will increasingly complement each other. Pictures have emo-tional impact; text has the thoroughness and neutrality that commentary requires. This ex-plains the increased use of video or sound in business (business Web TV, internal Web ra-dio, internal televised magazines, audio and video podcasts, etc.) to illustrate, back up

and circulate messages from senior manage-ment, report on strategic or tactical events, or simply to diversify the way information is presented.

Other less easily iden-tifiable aspects might also be mentioned. For instance creating a podcast or internal video means that the manager interviewed, whatever his/her level, is directly involved in formulating the message. This means he/she takes responsibility for that message, which shortens the decision-making circuit com-pared to a text drafted by others and then subjected to repeated proofreading until final approval is given.

Geolocation and geomanagementGeomanagement is another dimension of In-ternet applications. Based on geographical traceability, it uses the functions of the Inter-net and of GPS either separately or together. Some cameras now include geographical details when a photo is taken, making it pos-sible to automatically sort photos according to location and date taken. Sophisticated software packages such as Geoloc provide an Internet site owner with detailed mapping of his/her surfers and show what other sites they move on to after theirs. Sites such as Google Earth or Visual Earth give detailed access to photographic coverage of the entire world. Over time, they are becoming enriched with a wealth of detailed information on each point presented, much to the benefit of GIS (geographical information systems).

And in business...Geolocation opens up a whole range of pos-sibilities for businesses. Fleet-management functions allow real-time monitoring of fleets of cars, vans or lorries, supervision and

The growth and complexity of the

mass of documents are giving rise to

new ways of repre-senting information

and exploring knowledge.

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optimisation of trips or deliveries, anticipa-tion of problem areas, vehicle safety, and an accurate knowledge of where employees are located in the field. Analysis of the geographi-cal data obtained allows an overall strategic vision to be drawn up, client visits to be opti-mised, trips by medical visitors or sales reps to be made more efficient, itineraries to be calculated, etc.

Above all, the combination of mobile te-lephony, mobile computing and the resulting permanent contact with staff in the field, fa-cilitates interaction and increases efficiency. They will thus provide increased understan-ding of work that has been done. Additionally, geomarketing supports this by providing in-depth knowledge of the areas where initia-tives have been carried out.

Graphic interfacesThe growth and complexity of the mass of documents accessible via the Internet are leading to new ways of representing informa-tion and exploring knowledge. They involve replacing traditional homepages (with their sometimes excessive number of hyperlinks) with dynamic mapping. This allows surfers to navigate within the information on offer to access the specific elements they are

searching for. Also it obviously entails prior work on the structuring and organisation of data.

The most significant examples of this trend are the advent of cartographic search en-gines such as Kartoo or Grokker. Search results are shown in graphic form to make it easier to find what you’re looking for. Ad-ditionally, the increased use of conceptual and heuristic maps helps present complex objects graphically, making it easier to understand realities and move within their boundaries. These representations are also becoming wholly separate formalisation methods, for example for hypertext construc-tion using tools such as Mind Map. Finally, tools such as Miner 3D make it possible to create 2D or 3D graphics to represent finan-cial data, data mining, etc.

And in business…Graphic interfaces offer new possibilities for portraying knowledge. This is the case, for example, with the use of dynamic mapping processes as Intranet access interfaces. Em-ployees can travel freely within the tree struc-ture available to them to obtain the precise in-formation that they are looking for. The main benefit of this type of application is that it forces users to think carefully about the envi-

Web 3.0 will underscore two essential concepts, namely government (shared rules regarding the use of networked technologies) and interoperability (the capacity of applica-tions to connect and exchange with others without the need for complex handling processes).

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ronment of their queries, and this can some- times help them come up with other useful choices.

In the fields of brainstorming, benchmarking and creativity, heuristic maps facilitate the production and organisation of ideas. Here, the right and left halves of the brain are ac-tually used simultaneously, while in traditional idea-production methods, the left (reasoning) side of the brain is stimulated more than the right (emotional and imaginative) side.

On a completely different point, this cartogra-phic mode has the advantage of making com-plexity easier to understand and accessible to a large number of people from various fields. Thus, cartographic modelling of the information architecture of an Intranet allows the same document to show:• The tree structure (information system).• Details of contributors and approval givers

(contribution system).• Who is responsible for each item of content

(validation system).• The metadata required for each item of

content (knowledge-management system).This type of map can thus be read in a num-ber of ways and facilitates understanding of the system as a whole.

Mobility and nomadismThe acronym ATAWAD (Any Time, AnyWhere, Any Device) has found its full application with the expansion of nomad tools such as lap-top computers and especially web-enabled mobile phones. As a means of accessing the Internet, the computer is being replaced by a range of devices that can communicate with each other, and the “embedded” Internet.

For example, Vélib (the Paris self-service bike rental scheme) becomes ten times easier to use when you can view the nearest stations and the number of bikes available at any time

in map mode on your mobile phone. It also helps you find the most convenient drop-off point for your bike.

Advances made in electronics, miniaturisa-tion and increased bandwidth have made the mobile phone into a kind of Swiss Army knife that in its most advanced form combines a telephone, a video-conferencing facility, a camera, an MP3 player, a video player, an FM radio, a diary, an address book, an e-mail and instant messaging service, SMS and MMS, and audio and video podcast mana-gement. With all these features, the mobile phone is helping narrow the “digital divide” by reducing the cost of accessing the Internet and increasing access to the information and knowledge available. Above all, it makes it possible to work in any situation.

And in business…The ease of remaining in contact and contac-ting any employee anywhere means that nomadism is on the increase. Employees of Bouygues Telecom have access to a number of applications and functions on their compa-ny’s Intranet from their mobile phones as well as from their computers. They can thus send leave applications or check a client’s request while out of the office.

This shift towards nomadism supports the spread of the fundamental trend towards the Web as a global operating system. This trend sees applications available on a computer (text editing, spreadsheet, etc.) being mo-ved onto servers accessible online, making the Internet into a global system. It is now possible to work online, for example using Google Apps, eliminating the need to install, update and develop applications. In the same way, the economic model is changing radical-ly as we no longer purchase software (which is a fixed asset) but a right of use, in a form similar to a hire arrangement.

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Composite applicationsThese applications involve the creation of new services (software) by combining diffe-rent functions and services accessible on the Internet without the need for new develop-ment. A significant example of this kind of site is Housingmaps. This American real-estate company has combined Excel spreadsheets with lists of apartments for rent or sale with the Google Maps application. This combina-tion results in a dynamic map of the United States showing property for sale or rent in areas where it has a presence. Zooming in on the city of your choice gives you the precise locations of houses and apartments, and ac-cess to photos of the property in question.

