my ifridge

I have moved!

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Sat, 30 Oct 2010 23:10:00 +0000

My new blog home is now at the ifridge & Company website

WHY !?

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Tue, 27 Jul 2010 08:28:00 +0000

When my kids reached the age of about three or four they started to ask us WHY. In the beginning it was about the basic things in our daily life, later they expanded it in almost every direction, and by the time they hit puberty they started questioning everything and everybody. As parents they often drive us crazy but we know for our kids this is the ultimate and most intense development and learning experience.

Most people outgrow this phase and become contributors to society as bankers, taxi drivers or sales people. Their relationship to the WHY develops to a commentary position in which they observe and comment but have no intention to actually answer the WHY. The most prominent demonstration of this are the millions of fans that comment on every move of their favorite sports team – like being the coach – while never actually participating.

Others continue their quest for answers and develop a very passionate relationship to the WHY. While they sometimes struggle, they often find their own personal mission as they join a humanitarian or even spiritual cause and become nurses, firefighters, teachers or religious leaders. Those demonstrate to us what an amazing power is unleashed when life has a purpose around defining and answering the WHY.

Finally there is a group of people that transition the ability to ask for WHY into their professional lives by developing a mission not just for themselves but for their teams or co-workers. Those people usually become scientists, adventurers or entrepreneurs. The ability to align all of their passion, energy and intellectual power behind one – their own – cause, makes them unique and provides a key ingredient to greatness.

Unfortunately greatness in business is not always appreciated, especially when it meets bureaucracy. “Because excellence isn’t usually what gets you up the greasy pole. What gets you up is a talent for maneuvering.” (William Deresiewicz). In order for greatness to succeed a lot of maneuvering and HOW expertise is needed -- for example, to secure funding, to find the right people, to get all the infrastructure in place, and last but not least to keep things running.

Much too often the Vision and Mission exist only in the head of the founder or even worse is a well polished assembly of marketing words. Building them is hard work and in my experience a great investment with a phenomenal return on that investment. But in order to prevent bureaucracy (structure, environment, circumstances) to dictate what to do, what to think, and what to believe, we need to be able to explain our Vision and Mission - our WHY. Only with that we can rally the people behind our WHY and get them excited to work on WHAT is required to succeed.

So anytime you ask yourself WHAT is the next step for you .... don’t!

Ask WHY.

This post was inspired by Simon Sinek's speach on TED:

Meet me at CeBIT

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 17:39:00 +0000

Es ist mal wieder Zeit für die CeBIT und natürlich ist ifridge & Company ebenfalls vertreten. Gemeinsam mit unserem Partner netmedia stellen wir den Social Workplace - den Arbeitsplatz der Zukunft - vor.

Hierbei gehen wir der Frage nach wie man Enterprise 2.0 in den Unternehmensalltag integrieren kann. Neben den technischen Möglichkeiten geht es auch um die richtige Strategie, die Einbindung in die Prozesse und die richtige Abwägung der Risiken.

Darüber hinaus moderieren wir zwei sehr interessante Sessions zum Thema:

Social Messaging & Collaboration
5. März 2010, Halle 6, 11.40 Uhr

Flexiblere Informations- und Kollaborationsformen sind wichtige Elemente des "Enterprise 2.0"-Ansatzes. In der Praxis geht es dabei um öffentliche bzw. im Unternehmen öffentliche Kurznachrichten-Dienste a la Twitter (auch als Social Messaging-Lösungen bezeichnet) und anderen Social Software-Ansätzen, die die Kommunikation, Kooperation und Koordination unterstützen. Als wichtige Herausforderung dieser neuen Groupware-Ansätze ist der Aspekt der Strukturierung und Entwicklung des entlang der von diesen Systemen unterstützen Zusammenarbeit generierten Wissens zu diskutieren.
Auf dem Panel sollen die verschiedenen Ansätze und die besonderen Herausforderungen dieses Konzeptes in der Praxis anhand mehrerer Erfahrungsberichte und Lösungswege diskutiert werden.

Social CRM - Kundenvertrieb & Service 2.0

5. März 2010, Halle 6, 13.50 Uhr

Die Einbindung der sozialen Medien und Netzwerke in die Prozesse des Kundenmanagement - sei es für den Vertrieb oder den Service - das ist die Idee von "Social CRM" und bietet den Ausgangspunkt für eine Reihe von neuen Anwendungen und Servicelösungen. Dabei stehen derzeit sicherlich noch zwei gegensätzliche Zielsetzungen im Raum: aus vertrieblicher Sicht soll durch die Anreicherung der Kundendaten mit den Diskussionsbeiträgen, Meinungen und sonstigen Profildaten der Kunden der Kunde transparenter und besser "verständlich" gemacht werden. Aus der Service-Sicht sollen Dienste wie GetStatisfaction.com oder BrandsListen.com das Feedback der Kunden frühzeitig kanalisieren, einen Selbsthilfeprozess initieren und Impulse in Richtung eines offenen Geschäftsmodells geben.
Das Panel "Social CRM - Kundenvertrieb & Service 2.0" diskutiert diese zwei durchaus widersprüchlichen Ansätze und ihr Potentiale sowie Herausforderungen.

