A blog alert linked to a keynote speech (lost the link and forgot the name!) reminded me of Cisco and it’s understanding of the importance of online networks, not just at a technical level but at a strategic business level. It seems that Cisco’s vision has deepened with experience, and the concept of Networked Economy taking over from the Information Economy is being discussed.

Adapting to the age of networks  and understanding their importance is a major step in getting connected within an organisation and assisting in the process and execution of role. The enterprise network, social business, social intranet – whatever we wish to call it – is where the internal digital platforms we see most success. There was a time when content, documents, files were loaded onto an intranet and complex ways were devised around how this was pushed to the user. Now the user has little time or patience to read a document that is shoved into their digital space. What they need to do is to be able to connect and form networks and relationship and extract value from these.

I’m increasingly falling in love with Klout – www.klout.com – and tools like this which will be the next generation of tool that start to add meaning and value to the networks that are being created by tools such as Yammer. The need to identity influencers is paramount within any network and it’s logical that once networks are accepted as adding value we need tools to measure this value – and people to begin nurturing and training how to use and form these networks.

One area that I am keen to develop is a global digital academy for my organisation, that will enhance the skill sets of participants within this space. This should not just focus on Sharepoint but transferrable skills around key online disciplines such as building senior sponsorship; engaging with key areas of the business; delivering services; search and people finding; governance and policy; collaboration; monitoring and metrics; and Intranet team and Intranet Manager role.

Wrapped up into physical, virtual and social training spaces I see this as a valuable addition to increasing the effectiveness of portal participants. We not only need to address how to manage a technology or a database sitting behind a firewall. The digital workspace is changing and the skill set required for those involved in the space must also need to change. Your intranet / portal space needs to feel in control. But we don't need to feel in control. Our audience needs to feel in control. The world of online management is shifting. More and more online teams are realizing that site management is about continuously improving a relatively small number of pages, not administering large quantities of content.

Of course, the ultimate goal is not managing the content itself, but rather managing your users top tasks and relationships. Content will support top task and relationship completion.

Do you follow @SocialSteve?  Interesting piece tweeted on Monday (18th October):

http://www.coolum-news.com.au/story/2010/10/18/10-next-social-media-trends/

Good point for me with this article is the RIP with the mircosite becoming a thing of the past. I would take it even further. In a few years time I see the traditional professional services corporate website becoming an obsolete platform (with the exception of Graduate and recruitment areas which I would consider transactional based). Rather than waste budget and resource publishing brochure ware and thought leadership pieces in a dark corner of the web, and then spend budget in asking people to find it, the corporate content will be taken to areas where the audience already exists, such as forums and influencers. It starts to mirror the way web consumers are now beginning to aggregate content, by numerous apps and from different areas of the digital world. The real corporate website will no longer be a collection of html pages and a few flash files contained within a database. Maybe in a few years time the app store, Linkedin, twitter and whatever aggregate or location based platforms are available is where a user will go to find the content, people and thought leadership. It is a very different approach for Marketing and web teams will have to change the skills and disciplines they now have. No longer looking after a database product but nuturing and influencing content in areas where people gather.

While presenting at the Pivot Conference, Scott Brinker, president and CTO of ion interactive, explained why he believes organizations should take the next step toward digital proficiency by fostering a new breed of executives — the chief marketing technologist. It got me pondering on the new structures organizations need as various functions and technologies are becoming increasingly intertwined and extend not only to, but beyond, the firewall. In many organizations departments have traditionally selected someone who knew a little about technology to be the main contact with IT. The same approached happened with functions such as Knowledge, Marketing, Training etc. Now we require top-of-the-line technologists within departments, who are dually knowledgeable in both their specialist discipline and technology to really understand the way the digital environment works. It’s an area where intranet teams have led the way, being early adopters of merging business needs with the possibilities of the digital environment. As the digital world moves on the disciplines and roles of intranet teams will change. From the early days of intranets (we could trace this back to 1989 is we look at some of the early IBM work) the role of the intranet team has been based around the development, governance and maintenance of a database (or database apps). As intranets move away from the firewall the skill sets change. I believe we are looking more towards managing a users experience with content and relationships, in numerous areas, rather than managing a database that a user engages with. The softer nurturing skills will become more valuable, rather than development and design. Most organizations may be some years away from this model but times are changing and intranet team skill sets will change with them.