Other similar applications exist in hospitals, allowing them to track the spread of an epi-demic across an area. These uses, known as “mashups” or “web application hybrids”, show the cumulative power of Internet appli-cations and the open field they offer for crea-tivity, in a wide variety of business or leisure applications.

And in business…The main benefit of bringing together different services accessible through a tailor-made interface is that it meets the distinct needs of several groups of users. This process re-duces integration work and helps increase effectiveness. Above all, this approach is flexible as it separates the service provided from the different technologies that make it up. It leads the company to set up, progres-sively and easily, an SOA (service-oriented application) architecture. It also benefits from the shift of the market towards the increased use of applications in SaaS (Software as a Service) hosted mode, most of which offer this integration function.

Changes are also afoot in the business’s relationship with clients and suppliers (the

concept of the “ex-panded business”). It now becomes possible to link various applica-tions within the same interface and open up the information system. This means internal ap-plications and those of suppliers and clients can interact.

Dynamic interfacesThe evolution of interfaces, the embedded power of processors in various applications (computers and nomadic tools), and the ap-pearance of new languages such as Ajax, herald the development of new presentation tools that allow the user to take control of their environment by organising the arrange-ment and presentation of information on their own computer. NetVibes is an example of this new generation. Users accessing the site are initially invited to specify their interests accor-ding to identified groups. The application of-fers them distinct themes, and they can then organise the content groups to get the pre-sentation arrangement that best suits their needs. This development mirrors the way the Web is moving from a “broadcast” approach (the same for all) towards a “nanocast” ap-proach in the context of the Social Web, in which each user develops his own universe.

And in business…The gradual introduction of these applica-tions into the field of the Intranet encourages employees to use it by allowing them to orga-nise and configure their working environment themselves. Combined with a dynamic inter-face, the process of profiling and personali-sation helps to configure a virtual office as close as possible to users’ needs, but above all, it helps to involve users and give them a sense of responsibility. Additionally, the ad-ministrators responsible for the information

2.0 e-learning is based on

three postulates: learning is person-

centred, learning is ’immersive’,

learning is ‘connective’.

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system get a clear idea of what the em-ployees are actually using.

The emergence of Web 3.0In the current uncertain climate, we need to be very cautious when talking about what might happen in the future. The advent of Web 3.0 will open the field still further. In May 2006, Tim Berners-Lee explained its main feature, which will be to allow access to an unprecedented quantity of data which is easy to identify and locate.

Some people are talking about the “Seman-tic Web”, even though aspects of this are already beginning to take shape in the cur-rent Web. Others foresee the spectacular de-velopment of virtual reality and 3D universes. Still others have dared to define what a Web 3.0 application might be.

Wikipedia states that future developments could take the form of a Web-based solu-tion (SaaS) that is not a website. It would be mobile, making it independent of carrying devices (freeing it from the constraints of screen size, etc.). It would be universal and supported by any operating system and any equipment (brand, software, etc). It would be accessible (in accordance with W3C recom-mendations), useable by a wide variety of applications, and suitable for disabled users.

We cautiously believe that Web 3.0 will above all involve two essential concepts, namely “government” and “interoperability”. Government is based on the need for sha-red rules in specific situations linked to the use of network technologies, both in terms of internal uses particular to work organisa-tions and external uses relating to the gene-ral public. In addition to a specific regulatory framework, it will include behavioural rules (ethical principles and rules of professional conduct).

This form of government appears necessary because of the systemic development of information and communication technolo-gies in various aspects of professional and private life. It will meet the need to clarify the globalisation mechanisms inherent in the new technologies, such as the need for regu-lation of e-business transactions (e.g. how to settle disputes) given the labyrinthine nature of legal systems. It will also be supported through the introduction of common rules in the field of knowledge structuring, just like the model established by the DCMI (Dublin Core Metadata Initiative). Furthermore, it will require these standardised rules to be incor-porated into software applications and into the tools that everyone uses.

Interoperability, meanwhile, is based on the increasing capacity of each application or product to connect and exchange with others without complex handling processes. Rather than simple compatibility, this pro-cess will require a description of methods of exchange. It is based on the definition of explicit norms and common standards intended to regulate the complexity of spe-cific technical solutions and the way they open up to enable enhanced communication and synchronisation. In terms of operating procedures, it will also be expressed in the standardised simplification of connection so-lutions.

Intranet 3.0 is currently forming and its final shape is still to be defined. It is however pos-sible to clarify a few aspects in the light of what has already happened. The increasing structural development of business, fol-lowing gradual investment in the areas of information, communication, collaboration and knowledge management, has heralded the emergence of the concept of “collective intelligence”, based on interaction and a sys-temic approach to the organisation of work.

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At the same time, a number of new ap-proaches are emerging. For instance, ca-reful use of the wealth of data obtained via traceability will impact the way management leverages different types of indicators. Fur-thermore, the process of traceability, in a human resources context, will open up new possibilities in terms of variable remuneration by making it possible to determine the contri-bution made by each person to collective intelligence.

Above all, the field of knowledge manage-ment will make spectacular progress. Syste-matic use of metadata in content production will provide a detailed vision of the capital produced and at the same time facilitate pre-cise access to it. To the traditional distinction between data (raw information), information (data organised meaningfully) and knowledge (information structured by metadata) will be added the concept of the “body of knowled-ge”. This means a selection of knowledge in-ventoried according to its intrinsic value (e.g. patents) or its contribution to the know-how of the business (which is necessary for trai-ning individuals and sharing expertise).

ConclusionThe concept of the social network that forms the focus of this article opens the way to new ways of training. The term “e-learning 2.0” has appeared. Canadian Ste-phen Downes has put forward the idea that the learning process is increasingly the re-sult of exchanges and interaction between individuals rather than of access to online educational resources. The combination of these factors (networks and resources) is increasing the number of cognitive enrich-ment and memorising mechanisms expo-nentially.

E-learning 2.0 is based on three simple postulates. Firstly, it is learner-focused: in

other words, it takes account of the indi-vidual and his/her interests (favourite sub-jects, materials used and methods of use, psychological traits and way of life), as performance and learning both depend on these elements. Secondly, learning is “im-mersive”; in other words, it postulates that knowledge is acquired specifically through concrete action and practice. Thirdly, lear-ning is “connective”, as it assumes multiple interactions between learners and teachers via networks. It postulates that learning is the result of these exchanges. In brief, it involves dialogue and exchange within open communities.