Mehr Hintergründe zum Enterprise 2.0 und Social Media, insbesondere Details zu

Social Workplace - dem Arbeitsplatz der Zukunft
Social Business Design, d.h. die Einbindung der Möglichkeiten im Enterprise 2.0 in die Prozesse des Unternehmens und dem
Reputation Management welches sicherstellt, dass sich die Dialoge sowohl inhaltlich als auch vom Stil im angemessenen Rahmen halten (Thema Risiko Management)

gibt es hier im Enterprise 2.0 Special von netmedia sowie in nachfolgender Präsentation.

Enterprise 2.0 Alltagstauglich on Prezi

Alltagstaugliches Enterprise 2.0

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 11:26:00 +0000

Es gibt so Tage, die es in sich haben. Der heutige begann mit einer SMS von Lufthansa: Ihr Flug wurde leider annuliert! Grundsätzlich war damit zu rechnen, aber nachdem am Abend der Flug noch bestätigt wurde, war die SMS um 5 Uhr etwas überraschend. Aber wenn man von etwas begeistert ist, gibt es auch einen Weg und so kamen wir über Hannover und viel Diplomatie doch noch zu Open Text Web Solutions Group User Group. Airberlin sei Dank.

Menschen, Prozesse, Sicherheit

Wenn es um Social Media geht, ist immer noch eine grosse Unsicherheit zu spüren. Die folgende Präsentation schafft einen Überblick wie man das Thema in den Unternehmensalltag einbinden kann - sowohl strategisch als auch pragmatisch operativ.

Enterprise 2.0 Alltagstauglich on Prezi

Der Start ist einfach

Tobias Mitter von netmedia präsentiert spannende Anwendungsfälle zum Unternehmenseinsatz. Insbesondere stellt er dabei in Demos vor, wie man verschiedene Systeme zum Nutzen der Mitarbeiter integriert.

Inhouse Twitter auf Basis von Open Text und Yammer.

Volle "Wall" analog Facebook aber sicher und intern
Aufbau von Experten Profilen
Integration von allen Inhalten (Dokumente, Bilder, etc)
Einbeziehung bestehender Investitionen (RedDot, Open Text)

Echtzeit Kundensupport auf Basis von Open Text und Google Wave

Direkter Dialog zwischen Kunde und Mitarbeiter
Single sign-on für den Mitarbeiter
Steigerung der Kundenzufriedenheit
Aufbau einer Knowledge Base oder FAQ

Hierzu empfehle ich einen Blick auf das netmedia Enterprise 2.0 Special! Mehr dazu in der Präsentation von Tobias Mitter:

Enterprise 2.0 - Anwendungsfälle im Social Workplace (OTWSUG 2010)

View more presentations from netmedianer GmbH.

Online Marketing

Boris Crismancich von CYBERhouse präsentierte die Integration von verschiedenen Publizierungspotentialen in das Content Management, wie z.B. Twitter oder Flickr sowie einen Ansatz von Social Analytics, der sich nahtlos in den Begriff des Reputation Management der Strategiepräsentation integriert. Einen Link zur CYBERhouse Präsentation wird es demnächst auf der User Group Seite geben.

Open Text setzt strategisch auf Enterprise 2.0

Lars Onasch stellte klar, das Open Text strategisch hinter dem Enterprise 2.0 steht und sein Portfolio entsprechend ausrichtet. Trotz anfänglicher Unsicherheiten setzt die Firma nun eindeutig auf die Social Media Komponenten aus der Vignette Übernahme. Spannend war auch der Vortrag von Bernfried Howe und Martin Schwanke, die die technische Architektur der Social Media von Open Text präsentierten. Die erfrischend offene Darstellung der verschiedenen Optionen von RedDot über Vignette verschaffte einen guten technischen Überlick. Besonderes Interesse weckte die Integration zwischen den verschiedenen Produktwelten, die es erlauben, auch bestehende Investitionen aufzusetzen. Nach Wochen der Unsicherheit dürfte das bei Kunden für etwas Ruhe und Sicherheit sorgen.

Enterprise 2.0 bleibt spannend

Die Kernaussage der Veranstaltung ist ganz klar, dass Enterprise 2.0 seinen Einzug in den Unternehmensalltag fortsetzen wird. Mit richtigen Anwendungsbeispielen und einer klaren Zieldefinition lassen sich bereits heute beachtliche Mehrwerte für die Wertschöpfung der Organisationen erzielen.

