The IMF Blog

Archive for September, 2009

An IMF Member spin on “Poking Tweeps in the Blogosphere”

September 18th, 2009

As noted in the previous blog post “Poking Tweeps in the Blogosphere,” companies are searching for ways to utilize social technologies effectively. Gina Bianchini, CEO of Ning, stated in a USAToday article by Jon Swartz that corporations increasingly are exploring and experimenting in the use of social networks to improve business operations. The article then suggests that social networking sites boost company productivity.

A recent IMF Connect probed further into the social networking discussion. An IMF member had questions relating to how other companies were handling social networking sites. The member’s questions included whether other companies allowed their employees to use social networking sites at work, if so, which ones? They also asked if they had policies surrounding social networking sites and if they were worried about security with those sites. IMF brought together companies to discuss the member’s concerns.

Here’s what one company had to say:

“In the past, we had restricted all of the social networking sites. As time went on, more and more people have explained why social networking sites are a benefit to business so we decided to allow them. We felt that if you are going to allow a couple of the social networking websites, you may as well allow them all. We are afraid that if our company is only a part of one, Facebook for instance, we may miss opportunities or information that could be gathered from another, like LinkedIn. We do have a policy in place that states that employees who use the company name need to act in an appropriate manner on the sites both at work and home. We do recognize that allowing social networking sites does provide another security concern, but we are currently using Blu Code as our protection.”

To read the rest of the IMF Connect on Social Networking and find out what other members said, click here.

Click here for the USAToday article “Social networking sites help companies boost productivity.”

Interested in other IT related connects? Have a topic that you want to discuss with professionals in the field? Click here to learn more.

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Posted in Member Identified Trends

Tags: Connect IMF IMF member social networking

Poking Tweeps on the Blogosphere: An elemental look at social technologies

September 18th, 2009

Lori Furman, an Innovation Consultant with Information Technology Company and Chevron discussed enterprise adoption of social technologies at an IMF Innovation Web Forum that was held this past April. In this presentation, Furman explained social computing and presented opportunities to drive business value. In her presentation Furman notes, “[social computing] represents the next generation of the web, from a paradigm where users would consume the content website owners published. Now, you are not only consuming what is on the web and controlling how you consume it, but you are also generating content.”

There are many different types of applications that are available. According to Furman, “Social computing technologies are largely about how people are interacting and sharing information. The reason that social networking has taken off in the last two years is because it is an easy and inexpensive piece of software to use, and people are finding a lot of value in that.” Many of these social applications include social networks (Facebook, LinkedIn, etc) blogs, social bookmarking, crowd sourcing and prediction markets, and discussion forums.

An aspect of social computing that is significantly on the rise is the emergence of social networks. Social networking is a booming arena with individuals and companies alike trying to figure out a method to the madness.

CIO published a list of common social networking websites from A-Z. Click here to view them.

At the IMF, we too are jumping on the social networking bandwagon to not only understand this growing phenomenon, but to also find innovative ways to use these technologies.

Follow IMF on Twitter

Join IMF on LinkedIn

Though social networking has been popular for personal use, many questions have arisen about the effectiveness of social networking in a business setting. Is there a way for businesses to effectively utilize social networking applications?

The question of effective use of social networking sites is addressed in an article by Karen Klein of Business Week. In this article are suggestions that help businesses “look past the hype, set concrete business goals, then start experimenting.”

The suggestions that were given in the article include finding a networking niche. This involves observing top sites and seeing what may work for your organization. LinkedIn is cited as a good website for human resources and networking. Peter Delgrosso, strategic vice-president for corporate communications with Web.com, stated in the article, “[LinkedIn] requires some resume creation, and then offers the opportunity to link in to other like-minded professionals. When used selectively it can be a very powerful tool for identifying new business partners, new employees, or simply building your personal or business presence.”

Another suggestion highlights ‘geometric extension’ and search optimization. Because content usually can be pasted from site to site, something on YouTube for example could be promoted by links posted on Facebook, Twitter, and a company blog. Robert Jenson stated in the article that the more sites that include your name and link back to your website or blog, the higher your profile rises in search engines, where more and more of your customers are likely to find you.

Dr. Jonathan Reichental, IT Innovations Director at PricewaterhouseCoopers, also presented at an IMF workforce web forum and similarly discussed the topic of social networking in the workplace. Reichental said, “Social media in a business context is a transformational phenomenon that should not be underestimated. The whole notion of completely new ways of engaging customers and empowering employees may represent a considerable shift in work, just as we saw in the agricultural and industrial revolution.” In his presentation, Reichental went into specific social networking examples including offering his advice for actions that can be taken by an organization on the approach to social networking.

Clearly, if the potential of social networking is utilized correctly, organizations can reap significant benefits.

To read the Business Week article “Are Social Networking Sites Useful for Business” click here.

To read the IMF report from Lori Furman’s presentation on “Enterprise Adoption of Social Technologies,” click here.

To read the IMF report from Dr. Reichental’s presentation on “Social Networking in the Workplace,” click here.

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Posted in IT Innovation, Social Media

Tags: blogging Facebook LinkedIn social networking Social technology

CIO Roles- What are they now? What should they be?

September 17th, 2009

An article by Wayne Brown from Campus Technology addresses the role of the CIO and defining that role for the next generation through higher education. In a study entitled “The Study of the Higher Education Chief Information Officer Roles and Effectiveness” there are six different IT leadership roles that are defined to be CIO effective. These include:

o Business Partner

o Classic IT Support Provider

o Contract Oversight

o Informaticist and IT Strategist

o Integrator

o IT Educator

The article also addresses the perspective on the importance of the CIO role and its effectiveness. Using a 1 to 5 scale (1 being the least important/not effective to 5 being critically important /outstanding) it was noted that “the foundation roles of Classic IT Support Provider and Contract Oversight have been consistently singled out as the most important and the most effective roles for the CIO by both CIOs and the IMT” (Brown, “A Study of CIO Roles and Effectiveness in Higher Education). The least important role that has been identified was the role of the CIO as the Business Partner and IT Educator.

In his presentation for the IMF CIO Executive Forum held this past March, William Miller, the CIO from Harris Corporation, takes the role of the CIO further and incorporates it in IT’s role for driving corporate initiatives and participating in the company strategy discussion. According to Miller, “An IT organization has the opportunity to take a leadership role and drive initiatives across a corporate landscape.” His presentation highlighted specific actions that leaders of organizations may take in helping the IT organization drive corporate initiatives. Many of the roles that Miller addressed in his presentation are a further concentration of the broader roles defined by Brown’s article. The following are examples of roles that the CIO roles may play:

o The CIO as the technology advisor.

o The CIO as corporate-process conscious: Some corporations have a process analysis team that might sit on the chief operating officer’s staff or at that level. In a lot of places it falls back into the IT department where every aspect of business flow is touched.

o The CIO as “one of the guys or gals?” Just another team member on the corporate staff

o The CIO bringing a certain familiarity with IT Companies and Modern economy. As an IT leader, there is a knowledge base on how to solve problems.

o The CIO as the “Early Warning System”

Both articles touch upon the role of the CIO with Brown focusing attention on the “higher education” aspect by noting that 47% of the higher education CIOs was anticipating their retirement in the next 10 years in 2008. That percentage has not fluctuated in 2009.

Are the next generations of CIO’s preparing/being prepared for their jobs?

Miller focuses on the role of CIO in the IT organization and poses questions specifically aimed at defining the CIO role within the organization.

“How do you establish credibility in the formation in the business? Do you want to even be engaged in the process? What is the optimum level of “injection” versus waiting for an invitation to participate?