In addition to this approach, others highlight the arrival, in the near future, of the “Internet of things”. This involves making various every- day appliances (involved in work, leisure, etc.) communicate against a background of interconnected networks. This will necessa-rily result in a harmonisation of standards.

Others more tangibly highlight the drama-tic advances soon to be made in terms of high-speed broadband and the HTML 5 language. Fibre-optic technology will allow most of the connected population to benefit from bandwidth in the region of 100 Mbit/s. That’s all very well, but what are we going to do with it? When it happens, a “smartphone” or personal digital assistant (PDA) will be able to remotely connect to a computer to download various content (texts, spread-sheets, images, videos, etc.). High-speed broadband will result in fast access, always-on connection, and fluid animated images.

At the same time, the number of tools and applications connected to the Internet will increase spectacularly, as will the range of services offered online. Telecommuting will be one beneficiary of the possibilities offe-red by these bandwidths, as will e-learning.

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On another level, the arrival of HTML 5 in late 2010 will trigger dramatic progress for interfaces and interactions. This substantial advance in the main web-page programming language (which has made relatively little progress since 1998) will, thanks to new browsing mechanisms, allow a wide range of programmes to function within the field of work applications (text editing, spread-sheets, etc.) and leisure applications. In the latter field, it will be possible to read or display static or moving images, together with sound, without having to load specific software (the infamous “plug-in”). Finally, this new HTML language will improve inter-action between personal computers and applications accessible on the Web.

The two advances briefly described here will have an undeniable influence on wor-king methods and on the way in which busi-nesses develop their IT systems in general, as well as their Web systems (Internet, In-tranet and Extranet). In addition, other pros-pects will also open up, for example:

• Increased realityThis is based on the real-time superimposi-tion of new applications onto the items we use to interact with our surroundings (e.g. glasses that can teach us about the world around us and will show us, in our peripheral vision, precisely how far we are from what we’re looking at). It will enhance our percep-tion of the environment through information or data that can be directly exploited. The field of application is vast, whether in the area of business (marketing, advertising, design, robotics, etc.) or leisure (games, videos, etc.). For example, in games, it will be possible to move about simultaneously in a real setting and in a virtual setting).

• The 3D universeThis technology, made possible by the in-creasing power of both processors and computer software, will facilitate 3D ani-mations in multi-dimensional universes, just like those found in metaverses or virtual universes (such as Second Life). They could be used in television, cinema, advertising, video, animation and games.

In conclusion, the various areas in which the Web will evolve are all part of a continuous process of convergence which has taken various forms over the centuries: the tem-poral synchronisation of the Middle Ages (transition from local solar time to city time thanks to clocks), the convergence of ideas in the 20th century (technological advances leading to the disappearance of paper), digital convergence since the 1980s (its corollary in the 21st century being the webi- fication of businesses and society), and fi-nally the ways society will be structured in years to come in terms of procedures and standards.

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Spanish teacher Carlos Diaz found he preferred ITC to France’s education system. In 1996, together with his 18-year-old brother, he created a company in Limoges aimed at helping businesses understand the importance of the Internet; later such companies became known as web agencies. After surviving the bursting of the bubble, Reflect continued to develop, becoming a leading digital agency on the French market. In 2005, the Diaz brothers sold their agency to the Belgian group eMakina, a specialist Web-strategy consultancy, and took up a position, without realising it, on 2.0-type tools. They believed that brand marketing strategy should not be conducted on a top-down basis; instead, it should adopt a more multi-disciplinary approach. They followed their instinct, and blueKiwi Software was created. Since then, this SaaS software suite has become a benchmark on the business social-networks market.

The community company,a source of know-how connection

Carlos Diaz,CEO, blueKiwi

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In a changing world, is the term “business” still appropriate?The industrial era has fallen on very hard times. The basic principle that suggested that all that was needed to change the world was to manufacture products in bulk and therefore at reduced cost is definitely outda-ted. The media era that followed it, in which the objective for businesses was to pro-mote a global marketing philosophy through a series of advertising campaigns, is now also proving to have limitations. The new, emerging world that needs to be understood is the world of leadership. It is a world in which the onus is on organisations to create a movement and gather around themselves individuals who will play an active role.

Today, the businesses that succeed are the ones that have ideals and a sense of meaning. Beyond a simple capitalistic or media-orientated vision, these businesses are becoming “loved brands”. Their pro-ducts are loved and recommended and people want to work for these businesses. The business that wins is the one that at-tracts the crowds.

In the field of mobile music, Apple has now overtaken Sony, the inventor of the Walkman. The rebirth of the Mac certainly succeeded thanks to a unique product, but it was pri-marily the movement and the ideal that it created around its products that allowed it to make its mark so quickly. Apple took a gamble by stepping into the background and making its products, such as the Mac or the iPhone, the centre of attention, but, because

it appealed to consumers’ imaginations and enabled them to organise themselves into a community, the gamble paid off.

In this changing world, rationality still has its place but is becoming insufficient. A constant balance needs to be found, not with irrationality, but with emotion.

This new paradigm is redrawing the profile of the “business”. A business is becoming first and foremost a project, consisting in itself of a variable number of projects, in which individuals, employees, clients and partners are all involved. This is a far cry from the traditional model in which everyone has a single, fixed role.

Take the example of websites, which are “showcases” for businesses. It is no lon-ger a question of having a “showcase”, but instead a question of opening all the doors so that the visitor not only consumes, but participates and contributes. How many bu-sinesses get their employees or their consu-mers interested by means of contributory and participatory action? Far too few!

Organising a networked business can help make this vital transformation. Understan-ding how it works is an objective rather than a prerequisite. The first condition is for the manager to be willing to open up his business, interact with his ecosystem, and take this different world on board.

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The corporate world in tune with the “Web Way of Life”It’s no longer the business that chooses the talent, but the talent that chooses the business. Each employee is an individual or-ganisation in their own right. If the business understands that the sum total of these indi-vidual organisations equals its collective or-ganisation, it will be ready to put in place new social-networking tools and better equipped to exist in this changing world.

Some human resource departments see social networks as nothing more than a re-make of Facebook or MySpace, where em-ployees express themselves on a personal level. Without going back over the concept of Web 2.0, it is fascinating to note that young people joining the corporate world (those born in the 1980s, hyper-connected to the Internet and users of nomadic tools) do not expect their employers to teach them how to work in a network; instead, they do it na-turally. Young employees are overturning the habits of top and middle management. Being very much in favour of the collaborative tools that link them permanently to their commu-nities (blog, wiki, instant messages, etc.), young people feel that they are productive within a co-operative, sharing system.