Maps meets Picture meets Video and flys to the Moon

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:22:00 +0000

If you like Google maps, you're going to love this presentation! Presented at the recent TED event in Long Beach. Blaise Aguera y Arcas demos new augmented-reality mapping technology from Microsoft. It's not so much about the feature but the actual demo he gives that I like. You can see the fun the team has building those new tools.

What do you think, is that good enough to defeat Google? Check out the TED page to see what happens if the old dinosaur Microsoft is doing something that looks cooler than the web darling Google.

Coke says: Fans First

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 09:29:00 +0000

Short follow-up on last weeks iStrategy event in Berlin about Social Media and Enterprise 2.0. The Coca Cola Company presented their view on social media with some interesting statements.

Social Media Management is a tactic ... not a strategy? While I agree that once established it's used on a tactical level but given the recent move by Pepsi to shift their investment towards social media, I am sure the Coca Cola people have some strategic angle to it.

Keep it simple: Spot on! Usability is a key element of todays "technologized" world. When you listen to the comments about the Apple iPad you hear a lot of noise about what is missing from the iPad. Who cares? I am very certain the iPad is going to be a great success because it is simple and fun ... just like social media should be.

Always work with the pros. I am sure the advisors love that statement :-) and there have been some good ones at the event (see my comment about Ogilvy). But I have to agree with that statement from own experiences. When my former company entered the space some years ago, we had no idea and had to learn it the hard way. We later turned to Electric Artists and netmedia and got things done.

There are many more good ideas from the Coca Cola people, check the full presentation below. You might also see Geert Bestens' perspective.

Coke's 'fans first' approach in social communities

View more presentations from iStrategy.

iStrategy - Some Feedback

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:30:00 +0000

Just on the way home from the iStrategy event in Berlin about Enterprise 2.0 and Social Media - sharing some of my observations. Overall a good event with real companies presenting real projects. And an international event, over lunch our table had eight people from seven countries.

Is it just marketing?

The audience seemed to be focused a lot on marketing. While the agenda was somewhat guiding towards this, it was interesting to see that the business impact of social media is still considered a new way of outbound communication and marketing. Making your customers a "partner in crime" is a great approach but if your team is not embracing it internally you'll not be able to execute on all the wonderful feedback you get from the market. It somehow feels like 1999 … "I need a website!" … "Why?" … "Because!" Another interesting quote from the team at Coca Cola: "Social media management is a tactic, not a strategy"... not sure I can agree with that.

We are on the way

A refreshing openness was presented when Nicole Yershon and Alex Mecklenburg explored a mixture of an internal case study and an Ogilvy marketing pitch. An agency admitting to have not much of a clue but working hard to change was encouraging to see. Cases included the Ford Fiesta Movement and the Japan's soccer "kick" machine from Castrol. Nicole shared some ideas about the Ogilvy Lab and her challenge to get middle management to embrace social media. I think the firm is on a good path, definitely a team to consider if you aim for the marketing side of 2.0 (and have the budget for it).

"We are all in the cloud ...

... at least 76% use >1 cloud service today and 90% plan to in 2010". A session by Microsoft turned into a discussion about cloud computing. While everybody in the room was willing to do "cloud banking" (online banking), many had reservations to trust their data to the cloud. Talking about what trigger event would change this and when, didn't reveal a clear answer but the terms 'trust' and 'over time' came up multiple times. Personally I got the impression that the word "cloud" is not helping, once called by it's solution name like online banking, sales management or partner portal the acceptance level rises.

Meet the Boss

Lars Hilse was the *Boss* we were invited to meet. He did a great job answering all sorts of questions and it turned out that he knows a great deal about the subject. Craig Hepburn covered more of this session.

We need more "how"

Speaking with some high profile companies at the event unveiled the need for a shift from "what" to "how". Everybody was willing to do something, most even had an idea where to start but many struggle with the "how", especially the "how to get my management on board". And this brings me back to the beginning … approaching it from a marketing perspective is falling short.

If you're a CEO and want to succeed with social media, you need to believe in it. Signing off the budget is not enough, take some time to really understand it … you'll learn that it has much to offer. And don't let anybody make you believe you're late ... it didn't even really start, yet.

PS: What is with the fish tank? … The hotel had this gorgeous fish tank in the center of the hotel and I couldn't help but to compare it with the state of the industry. We all believe to be so important, being the big fish in the sea … but we have a long way to go. Today social media is nothing more but a preview of what is coming … like the little fish in fish tank makes you dream about the ocean.

