Industry experts and CIOs have talked for years about the need to eliminate silos and integrate decentralized devices, software, knowledge and infrastructure into one cohesive strategy. Are we there yet? Not exactly, but we are beginning to see some real progress, and happily, the results are much less terrifying than many had imagined.

For example, there is now widespread agreement that clouds are tying together and giving access to disparate mobile devices, proprietary software platforms and previously incompatible networks — and that’s a giant leap forward. Additionally, and very much related, the debates about social media’s role in the enterprise have calmed down, and the benefits are unfolding. What all of this means is that real transformation is starting to occur — and IT is squarely behind it. Better still, transformation is no longer the “T word” feared and loathed by IT and business alike. Transformation — and its partner, disruption — are seen as necessary conduits to business agility and innovation.

A new book, Social Business by Design (Jossey-Bass, May 2012), by thought leaders Dion Hinchcliffe and Peter Kim of Dachis Group, offers insights about what’s happening. In the book, Hinchcliffe, (who wrote for Smart Enterprise Exchange last year about social business and agile methodology), not only tells businesses to rethink the modern organization in light of social media, but along with Kim offers ways to go about it. The authors explain how to choose and implement a social business strategy and maximize its impact. Several impressive examples, such as SAP, Procter & Gamble, MillerCoors, Bloomberg, HBO, Ford and IBM, are included to illustrate successful strategies.

Equally impressive to me is the fact that Dachis Group as a whole “gets” that although the benefits are crystallizing, becoming a truly social business isn’t an easy transition — especially for those with legacy systems and mindsets in place.

Dachis consultant, Tom Bennett, recently wrote in his blog that: “No matter what the ultimate definition of Social Business becomes, it is a major shift from the current way many organizations work … One can’t simply dismiss everyone and start over.” Adopting social media models is “as much about a change in behavior, skills and activities,” as technologies. Bennett goes on to say that transformation will require the right mix of strategy, design and leadership in order to succeed.

For its part, McKinsey also is offering its perspective on “Demystifying social media.” A new report, mainly geared toward consumer marketing, explains how non-marketing executives can harness social media to drive business and generate revenue. Clearly, as McKinsey states, social media is no longer an experiment. In a related video — “Making sense of social media” — consumers share their experiences, and McKinsey partners provide advice on how companies can build brand loyalty and manage the organizational challenges.

Another compelling discussion about business transformation is taking place at Saugatuck Technology. Researchers there note that the real potential for business innovation lies in the synergy and “combinations among mobile, social, data analytics, integration and collaboration, all playing off each other and exchanging value in their interactions.”

The heavy lifting, according to Saugatuck, will come in the form of a Master Architecture that has to take shape, enabling what the firm calls the Boundary-free Enterprise™ — “with solutions that free the mobile knowledge worker and executive from their desks and build on the cloud, as well as other capabilities,” such as social/collaboration, data analytics and integration.

Figure 1 - Emerging Master Architecture ©

Others have coined terms for collaboration platforms before, but I’m intrigued by the vision of a boundary-free enterprise that uses “time- and location-independent computing capabilities — Cloud, Mobile, Social and Data Analytics (CMSA) plus integration” — to function efficiently and collaboratively. Like Dachis, Saugatuck also acknowledges that much work has to be done, particularly in the area of integration — “the glue that links capabilities together and joins them to on-premises data assets in data centers where mission-critical money systems still operate behind highly-secure firewalls.” Saugatuck’s founder and CEO Bill McNee will talk about these concepts at the upcoming All About the Cloud conference, co-produced by the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) and OpSource May 8-10, San Francisco.

In coming months, Smart Enterprise Exchange will be featuring more details about many of these research efforts, as well as other tools and approaches that enable business innovation. Meanwhile, share your tales of terror-free transformation and how your enterprise is becoming more innovative as it becomes a more social business. How are you closing the gaps between silos at your enterprise? Is transformation back?

Paula Klein

Editor and Community Manager

Smart Enterprise Exchange