Generation Y works in project mode and is most effective in a team where each person contributes their skills. There is a constant exchange of ideas, and the collaborative tool is becoming a focal point that allows the bu-siness’s memory to be capitalised upon.

By adapting your business to what is termed the “Web Way of Life”, you put the principles of 2.0 to work in order to improve productivi-ty and competitiveness, and step outside the boundaries of your organisational structure to open up to the outside.

Bringing together, rather than reconci-ling, professional and private life Today, diversity and speed of access to per-sonal and professional information are per-manent features. Although the old generation drew a strict line between professional and private life, the new generation mixes them intelligently. It uses social networks to draw on personal contacts for a professional pro-ject, or to spread the word about job oppor-tunities in the workplace.

Just as the business world took work into the private lives of employees by equipping them with laptop computers and mobile phones, it has everything to gain by accepting the re-verse scenario.

Tools such as blueKiwi make it possible to create links between the business world and the outside world by making the employee into a junction point. If these links are crea-ted, some businesses fear (wrongly) that there is a risk of confidential information leaking to competitors or random observers. This, however, is a misplaced fear. Human nature means that employees tend to be positive, rather than negative, about the va-lue of the actions in which they are involved. Furthermore, they believe that disclosing in-formation would endanger them, and are per-fectly aware of what constitutes confidential information.

For Carlos Diaz, the tool shows the way in which information is passed on and under-stood. It also helps identify those who pro-mote certain subjects internally.

Do social-networking tools contribute to a business’s intangible assets?The intangible assets of a business consist not only of people’s personalities but also of their knowledge, expertise and ability to create internal and external relationships. It is

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important to understand that this vital asset is highly perishable and to avoid falling into the past errors of knowledge management. For too long we have believed that we can store knowledge in the freezer when it actual-ly belongs in the fresh-food aisle. Knowledge cannot be bagged, stored and brought out at the relevant time. All that matters is the indivi-dual who carries the knowledge. In a situation of training and continuous movement, social-networking tools used in businesses place the individual in the centre so that knowledge can be channelled more effectively.

When faced with a problem, how many times have you thought, “There has to be some-body in my organisation or ecosystem who could help me”? By using a corporate social-networking tool, you certainly have content available, but first of all you identify the in-dividual people who can give you valuable help immediately. The most important thing, therefore, is to know not what we will find, but who we will find. The person who has the power is no longer the one who possesses the content, but the one who possesses the social network that holds the information sought. A document becomes a by-product of the person who has the expertise. This do-cument, or its latest version, is merely the tip

of the iceberg; the network is the underwater part of the iceberg - and the key element.

As a cross-field tool, will the business social network have a dramatic effect on middle management?Generally, human resources, marketing, sales, innovation and R&D are the depart-ments that pay most attention to the added value provided by the introduction of this kind of tool. At HR level, the main interest lies not only in sharing talents, but also in the unprecedented speed at which a new employee can become more operational and more productive. The tool is also very good at preserving the business memory of reti-ring employees. For marketing and sales, it represents increased value, independence, and the sharing and pooling of knowledge. In many organisations, it can take months or even a whole year to get to know the bu-siness properly.

Questions are often asked about the role of middle management in this model. In this new world of changing businesses, organisa-tional structures also need to adapt. Middle management must stop acting as a filter and instead act as a conductor and a network coor-dinator. They must add value to information,

By adapting your business to what is termed the “Web Way of Life”, you put the principles of 2.0 to work in order to improve productivity and competitiveness, and step outside the boundaries of your organisational structure to open up to the outside.

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be able to explain it, and place it in the context of service.

Top management must be “the” sponsor when introducing a social network to the bu-siness. The real policy decision involves ma-naging the cost of its deployment, in relation to the critical threshold that it must achieve to guarantee the success of the initiative. In fact, the force of a network is equal to the sum of its members squared (Metcalfe’s law). Like the telephone, this tool becomes efficient when deployed on a large scale and used to integrate members from outside. Can you imagine working with a communica-tion system limited to only a few employees and with no possibility of outside calls? Unfor-tunately this is the mistake businesses all too commonly make when they set up a social network.

The current trend is for businesses to “sprinkle” their organisation with social-networking tools. It is far better to equip an entire business unit, as did Dassault Systems, than implement the tool here and there, or conversely, bu-siness-wide. “This is what works in small businesses. When all staff members have a wiki account, information becomes universal and permanent,” explains Carlos Diaz. At Dassault Systems, the directors started with a test platform within one BU. The platform was then extended into the business’s eco-system to reach the sales-chain partners. It worked well and we exceeded the forecast use levels. The next step is to provide ac-cess to the tool to clients and consumers, meaning we’ll go from 300 accounts to 1,000 or even 10,000.

Towards Social LearningTo have many people working together on knowledge is to achieve ongoing learning. If the value of individuals is enhanced, and knowledge networked, the impact will be per-manent. Social-networking tools challenge the idea that training can only take place at set times and favour instead an ongoing, in-formal learning process.

We are moving more and more towards a system of co-coaching employees. Training is adopting this approach. As our partner CrossKnowledge points out, there is far too much compartmentalisation of highly formal training, e-learning and informal learning. It’s interesting to see how this informal learning, equipped with social-networking platforms within a business, can be boosted using content. The content will be denser and conti-nuous, while retaining the timelines and pat-terns inherent in different types of training.

The possible and desirable links between training, formal learning, business social networks and informal learning will create even more value for each person and for the business. Each person can individually store and share their own working and training resources in order to learn and work better collectively. There is no doubt that social lear-ning is the next step.

The most important thing, therefore, is to

know not what we will find, but who

we will find.

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“A hybrid in the academic world” is how François Silva likes to define himself. A sociologist by training and researcher until 1978, he was awarded a one-year postgraduate scholarship to study at an American university. There, he discovered business-related research and understood what sociological research into work should be: using observation in the field as a basis for understanding the changes that the world of work will undergo in the coming decades, and to which new technologies will make a significant contribution. Now a lecturer at ESCEM Tours/Poitiers and an associate lecturer at CNAM, he coordinates research projects, one of which relates to new forms of work organisation. In January 2008, François Silva published “The digital HR department: post-modernity, new technologies and HR functions” as part of the Business & Careers

collection published by Groupe Liaisons. He has recently completed a report for the CIGREF, an association that brings together Chief Information Officers from the largest French businesses, with sociologist Stéphane Hugon, Director of the Gretech Research Centre at Paris-Sorbonne University, on “the emergence of new social practices linked to the introduction of new technologies into large businesses”.