Posted via email from my ifridge

Social Media im Unternehmenseinsatz

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:07:00 +0000

Die einen können es nicht mehr hören, und die anderen wollen es nicht wahrhaben: Social Media oder Enterprise 2.0 steht in der Tür ... auch in Deutschland. Was mich in den Dialogen immer wieder überrascht ist wie wenig Bezug bei der Diskussion zum echten Geschäftseinsatz genommen wird. Natürlich sind Begriffe wie Facebook oder YouTube spannender als Mitarbeitermotivation oder Reputationsmanagement. Aber jeder, der mal ein Unternehmen geleitet hat weiß, dass es den leichten Weg nicht gibt.

Der Social Workplace

Ein Thema, das mich bereits seit vielen Jahren fesselt, lässt sich am besten mit dem Begriff Social Workplace beschreiben. Damit gemeint ist die persönliche (daher soziale) Interaktion (Dialog) am Arbeitsplatz, und wie man dieses überaus wichtige Thema in die digitale Welt überführen kann.
Dieser persönliche Dialog bei einem Kaffee im Büro oder die kleinen Kommentare während einer Präsentation auf einer Konferenz sind es, die eine Bindung entstehen lassen. Und genau dieses Netzwerk an Bindungen ist es, auf das wir jeden Tag zurückgreifen, wenn wir etwas bewegen, erledigen oder verstehen wollen.

Man sollte dabei nicht den Fehler machen, das als "Klönen" abzutun. Das gehört auch dazu, aber viele Menschen begegnen sich kaum noch persönlich, sondern sind auf andere Kommunikationswege angewiesen, und genau hier greift das "Social" im "Workplace". Reisen sind teuer, oft unproduktiv und lassen sich nicht so spontan einrichten. Daher muss es unsere Aufgabe sein, diesen Dialog digital abzubilden.

Ansätze für den Unternehmensalltag

Genau hier setzt die Idee des Social Workplace an! Wie schaffen wir Möglichkeiten zum Dialog für die Menschen in unserer Firma, die miteinander reden sollten, sich vielleicht aber gar nicht kennen oder bisher keinen Ansatz gefunden haben, in Kontakt zu treten? Hier hilft ein Grundinstinkt des Menschen : die Neugierde. Menschen möchten gerne wissen, was um sie herum geschieht. Jeder, der länger in einem Unternehmen ist, kennt die verschiedenen inoffiziellen Kommunikationskanäle.

Der Ansatz des Social Workplace schafft ein offenes Umfeld mit direktem Zugang zu allen relevanten Informationen. Aber er geht noch einen Schritt weiter und fördert den Dialog über genau diese Informationen. Wobei wir hier nicht den Fehler machen sollten und Informationen zu eng zu definieren. Auch die Ergebnisse der Betriebssportmannschaften, der Gewinn eines großen Auftrages oder Umbaumassnahmen in der Fertigung sind Informationen, die wichtig sind und über die ohnehin jeder im Unternehmen spricht, nun eben auch digital.

Strategie: Top-Down oder Bottom-Up

Immer wieder stellt man mir die Frage, wie wir damit anfangen sollten. Zentral von Seiten des Management oder aus den Abteilungen von unten nach oben. Die Anwort ist so einfach wie unbefriedigend: es kommt darauf an. Jedes Unternehmen hat seine eigene Kultur, und keine noch so gut durchdachte Idee kann dies ignorieren. Daher ist es so wichtig, dass man sich mit dem Thema strategisch befasst und nicht nur darüber nachdenkt, welche Tools wie Wikis oder Blogs man einsetzen soll.

Hier muss ich allerdings anmerken, dass mein Ansatz davon ausgeht, dass ein Unternehmen es wirklich ernst meint. "Einfach mal ausprobieren" ist zwar ein beliebter Rat unter Social-Media-Gurus, und ich habe das anfangs auch so vertreten, aber wir können ein so grundlegendes Thema nicht dem Zufall überlassen oder gar der IT. Meine Meinung hierzu ist mittlerweile sehr eindeutig: nicht jeder muss das machen, aber wenn, dann richtig. Falls man unsicher ist, sollte man einfach externe Hilfe in Anspruch nehmen.

Von oben, aber nicht von oben herab

Eine Sache liegt mir allerdings noch am Herzen. Dialoge erfordern Vertrauen. Wir kennen es aus dem Alltag, erst wenn man sich etwas vertrauter wird, tauscht man auch mal etwas persönliches aus. Gleiches gilt im Unternehmensalltag, erst wenn man sich sicher ist, dass die Idee, der Kommentar oder das Feedback ernst genommen wird, entsteht eine Kultur des Dialoges. Daher ist es wichtig, dass "die da oben" auch mitmachen.

