Author: Rogier Noort

Every revolution has its victims. Collateral damage if you like. Of course, we would like to minimize the casualties as much as possible, after all, our aim is social.

It’s not just people, but whole job descriptions or even departments that will pass into oblivion. And if you do not keep up, you will be left behind. But, new skills, jobs and departments will pop up all over the place.

SaaS

Software as a Service. Office 365, for instance, can function completely within a browser. The idea behind this is that you, as a business, do not have to worry about keeping the systems up to date. You do not have to distribute a new package across every laptop and desktop throughout the company.

No need to test the latest update on your system and no worries about updates going wrong. You probably won’t even know it’s been updated.

Cloud

Data storage is cheap. Well, at home it his. Buying a 3 TB HDD no longer requires a second mortgage on your home. And many desktop comes with 1TB as standard. It’s not expensive any more.

However, if you have an average sized company, storage can be a major pain in the proverbial butt. Servers need to be monitored 24/7. Data needs to be available, secure and backed up. You cannot take any changes.

Wouldn’t it be sweet to outsource all those worries? I bet it is.

Trust and security might be a worry here, we know Prism is real. So, some scrutiny is warranted.

Then again:

Bring your own

Mobile devices, and tablets are ubiquitous by now. There’s really no two ways about it.

However, a lot of companies still do not supply a smart phone for whatever reason. Money, fear of people being connected all the time or being to active on social networks, who knows.

The world, in the meantime, is moving en mass towards these devices and employees tend to get their own. Whether ‘the boss’ likes it or not, people will buy and bring there own device.

And they want to use them.

ICT has the challenge to enable the corporate network to communicate with these devices, especially e-mail.

Keeping Up

In ICT (which used to be just IT) it’s sometimes difficult to stay up-to-date. Technology advances so quickly that by the time you’ve learned a new skill another is lurking around the corner.

Social Business is not helping with these difficulties. ICT might be one of the most difficult departments of a company to change. Not on a philosophical level, but on a practical level.

Imagine what ICT does and how it can effect them.

• Licences need to run out or upgraded to new services.
• Workflows need to be adapted on a fundamental level or discarded in its entirety.
• Data has to be migrated to new platforms.
• E-mail (Exhange) servers can be dismantled (if all goes well).
• New software and platform skills need to be learned (for maintenance and support purposes).
• Communication and registration of knowledge need to be open and available.
• New accounts acquire a completely different routine.

Obscurity

Most of the services ICT provides are never seen, done in the background, in the basement of the building. There is hardly any contact with the rest of the business. And if something goes wrong and they have to come out into daylight to “do something” to your workstation because “it just doesn’t work”, you know the ICT nerd when you see him by his pale complexion and Star Trek themed Android.

Don’t you love a good stereotype?

But, it’s true, partly. We don’t know exactly what ICT does (well, I do, but you get the point). Only ICT knows what ICT does. We’re just happy when everything works and get angry when it doesn’t.
Making everything “just work” however, is an amazing and under appreciated challenge. The coming of Social Business with its new technologies and philosophies doesn’t make that easier.

Add to that all the disruptors out there wanting to work the way they want to work, on the platform and device of their choice and there is a fair chance some ICT professionals get a little cross with us.

No Standard

Social Business is still a (relatively) young business. There is no standard. There is, however, an amazing growth in providers of platforms, some with free subscriptions. Paving the road for multiple platforms to be used within the same company.

Neglecting this, and the growth might get out of control. Making the choice for a future platform more difficult, and putting ICT into a position where they’re made responsible for smoothing everything out again.

I know technology shouldn’t drive Social Business, people should. But tech makes up a third of the ingredient for a successful change, you cannot do this without ICT.

Thusly, I suggest that ICT is represented at the start of the change. Not necessarily to input or suggest on a platform, but to stay up to date of the plans and progress. Giving them the input they need to stay on top of the game.

Because, let’s face it, without technical support, there is no Social Business.

One of the pillars of a social business is the sharing of knowledge. This is supported by the free flow of information (a second pillar) and transparency (a third pillar).

We need these pillars in order to be successful in our mission to socialize a business. But, what if our organised and planned disruption gets disrupted by ever increasing competition among employees.

A study done by Tempo-Team (Dutch text) in the Netherlands showed that, according to one in three employees, the tension and individual competition was worse than in 2012.

Crisis

The perpetuating financial crisis in Europe is cited as the main cause for this negative disruption.

Employees face a greater workload and greater job insecurity. This, inevitably leads to more stress and competition. The personal crisis doesn’t end when the employee leaves work either, the stress is brought home where it gets a chance to build up.

This leads, in some cases, to people taking sick days, or worse, burn outs. Which can be very costly for employers.

Vicious Cycle

Because the employees are more pessimistic about their future they tend to view their colleagues as rivals, instead of collaborators or peers. The company doesn’t see this, because its focus lies elsewhere (survival?).

The chain reaction which is set off by this behaviour is devastating for a company and the individual employee.

Here’s the cycle:

• Bad times leads to higher work pressure
• Higher work pressure leads to stress (and sickness)
• Chance of being laid off leads to (negative) employee competition
• Employee competition leads to:
  • Hoarding of knowledge
  • Withholding expertise
  • Office politics
  • Less communication

You can imagine this doesn’t end well.
For the company all this means:

• More sick days
• No problem solution
• No innovation
• No constructive discussions
• No flexibility
• Top employees leaving (bad employee retention)

It’s undeniable that one thing leads to another. And when negatives are reinforced, the downward spiral becomes bigger and stronger.

You hear that Mr. Anderson?… That is the sound of inevitability… It is the sound of your death… Goodbye, Mr. Anderson…
– Agent Smith –

Turn It Around

Now!

When a crisis hits, some companies dig a trench, put on a helmet and hope for the best. Ride out the storm. Others invest, take the opportunity to change for the better.

It’s the latter you want to be. And for that to happen you need the support of your employees. Their commitment to your company will make the difference between success and failure. Competing employees only leaves you with small enclaves of knowledge, stuck on a thumb drive or in somebody’s head.

Becoming a social business can prevent you from making tough decisions during a crisis. Instead of competing employees, you will have co-operating employees.

The Hive

It may sound Utopian or maybe scary (Borgian), but the collective mind of a company will always know more than any individual (including top management).

A collective can also be more flexible, more intuitive, more aware and more responsive to critical questions from management.

Let’s face it, when a company is in dire straits, the chances of finding solutions within the company hive-mind are far greater than finding outside help or any individual within the company.

Just Ask

The difficulty lies in the beginning. We don’t want to change unless we are forced to change. The current crisis is a good example for a reason to change. And yet, many companies do not.

You can turn things around without to much pain. Just ask your employees what to do, or what they’re willing to do and under what conditions are they’re willing to do it.

If you don’t ask, you don’t know. It might look weak, but good leaders ask for as much input as they can get.

In a solid social business environment you don’t even have to ask. Issues will get noticed and reported somewhere down the line. Then, co-operating colleagues might find a solution before the issue becomes a problem. Preventing that problem from becoming a crisis.

Just think about it.., it makes sense.