The emergence of the networked collaborative business

François Silva Lecturer at ESCEM Tours-Poitiers

Associate Lecturer at CNAM

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Refusal to change: Kodak syndromeMany businesses are currently facing major changes to their environments, markets and activities. They are facing these changes with- out realising that their very existence is at stake. Businesses are proud of their trade and culture, and this pride can turn into arro-gance, with failure to notice that the world, so-ciety and technology are all changing. For se-veral decades, only one approach prevailed: you had to either innovate by offering a new product, or develop your existing product in order to increase your market share. This approach has now ceased to make sense, as a great change is taking place and a new paradigm has been formed. This will require businesses to have the ability to detect signs that are now small but will become very im-portant in a few years. Businesses need to be able to reposition themselves according to new market expectations, take account of technological changes, and understand the transformations that environmental issues will involve. Many businesses are not taking the coming changes into account, and do not know how to widen their strategic vision by moving into other markets or seizing innova-tive technologies.

This was the case a few years ago with Ko-dak. When digital cameras appeared Kodak responded with the disposable camera. They followed this approach to its conclusion by introducing a network of small instant-deve-lopment laboratories in town centres. This transition market, which lasted some fifteen years, did not prevent the rise of the digital camera. Kodak stood proud of its supremacy

in the field of traditional film, and its culture of chemistry and marketing. It had both the best chemists and the best marketing teams, but was unable to break out of the “chemical mindset” to enter the electronic world. The market demand was not for availability of photos, but for availability of images. Such a transformation would have demanded a ra-dical cultural change, both in the teams and in their skills.

Similarly, during the 1980s Club Med should have taken account of the small indications of a change in client expectations. At the time, as a young market researcher for Club Med, I launched a study aimed at analysing the new needs of clients. The study showed that the client base had aged over three years through lack of renewal. For example, clients’ chil-dren were not joining up. The “Club concept” was losing its appeal. The offer needed to be changed completely and the “village” transformed into a place with very different, customised services. For example, separate tables needed to be provided, where people could sit in couples, with groups of friends or as a family. Telephones and televisions also had to be provided in every room, and news-papers sold in the clubs. The study clearly showed the advent of personalisation of lei-sure at the edge of this form of collectivisa-tion. A few years later, the business went into decline, the company fell into crisis, and the shareholders decided to change the manage-ment team.

I could give several other examples of com-panies that simply could not evolve along

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with consumer expectations. The financial crisis has revealed the inability of the car in-dustry to see change coming. Three years ago, however, an executive at the PSA Group told me that if his business did not succeed in shifting half of all its vehicle production to a mode other than the combustion engine by 2015, the group was doomed. It’s a telling observation for both the group and its com-petitors. We are now seeing a real awareness of what has to be done; and at the same time, we are seeing just how difficult it is to get the message across internally and, beyond that, throughout the network of partners.

The first phase of change: the disap-pearance of hard-copy information At the end of the 1980s, I was working with Bull and wearing two hats. The first hat in-volved dealing with shareholders, that is, the State, and through it, cultivating relations with politicians. The other hat was that of the project manager dealing with the cultu-ral change in Bull. I introduced a training plan aimed at company directors and politicians. The training aimed at getting across what computers meant, how important they were, and why a country such as France needed a computer industry. I am not convinced that such training has been introduced in recent years to explain to that same target group what is meant by phasing out paper informa-tion, and the effect it will have on organisa-tions. The initial thinking was that that this disappearance would simply lead to a “zero paper” situation. However, the paper-ream production figures for 2008 suggest the opposite, reaching record levels. The tools for phasing out paper exist, but their use is currently far from optimised. The advent of a completely digital organisation could lead to major gains in productivity, but people still can’t break the paper habit. We need to be capable of automating information processes and in particular ensuring that each person

gets into the habit of working with and rea-ding digital media. This automation has taken place in production processes, with the co-ming of robots. Top management has got a handle on the figures, but not on the effects that the disappearance of paper will have on organisations.

Communication, a source of productivity: 1 + 1 = 3We will soon be entering a new phase even though the last phase, the disappearance of information on paper, has not yet run its full course. Communication is about much more than just sharing information; it’s about in-terrelations and mediation between people. Communication tools greatly increase the op-portunities for exchanging information. At the beginning of the 20th century, the telephone was the first tool that allowed communication between people in different places in real time.

But new communication tools have been developed over the last decade and others have emerged very recently (social tools, wiki, etc.). They will become steadily more numerous and steadily more efficient. Their performance should create new increases in productivity for business. It should be remembered that the entire history of bu-siness, since the 18th century, that is, since the appearance of manufacturing processes, has been centred on productivity. Now, we need to look elsewhere for new gains. The field of communication is a very important productivity resource. In fact, the sophistica-tion of communication tools will help reduce travel between two offices, two towns, two countries, two continents. There should be huge time savings if people do not need to travel. Things are however a little more com-plicated than that.

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Communication is more than just the use of toolsCommunication isn’t just a simple matter of sitting people in front of a computer screen or a telephone. Communication is based on essential elements of psychology and sociology. In their relationships with others, people also look for mutual appreciation and the pleasure of being with someone. We are rediscovering the work of Marcel Mauss, who talked about an essential aspect of in-terpersonal relations: that of the gift. Rela-tionships are strengthened by the seemingly insignificant little exchanges that take place around the coffee machine.

In this way, men and women build up the so-cial bonds that are essential to interpersonal relations. All the little everyday words (how are you, thank you, good bye, see you later, please, etc.) are signs of mutual apprecia-tion and respect. These social bonds are the cement and the framework around which the efficiency of a social group is built. A col-lective is all the stronger if the people who make it up have built up relationships over time and through seeing each other on a

daily basis. All this is necessary; but it is not sufficient. For these social bonds to be strong between individuals, and powerful and effective in the activities they carry out together, we need to go further and build a relationship based on trust, mutual res-pect and consistency between words and deeds. These are values that need to be experienced, tested and proven daily. But what has this got to do with communication tools? Everything: because tools trigger development and contribute to changes in interpersonal behaviour1. These are funda-mental management issues.

The use of new technology in business is bringing major changes. A prime example is the way boundaries between private and professional life are becoming steadily less well defined. We are all facing changes in the way we relate to time, space, know- ledge, other people and ourselves, and all this clearly has major effects on professional life and the way businesses work. In fact, these technologies generate new forms of work (involving the virtual world, noma-dism, and remote collaboration) that give

Communication is about much more than just sharing information; it’s about interrelations and mediation between people. Communication tools greatly increase the opportu-nities for exchanging information.