Genauso wichtig ist es, dass im Dialog zunächst die Hierachien keine Rolle spielen dürfen. Wohl gemerkt im Dialog. Wenn es an die Entscheidungen geht, ist es immer noch unsere Aufgabe als Manager die Entscheidungen zu treffen und dafür auch einzustehen. Auch wenn immer von der Demokratisierung gesprochen wird, einer muss sagen, wo es lang geht. Das werden die Puristen im Social Media nicht gerne hören, aber in der Regel haben die auch noch keine ihrer Empfehlungen im Unternehmensalltag umsetzen müssen. Der große Unterschied für Manager liegt nun darin, zunächst zu moderieren, dann zu entscheiden und auch zu begeistern.

Präsentation: Alltagstauglichen Enterprise 2.0 im Rahmen einer gemeinsamen Veranstaltung mit netmedia und Open Text:

Alltagstaugliches Enterprise 2 0 Public

View more presentations from netmedianer GmbH.

More (i)fridges

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 15:49:00 +0000

Thanks for your encouraging support on the launch of our new website last week. While we're still working on some features, we'd be happy to get your feedback. Let us know what you like, let us know what we should improve or add. We are definitely committed to deliver on the original idea of the ifridge.

In fact parts of the site are already inspired by your feedback. Some days ago we asked our followers on Twitter to provide feedback about the ifridge concept and to submit your favorite (i)fridge picture. The feedback was overwhelming and here is a selection of what you have provided:

ifridge with Character

View more presentations from ifridge & Company.

In addition to those great pictures we received tons of great feedback, comments and retweets. Some got inspired and some others even shared very personal blog posts. We really appreciate all your participation.

Finally let me thank the team of netmedia for their amazing support, strategy and execution in putting www.ifridge.com online. Great to have you on board.

Great People can Change the World

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 19:03:00 +0000

No worries, I am not going sentimental but when you start a new adventure you need to say something, right? In fact the header might not say anything to you but it means a lot to me.

I recall a conversation I had about two years ago, we were about to launch a new program and I had to internally recruit some people to join me on that. I had nothing to offer, no raise, no promotion, not even a real budget, just my commitment that this is going to be a ride they'll never forget. And believe it or not but we gathered a group of people that truly changed the world - for me.

The project ultimately failed, not because we didn't believe in it but maybe because we didn't fully execute on our beliefs. But I now know for a fact that great people can change the world and the dialogues with our customers proves that every day. Many of the team members at the time embarked to new adventures. One became a CMO and social media guru, another one started his own business and one became co-founder with me at ifridge & Company.

Working with great people on exciting projects is a real privilege and and we therefore made it the core mission of our new adventure at ifridge & Company ... excited to work with people that are ready to execute on their beliefs.

Picture: Cultphotos. Stay tuned for more great pictures.

Social Media Birthday Statistics

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 00:07:00 +0000

First of all, thanks for all the birthday wishes so many expressed yesterday (Central European Time). As you know, that entire social media phenomenon has been my passion for a long time now and it therefore was just time for my very own Social Media Birthday Statistics :-)

The most interesting result is that more than two thirds of the people reached out via some sort of social media platform. For those who participated in the recent Social Media Workshops in Germany and Canada this might be an interesting exercise to see the network effect of your online profile and your networking activities.

Thanks everybody for participating in this real life social media exercise. I wish you all a wonderful Christmas time or holiday season!

PS: I am also very proud to present this Social Media Birthday Statistics 100% software free. The blog is based on Blogger, the spreadsheet is based on Google Docs, the graphic is an embedded graph including real-time updates.

Listen, Learn & Execute

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 23:45:00 +0000

Inspired by the Blog Mother we hosted our first Social Media Workshop. Over some cups of coffee we went on a journey through the universe of LinkedIn, XING, Facebook and Twitter, and all the other little tools to manage your digital identity.

The group consisted of developers and QA engineers, product managers and even a VP. While we all agreed on the need on the need for a digital identity, we discovered some key findings.

Keep it Simple: you might impress your co-workers with your perfect worded online profile and all the fantastic buzz words you copied from your company's marketing message. But keep in mind, that most of the people that read your profile have no clue what eDiscovery in a 2.0 World means.
Build it Early: it is never to early to build your network. Working in a 70 people R&D team but having only 40 "connections" is not a good ratio. Just keep in mind: the others also want to connect.
Be Yourself: Online is not a different planet, it is just a different format. So be yourself: online and offline, paper and digital. The greatest chance to succeed is to be consistent and authentic.

During the discussion we also learned that there are different maturity levels, both for people as well as organizations. While some of us have incorporated the digital world into their life, most of you still try to find your way around. There is nothing to worry about, you're still the majority and there is plenty of opportunity to discover the great opportunities out there. As a little guidance we came up with the following three steps into the digital economy:

Listen: there is no need to say anything if you feel there is nothing to say. Simply keep a finger on the pulse. Listen to what your industry people have to say. Turn on your Twitter search, screen the groups and forums and make sure you know what's going on.
Learn: "Good Artists Borrow, Great Artists Steal" ... look around. Do you like an idea how somebody crafted his/her profile? Let them inspire you, there is nothing wrong in learning from others.
Execute: Make sure you're take this last step! Once you understand how things are working in your community it is time to step up and make yourself visible.

