According to a study [pdf] done by the Sand Hill Group and Neochange, the most critical factor (70% listed it as number 1) for software success and return-on-investment is effective user adoption.

Software functionality came in at 1% surprisingly, with organization change at 16% and process alignment at 13%.

“You can have the best software in the world, with the most sophisticated features, analytics and integration, blah blah blah - but if people don’t use it, it isn’t going to add value. I can’t tell you how many RFPs and software selection processes I’ve been involved with in prior lives that focus almost exclusively on tiny little features that few people will ever use. This study shows that focusing so much on features is missing the boat entirely.”

Read more at ReadWriteWeb…

“At some point every few years (or every year in some cases) organisations decide that the most effective way to improve productivity or profits is to reduce expenditures.

Intranets are a common target of cost cutting, either by delaying improvements to infrastructure, cancelling new functionality, reducing author training or cutting intranet staff numbers.

In some cases these decisions are justified, however with intranets often lacking high-level representation and sponsorship, there are cases where these cuts have serious negative impacts on the entire organisation.

So are there ways to position an intranet to avoid damaging cost cuts, and even increase the budget to the area in order to generate savings elsewhere?”

Read more at eGov AU…

This short conversation between a division leader within a Fortune 500 Company and a consultant is a must-read for everyone who’s interested in social networking for the enterprise! Actually, I experienced exactly the same situation not so long ago. The wording was different but the content and the idea were identical.

“… there isn’t one company yet there is one brand. All the companies serve the customer but never in a coordinated fashion rather a splintered effort. The customer doesn’t know who is in charge of what but when dissatisfied with overall service they simply distrust the company while you say it isn’t your fault.”

The sum of social networking + social knowledge management + social watch + collaborative innovation is what we, at b-spirit, call social intelligence in the enterprise. It happens inside the company, across business units, divisions and departments, across the orgchart and regardless of the hierarchy; simultaneously it establishes crosslinks outside of the company with customers, prospects, partners, subcontractors, media organisations, even competitors.

Most companies still go for the internal and siloed approach, restricted to one department or unit. They still do not understand (or at least they pretend to) that such closed projects in closed groups are most likely to fail simply because they will be superseded, sooner or later, by larger and more global initiatives. Problem is: the loss of time and efficiency is often proportional to the loss of customers.