1 We must be careful not to think of technology as the main factor that generates social behaviour. Instead, we seem to be in a “chicken and egg” situation in which technology and social behaviour feed from each other.

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employees needs and aspirations that differ from those of previous generations.

This new situation means that employees expect different things from relationships and adopt new behaviour patterns in their professional life. The HR department needs to take these changes into account. Indeed the very nature of HR is changing, as are its tools, methods and organisation. The current changes offered by new technolo-gies will improve the quality of interpersonal communication. Communication, as the Palo-Alto School has explained, uses all forms of language and stresses the impor-tance of body language and mutual recogni-tion, taking into account meaningful signals such as eye contact, silent gestures, pauses in speech or intakes of breath.

Effective communication, however, also needs to include other dimensions: time to think things over, time to rephrase, time to look at the bigger picture. Not all of this can be done instantly and immediately. We need time to “take a breather”. Our lives are not exhausting races of Brownian motion, with no thought for anything other than the pre-sent moment. Once again, we see the need to find meaning in our actions and in our lives in general. The potential danger of new tech-nologies is that people will use them with- out restraint and be permanently online.

Technicians, computer experts and every-one who wishes to sell these tools are all talking about social media. These media can however only function if there is a coherent meaning and if all the phenomena mentioned above are taken into account. To understand how relationships should be optimised, we will probably need to adapt these tools, and in particular their uses, to rules grounded in both common sense and the social sciences (psychology, sociology, etc.).

The virtual world has its limitsA researcher I work with manages the centre for psychosocial studies on the use of new tech-nologies in Tel Aviv. He has recently published a report on the habits of young Internet surfers and major Inter-net consumers. One of the study’s princi-pal conclusions concerns the relationship between the amount of time they spend on-line and their social life. He notes in particular that for young people who spend over two hours connected to the Internet (games, ins-tant messaging, blogs, Facebook, etc.), the more time they spend online, the less of a social life they have. The term “social life” means any membership of or participation in a sports club or association.

Human beings need to re-situate the virtual world within the real world. The virtual world can be useful for sending a photo, making a purchase, or sending or finding out infor-mation, but it must not in any circumstances replace the real world, or close relationships, which are an essential part of social life. We must not forget that a human being is first and foremost built around a social dynamic. The need is therefore to educate people to find a proper balance between these two worlds. Without this essential balance, we run the risk of seeing extreme forms of behaviour, either all-virtual or all-real, with total rejection of the other universe. Businesses have a role to play in society to ensure that each person has a certain balance in their life.

A new approach to organisation: young people as mentorsThe 1990s saw the sacrifice of a generation of middle-aged people who were unable to take on board the arrival of computers and

Tools trigger development

and contribute to changes in interpersonal

behaviour. These are fundamental

management issues.

45

were thus forced to retire at age 52. Today, the pension-fund situation makes this impos-sible. Indeed, the trend has been reversed, as a recent regulation in France now allows employees to work past the age of 65. There is however a gulf between the new genera-tion that arrives in the business world having grown up with these social tools, and the older generation that has not mastered them. We are seeing a lack of understanding and some-times outright rejection. Organisations need to think about a profound change in behaviour. They must make the young people arriving in the business world into tutors for the older people. Without this tuition, there will be a real risk of organisations falling behind the times in terms of both communication media and the nature of messages broadcast.

New behaviour patterns will appear, linked to the new practices ge-nerated by these tools. Organisations may or may not encourage them. Let us not for-get the great principle of communication, “the medium is the message”, which is now transforming into “the medium is the use”. The communication medium you use gives your message a particular connotation. For example, it is easy to set up mentoring pro-grams in the USA as image is very important over there. They believe that anything can be learnt from anybody, so there’s no need to graduate from the best schools to be accep-ted. On this basis, a major American bank has just entrusted a study on media consumption by young people to a fifteen-year-old. The directors published the conclusions of the study. In France, things are quite different. There is an elite, a small group of people who have the knowledge, make the decisions and will teach the others everything. If we wish to move the boundaries, maintaining this status

quo would be disastrous. I am not convinced that traditional training can help with such a paradigm shift. It is more a severance than a change; our organisations are going to ex-perience a real revolution. Very few top ma-nagers understand what is coming, the new practices that need to be embraced, and how they need to approach the situation. They are suffering from “Kodak syndrome”. Will giving support be enough to help them understand the situation and change their whole mindset?

NFWO: New forms of work organisationIn workshops on the major changes to work organisation, reference has been made to Tay-lorism and Fordism. At the present time, we are seeing the emergence of something new in offices and at all client contact points. New forms of mobility will appear. Many sectors are being affected by these changes. Large shop-ping outlets have developed on the edges of cities, in locations that often taken more than twenty minutes to get to. At the same time, the same retailers are creating online shop-ping sites. The advent of e-banking, a subject I worked on for a major French bank, will have a significant impact on human resources, as the question is whether or not to keep local branches. All efforts are now being directed towards analysing client expectations and the way people relate to their bank. We know that clients want a personal relationship, preferably always with the same person, in order to build up trust over a period of time. This trust can only exist if people meet from time to time. The contact person needs to be an adviser, providing support for clients in their various projects. For the relationship to work, the two parties need to have meetings that are more useful but less frequent: once or twice per year is enough.

In the meantime, clients must be able to call or go online at any time. As the contact person cannot be permanently available, a

New behaviour patterns will

appear, linked to the new practices

generated by these tools.

46

platform that allows a client request to be acknowledged, redirected, recorded and pro-cessed must be introduced. So this kind of organisation involves two new jobs: the ad-viser (nearby) and the adviser’s deputy (vir-tual). The adviser can meet you at your local branch, with restrictions on time and frequen-cy of contact. The ‘deputy’ provides an open service 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This kind of organisation will clearly create new jobs, but it will also require different skills and a new approach to working time. Employees will enjoy greater autonomy and greater mo-bility, with traditional working hours replaced by a system where time is fragmented and discontinuous. All this requires the adoption of an approach that focuses on objectives and projects, but this will not be sufficient to optimise productivity. Another dimension needs to be added to ensure that employees still feel that they belong to the business, and that it fully accepts them.

The business must create the conditions nee-ded to create this sense of belonging, provi-ding meaningful opportunities for an employee to meet his team or his manager in person.