Thanks everybody for your contributing to the lively conversations. Social Media might change it's name again but the concept is here to stay. Make the most of the new opportunities and don't be shy to connect!

Social Media Workshop oder 'Jobs für Alle'

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 20:27:00 +0000

Es ist schon eine interessante Situation, dass jeder mit jedem im Social Web (Facebook, LinkedIn, XING) verbunden ist, aber wenn es darum geht das Ganze zu seinen Gunsten zu nutzen sind wir oft recht einfallslos.

Besonders wenn es darum geht einen Job zu finden, seine Chancen auf einen Job zu erhöhen oder unsere Qualifikationen ins rechte Licht zu rücken, können die neuen Ideen sehr hilfreich sein.

Um meinen Anteil zu tragen lade ich Euch zu einem kleinen - kostenfreien - Workshop ein. Ein erster Workshop fand bereits sehr erfolgreich in Toronto statt. Und nun kommen wir nach Deutschland:

Wir treffen uns am kommenden Montag (14. Dez) um 18.00 Uhr im Vapiano in Oldenburg. Freunde des RedDot sind ausdrücklich willkommen aber keine Bedingung! Bitte gebt mir kurzes Feedback per Twitter @danielkraft oder schickt mir eine Nachricht per Facebook, XING oder LinkedIn.

Bloom Democratized

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 23:31:00 +0000

Not too long ago a small group of people started a project to take the corporate memory social. Among many ideas our goal was to build an environment that allows for the corporate memory, represented by the combined knowledge of the people, to be general available in the organization using approaches we learnt from the social media movement. Some may recall the term Bloom.

Today I was reading an interesting little blog post from one of the thinkers behind the Bloom idea. Cheryl McKinnon, now CMO at Nuxeo just offered a social media 101 workshop to improve the professional online profiles of those that have been hit be the recent restructuring or are simply interested to learn more about their ID in a digital economy.

While this may not make much sense to those that haven't been part of the original dialogues, but I am just fascinated how the spirit of Bloom isn't quitting. It looks that we were right in the first place but our thinking was too narrow. A dream can never fit in a repository.

I'd like to offer my support to what Cheryl has started. Did you believe in our idea, than I believe in you and I'd like to make the investment in your digital future. Would you like to learn about the digital economy, you have a profile to review, a blog to link to, an idea you'd like to talk about? Go visit Cheryl at the event or find my online.

For those that need local support: I am at Vapiano in Oldenburg on Monday Dec 14 from 6-8pm. Just post a comment on this blog or Tweet @DanielKraft so I know what to expect.

RedDot is back!

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:40:00 +0000

Not too long ago we had to say good bye to one of our dearest friends. While it appeared, at the time, that the RedDot has embarked on his last journey, we might just witnessed once again the wisdom of one of the greatest web visionaries of all times.

Chatter - Social Media for the Enterprise

In his key note address at Dreamforce this week, salesforce.com CEO Marc Benioff introduced a new social service for the enterprise: salesforce Chatter. This new service is taking "the magic of facebook and Twitter" to the enterprise and serves as the foundation of the company's latest cloud service: the collaboration cloud.

While many vendors have introduced new social services this comes from a player that has a proven track record in changing an entire industry. salesforce.com is making this new service available to all of their existing customers, which makes the company the largest player in social media for the enterprise.

A Wave in the Clouds

This new service is another signal that the future of enterprise "software" is in the cloud. While many of the traditional vendors try to seed fear by claiming that social services need to be "behind the firewall", salesforce.com proofs them wrong again. More than 60,000 customers trust their most valuable information - customer data - to be stored in the cloud. Why wouldn't we trust this same vendor with our communication ... or chatter?

If you combine this latest development with the direction Google has taken with the introduction of Google Apps, Google Wave and most recently with Google Chrome OS, we might have seen that magic tipping point towards a cloud economy. Name one reason why we still need to buy software?

Inspired by our good old Friend!

You may wonder what all of that has to do with our good old friend RedDot? As mentioned earlier many believed his time was over but it appears that he is the master mind behind all that as his appearance live on stage with salesfoce.com CEO proofs. He has been an inspiration to many of us and might also played a key role in the new direction salesforce.com is taking. In fact many consider him the force behind many other new ideas and ventures. Stay tuned for more.

Surf, Dive or Die ... the Wave is coming

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 21:59:00 +0000

You most likely have been reading about Google Wave already, like Robert Scoble who finds it "Much more mentally challenging" or Louis Gray who provides a good summary what Google Wave is today: "... an opportunity to further eliminate distance ... ". I understand their points but they are too much focused on what Google Wave is today and not what it's going to be.

For me Google Wave is the biggest threat to the ECM space since the introduction of SharePoint. Google already offers a wide range of content and communication related services like Google Docs, GMail, Google Analytics and with Wave now also a collaborative and social (net)working environment. But more important those are real web services ... no software, no investment, no budget. You don't believe me? Imagine this:

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. May 19, 2010 - Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) and Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) today announced that they have entered into a definitive agreement pursuant to which Salesforce.com will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Google.

That puts an interesting perspective on the topic, isn't it? And it underlines my point from last month's conversation about innovation in the WCM space: It's over, isn't it? I actually agree with some of the comments made there (standards, usability, etc) but it is not even close to innovation, especially in light of above's scenario.

In know, Google Wave is far from being ready but so was (is?) SharePoint. Do you recall the introduction of SharePoint? You could find hundreds of comments, blogs and news about how bad it is and still, it is the #1 content infrastructure. Imagine now Google and Salesforce.com presenting a web-leadgeneration-collaboration-social-content-mail-contact-network-service for 1$ per user ... would you still pay 250k for a single system, when you can have it all for 1$ ... ?

The one thing that keeps Google out of the enterprise is trust but if they combine their ability to innovate with Marc Benioff's ability to sell ... you remember what happened to Siebel? As a vendor you have two options: Ride the wave: see what NewsGator is doing with SharePoint or Dive deep like Open Text does with SharePoint and SAP by providing back-office infrastructure to a front-office offering.

So what are you up for: Surfing or diving or ...

PS: Never heard of Google Wave? See this two minute summary:

It's over, isn't it?

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:39:00 +0000

Every time a software company gets acquired the relevant community starts spinning. Employees fear for their jobs, customers are concerned about their projects, analysts write another paper and of course the competition has a field day. The recent acquisition of Vignette by Open Text has been no different. Of course Open Text needs to reduce head count since Vignette has been reporting losses since before the term WCM was even invented. Everybody that followed Tom Jenkins and John Shackleton over the years knows that burning cash is not an option. But before you bitch about it: 2.2 billion in market cap suggest they doing something right...

When we talk about the products the situation seems complicated. But unlike many "experts" believe, the actual product is not really the issue. If customers would buy software from a startup with a handful of developers, why would they be concerned if a billion dollar company maintains a handful of those developers to keep the product alive? Do you know of any customer of Gauss or Obtree that was forced to migrate to RedDot? Face it: every player is going to get acquired at some time and keeping a product alive keeps the maintenance revenue consistent.

Don't get me wrong, just maintaining a product is always easier (and cheaper) than to innovate. But we also need to admit that the WCM market hasn’t innovated for a long time. What actually happens is that as the products mature and become more stable they work better within the orchestra of tools we need to run a business. But real innovation is not happening. And just to be perfectly clear, social media doesn't count. The fundamentals have been invented 15 years ago and it doesn't count as innovation just because we call it "social" instead of "collaboration" adding some AJAX and better usability. In the auto industry they call that a facelift. Ask your vendor about the top 3 minds behind their social media product and I am sure you'll find 2 of 3 being a collaboration or communication veteran.

But there is something with this deal, which is different. It's the last big one! Believe it or not, there are no more fighters for the greater good in that market; no more idealists that are on a mission. Over are the days when Vignette and Interwoven outsmarted each other to charge a million $ for a website, over are the days of RedDot kicking both their asses :-) Do you even remember Stellent? What is left is a long list of small or smaller companies. Believe me, many are decent businesses run by good managers but still: it is time to exit my friends.

Vendors have two options. Focus on a niche market and sell later or sell the business now. I am happy to discuss my logic behind that but if you follow me for a moment, that leaves two options for customers - either buy from a big player and get an 80/20 solution or buy from a smaller, more focused player and deal with them being acquired sooner or later. Both options come with pain and your decision depends on how mature you think WCM truly is.

So is it over?

Enterprise 2.0 / Make Love not War

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 14:23:00 +0000

I enjoyed some great days in Boston this week, visiting the Enterprise 2.0 conference and gaining new perpectives on strategy at MIT Sloan.

At the E2.0 conference it seemed that Social Media has entered the main stream. Big sponsors includes IBM, Microsoft, EMC, Novell, SAP ... so basically the who-is-who of corporate IT. While not much progress has been made on the product front since last year's event I was very pleased to see my friends at Open Text release their Social Media offering. You may recall that this was originally presented as part of the overall Bloom vision.

What I found most interesting about the E2.0 show this year was not what was presented but what was missing: Customer Focus & Strategy. With the economy down and budgets tight, you would have expected everybody to be 100% focussed on the customer, with clear use cases, easy to implement solutions and a solid strategy how to not just implement a piece of software (or to turn on a service) but how to achieve real results. But interestingly the focus was again entirely on products. Sure we need good products but I have to agree with Craig Hepburn from Open Text that we need "more education and understanding".