A new issue for HR: religare or creating a linkIn this kind of organisation, human-resources departments need to introduce personal support systems. Without this support, em-ployees will lose their bearings in the bu-siness. At the same time, much work needs to be done to allow managers to create links within their teams. These links that allow employees to feel that they belong in the bu-siness recall the Latin term religare (to link), which is related to the idea of religion, where God is bound to mankind. Here, it is a ques-tion of binding the business to the person. We are in the process of killing off middle ma-nagement by setting it targets that are often too ambitious or unreachable. They work to

achieve these results and have less and less time to spend with their teams. They have less and less time to give to others (and, indeed, to them-selves). The constant pressure to submit reports and achieve re-sults is not an effective use of time, and there is a real risk of business implosion.

Personalisation and individualism are meaningless unless we create links which also give a sense of belonging. Social media and their new tools help to create these links. There are few studies on this subject, as it is a very recent phenomenon, but two obser-vations can already be made. First, it must never be forgotten that social tools do not create links as such; their primary purpose is to provide information. It is through the use of this information and its transformation into communication that the link can be produced. The second observation concerns professio-nal networks, which carry the expectations of employees in terms of skills and experience. At Schlumberger, for example, networks have been set up around specific jobs or areas of expertise. Employees can use these networks to find all kinds of information (aca-demic, e-learning, etc.) that has often been reworked by specialists in the respective fields.

Everyone within the business can be clear-ly informed so that they understand the meaning and importance of the new infor-mation, but they can also react to, comment on and add to this information. This dynamic exists because the network is organised: two or three high-level people are dedicated to the network, working as leaders issuing their instructions to the webmaster. There is a committee that meets regularly to provide updates on the effectiveness and relevance

Professional networks carry the

expectations of employees in

terms of skills and experience.

47

of the information being circulated. And there are several networks, each dedicated to a specific theme, access to which is filtered by a system of sponsorship. They are also open to people from outside the business. Without this organisation, information would circulate but it would be less meaningful; having too much information affects its usefulness. Or-ganised in this way, these tools represent real progress and an improvement in relatio-nal processes.

But they still don’t create links. Social tools can actually divide people, and for this reason, it is essential to give them a colla- borative dimension. The HR department is not just in charge of the men and women working in the business. Its task is also to introduce work processes that help improve performance while maintaining a sense of balance among employees. This is another way of reconciling the business and its staff.

Tools currently used by executivesAt the end of the 1980s, computer tools be-gan to be networked and work organisation was gradually transformed into an informa-tion system. At the same time, the usability and technology of computers led to the avai-lability of user-friendly PCs that could be used by non- specialists.

“After the workshop, the office now be-came a part of the productivity gain process through the development of ICT associated with reorganisation of work. All forms of ad-ministrative activity saw changes that made it possible to:- reduce lead times;- reduce costs;- automate administrative tasks;

- develop and create services;- develop users’ capacity for exploiting exis-ting information.These changes are now affecting activities far removed from administrative tasks, and now involve design and development work.”2

The new phenomenon concerns executives who have been using these tools for four or five years. Previously it was their secretaries, and more generally operational employees, who used these tools. This new situation is radically changing the organisation of work, placing new pressure on these executives but making very significant gains in produc-tivity possible.

The new working hoursOur professional life can be divided into four major space-times3 that new technologies can directly relate to. A business will be able to optimise the work of its employees if it organises these times:

1/ The time during which we meet physically with one or more people, and are therefore in a relationship based on physical presence. We cannot afford to neglect this type of si-tuation (see what has been written earlier about social links). In this temporal and spa-tial area, people must be in the ‘here and now’, listening to each other, eliminating all outside interference by switching off all com-munication tools (phone, e-mail, fax, etc). During this period, people can meet formally or informally, but they can also attend mee-tings to exchange ideas, be informed and/or inform others, make decisions, etc. This time category either involves two people, or forms a more collective exchange. Ma-nagement committees, for example, often

2 P 25, Report CIGREF op.cité

3 Stéphane Hugon and François Silva

48

organise end-of-week seminars on strategy or on a subject of importance to the business. But for this kind of exchange to be effective, participants can’t be in front of their compu-ters or hooked up to their PDAs, i.e. physically present but distracted by other messages.

2/ The second time period is located in the vir-tual world. It’s where we become one with the screen and keyboard, whether on a computer or a phone. It’s often an ‘in-between’ time: it happens when we’re in a taxi, train or plane or on the underground, or waiting for a meeting or appointment. Recent studies have shown that a manager has to deal with an average of eight e-mails per hour. He can read and quickly reply to these during these ‘in-between’ times. By filling this “dead time”, we optimise our time and make gains in productivity. This can also be done in the early morning or at the end of the day, when our appointment book is empty.

3/ A new time period has appeared with the arrival of new communication tools: the time of virtual relationships. Phone conversations and conference calls (which have existed for over a hundred years) have now been transfor-med into web conferences or teleconferences involving several people. This type of time also requires freedom from interference from other sources, as you have to be available to the people you’re talking to. Again, this type of relationship can help boost productivity. We should remember that in a relationship based on physical presence, the ratio between mee-ting or appointment time and travel time is one meeting day for one travel day but can be as high as 1 to 5 or 1 to 10.

4/ The fourth type of time is when you need to concentrate in order to write a report, a presen-tation, a sales pitch or a memo. You have to shut everything else out to give yourself time to think. This often requires a relatively long time period,

Image on page 25 of the report written by F. Silva and S. Hugon on “the emergence of new social practices generated by the use of ITC in large companies”, CIGREF- July 2009

Changes in the use of new technologies in the service sector

Top management

Use of personal computers

develops in all categories between

1988 and 1998

Departments and/or functions take a global approach to

workflows (ERP)

All categories receive messages sent internally and externally

Mobile tools whose use encourages increasing demand for information to employees

More and more mobile tools for middle mana-gement with increasing demand for information from employees

Wired computer tools for employees and mobile staff (e.g. delivery drivers). Development of mobile tools.

Middle management

Employees

Assistants, Operational employees

Persons using computer tools

1988 1998 2008

49

half a day at least, without interruptions, spent alone in order to think and/or write. During this time you need peace and quiet to allow you to concentrate. This isn’t a “Tweet” of less than 140 characters. You need to be able to step back and look at the bigger picture. Many who suffer from not having enough of this type of time during the day, say: “I start work at six in the evening”. This is why not only management executives but an increasing number of other executives4 remain at work until late at night. With the recent development of mobile and no-madic tools, they have started returning home and working in the evening and over the wee-kend. This is known as “blind work”5, as nobody is aware of its existence. It impinges on personal life and, if done systematically, can lead to signi-ficant stress levels and even burnout.

This type of time can be either individual or collective. Collaborative tools such as wikis or collaborative writing using a video projector that projects the written text to a number of people, help improve the quality and speed of intellec-tual production, in particular for text documents. Developing collaborative practices like these will require us to re-evaluate our traditional ways of doing things, so deeply rooted are they in our working culture, which has become increasingly individualised in recent decades.

We must all learn to behave in a way that does not interfere with others’ time, but we must also learn to protect ourselves from interference. Ma-nagers must learn to respect the fact that their teams need to keep the different types of time separate. Each time category must be clearly defined and kept distinct from the others. We have new communication tools that allow us

greater involvement in other people’s time and space, but we have not yet been able to create the necessary ground rules for their use. The onus is on businesses to structure and define the way these tools are used, training employees and managers to organise their lives around the four time categories.

Business, the last bastion of the social linkHuman beings need a strong and continuous relationship with their environment, which should reassure them and bring out the best in them by giving them a sense of belonging. If they do not have such an environment, they are likely to take refuge in various forms of fundamentalism or communitarist identity politics. Business, and the world of work in general, is, for the French, a place to which people are very attached as it allows strong links to be forged. According to a recent stu-dy, more than two thirds of employees stated that they enjoy going to work. If the world of business cannot remain a place where links are forged, it will implode and take society with it. The aim of these links is to create a sense of belonging and mutual recognition. It requires effort from everyone. These are the challenges facing businesses in the years to come.

4 Executives are not necessarily in a management position. They are graduates who have significant autonomy in the organi-sation of their work and are bound not by timetables but by results. These knowledge workers or KWs are in design-related and creative jobs, obviously in the new technologies.

5 See François Silva and Stéphane Hugon, op. cit.

50

ConclusionIn writing this white paper, we talked to people directly and gave them the opportu-nity to talk about what makes them different. The responses they have provided are cer-tainly food for thought for anyone interested in these issues. By way of conclusion, we wanted to focus on the shared points of view that became apparent during the interviews. We will then look at the various steps on the way to becoming a community company.

Shared convictionsThe first thing we noted was that the lan-guage all our experts used reflects their pas-sionate involvement in the subject. The fact that it is a hot topic at the moment is one reason, but this does not explain everything. People have been working on this subject from a sociological angle for years. As a re-sult, Michel Germain, Dominique Turcq and François Silva, who together combine the roles of researchers, teachers, consultants and businessmen, quickly understood the need to take an interest in the effect of social media on work organisations. Others took the risk of becoming pioneers in experiments with certain social media, such as Stéphane Roussel who created mySFR. Still others, such as Carlos Diaz, created a business for developing these tools. All of them are pas-sionate and committed pioneers in this new form of communication.

Our observers all share the conviction that com-panies, through their top management, must respond quickly. They talk of a world of radical change, of cultural change, of paradigm shifts. All stress the major impact this is going to have on work organisation, and the need to re-exa-mine behaviour in the business world. They re-cognise the gains in productivity that using these tools could bring. According to them, we have to go through this process of change if businesses are to survive in the coming decades.

Our experts are very concerned. How capable will businesses be of changing their mindsets and the way they do things? How long before the members of a management committee appear on a professional version of Facebook? “Why don’t management committees use tools such as forums for creating truly collaborative work, especially when drawing up strategic plans?” wonders Dominique Turcq.

Apart from this concern, all believe that major change is inevitable, as it is a response to so-ciety’s expectations. Our experts are convinced that these media will continue to develop, and that a new virtual territory will emerge. This vir-tual space will facilitate collaborative work and give middle management a true leadership role once again. There is one thing the experts are sure of: businesses are not prepared for this change, and there is an urgent need to help them through the process.

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Towards a community company

Key role of top management We are seeing a real cultural change that will lead to new social behaviour. In business, the impetus can only come from above, from top management, which must push for the introduction of new social media. Just like the CEO of Cisco, they must get to grips with this change and ensure that the front line, i.e. the management committee, shares this vision of the company’s organisational structure.

Employees as participantsSocial media do not create links. The onus is on the business to do that, ensuring that each person is a recognised participant wi-thin the organisation. Without this sense of belonging and recognition, the employee can-not be motivated. By becoming a participant in a collaborative organisation, all employees can play their part within the business, what-ever their job is.

A new role for middle managementIn the collaborative environment, the mana-ger takes on a more proactive role in imple-menting the strategic plan. He/she can no longer merely carry the plan into execution as it stands. He/she is responsible for pro-cessing the information, sharing it with his/her teams, and giving it meaning. The mana-ger’s job is now to translate and enrich the information. He/she must have a hands-on approach while maintaining his/her role as a leader. He/she must feel equally at home in both real and virtual space. These new tools will produce the leaders of tomorrow. In a

forum, it is possible to pick out the handful of contributors who stand out from the rest. On Facebook, we can see the management skills acquired by an employee outside the workplace.

Communities open to diversityYoung people joining the business world to-day can be fully productive within a system based on cooperation and sharing. Bringing the outside world into a business must make it possible to boost productivity. We have to learn how to organise these communities along two key principles: openness to diver-sity, and consistency.

A sense of purpose When it becomes a ‘community company’, a business turns into a ‘set of projects’ that in-volve the entire staff. As it hands power back to the consumer, the business has to forge stronger links with the world at large. The world is in a profound state of change and the business that does not adapt will wither and die. Awareness in society of the major risks facing our planet compels businesses to address the question themselves. They must learn how to manage growth while res-pecting sustainable development, in order to attract the best people and meet their clients’ expectations. This throws up a whole new set of challenges for businesses. They will aban-don the standard mass production model and embrace a new model where rationality will, to an extent, give way to emotion.

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The creation of wealth within the community companyEveryone involved in this white paper high-lights the fact that using social media in business can boost productivity. But can these media create lasting wealth? Can they be seen as new assets? How can their va-lue be expressed? Will financial analysts take account of these new kinds of assets when valuing businesses? The value of the network depends on how efficient it is. Of course, the number of members of Facebook contributes to its current value; but will it be the same for similar tools developed internally?

In addition to organisational structures, there is the question of what impact social me-dia will have on the future valuation of busi-nesses. In the age of knowledge, know-how is a valuable weapon. Are businesses aware of this?

Sincere thanks to Carlos Diaz, Michel Germain, Stéphane Roussel, François Silva and Dominique Turcq for their help in compiling this white paper.

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