This brings me to my second stop, which was just across the river in Cambridge. I had two exciting days with Professor Arnoldo Hax from MIT Sloan. In his executive training session "Reinventing Your Business Strategy" he presents a remarkably simple and compelling strategy model (the Delta Model) that puts the customer in the center of the strategy. Instead of fighting your competition (war) you should care about your customer (love).

I wish that concept would also be applied to by all stakeholders in Social Media: focus on the customer, care so much about them, that you even base your strategy on that. I strongly believe that Social Media will have a major (and positiv) impact on the way we do business. The Social Workplace and the Social Marketplace are going to be a reality very soon. But in order to be successful we need put the customers and their needs in the centre of our thinking.

It’s all about people – it’s all about You!

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 22:13:00 +0000

Everybody can change the Web

This was the RedDot tag line many years before the term Web 2.0 was created. We started in a time when the Web was only for those with technical skills or deep pockets. And now we see a world where the people manage the experience and the best Web initiatives are truly social. You have achieved this!

Time to Bloom

Most recently I have been driving what I believe to be the most strategic initiative an ECM company could consider. I worked with an amazing team and learned a tremendous amount about not only breaking new ground but this fascinating momentum we have in the Social Web. Bloom is a movement I truly believe in, I see the world Blooming – growing in ways I was only dreaming for when I started in the Web space so many years ago. It is up to You now to deliver on that dream.

I believe!

The first day I set foot in this company I knew this was going to be different. The people did not work here, they believed in it. Believed in our product, believed in our mission … and after many successful battles believed in me. I will always remember this trust and believe, as it was the most rewarding experience in my entire professional career. It was You that turned me into a believer.

Thank You

I was privileged to work with some of the greatest people I have ever met. It was a pleasure to work with you every day. It was an honor to fight with you side by side to make this business one of the greatest in the industry. I hope the team continues to prosper and finds the enthusiasm to keep our momentum moving forward but for those that know me I am sure you will also understand why I have to start this next adventure in my career.

I leave those that have been so instrumental in my career the wisdom of Yoda: "Do, or do not. There is no 'try'." … and for me, now is the time to DO.

Sicherheit & Social Networking

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 20:17:00 +0000

Das Fraunhofer Institut - Sichere Informations-Technologie hat sich mit dem Thema "Privatsphärenschutz in Soziale-Netzwerke-Platformen" beschäftigt. Auf 124 Seiten (!) kann man in derStudie alles darüber lesen warum diese Netze nicht immer den optimalen Schutz bieten.

Dabei stellt sich die Frage, ob es eine Privatsphären in Social Networks im klassischen Sinne überhaupt geben kann. Ich bin sich

er kein Vertreter der "alles offen" Philosophie aber wenn ich meine Informationen in ein öffentliches Netz stelle muss ich damit rechnen, dass diese von anderen gefunden, gesehen und verwendet wird. Hier ist allerdings auch zu beachten, dass es verschiedene Level an Sicherheitsbedürfnissen gibt und diesen jeweils Rechnung getragen werden muss.

Auf jeden Fall bietet die Studie einen guten Einblick wie Social Networks funktionieren, wie Daten erhoben und verwendet werden und wer Zugriff auf diese Informationen hat. Gerade wer sich neu mit diesen Themen auseinandersetzt, wird hier viele Informationen finden. Darüber hinaus bietet die Studie eine gute Basis für die interne Überzeugungsarbeit und den Fragen den man sich im Rahmen der Einführung einer Social Networking Infrastruktur stellen

muss.

Auch wird durch die Studie schnell klar, dass öffentliche Social Networks für den Einsatz in Organisationen nur bedingt geeignet sind. Für den "Enterprise" Nutzer finden sich gute Informationen worauf man beim Aufbau von eigenen Social Networks in Organisationen wie Firmen, Vereinen, Parteien, etc. achten sollte. Entgegen den öffentlichen Social Networks sind hier sehr viel komplexere Zusammenhänge zu beachten. Das beginnt bei simplen Zugangsberechtigungen bis hin zu rechtlichen Verpflichtungen aus dem Compliance Bereich, die ich als Organisation zu erfüllen habe.

Siehe auch Pressemeldung meiner Firma zum Thema Sicheres Web 2.0.

Siehe auch Candy & AspirinBlog (Englisch) meinerOpen Text Kollegin Cheryl McKinnon.

Artikel zum Thema:

Deutschland verpasst den Zug bei Social Networking?

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 20:23:00 +0000

Die Fazit-Unternehmensbefragung besagt, dass 64% der Unternehmen Kooperationen mit anderen Unternehmen, Hochschulen oder Forschungseinrichtungen unterhalten. Insbesondere das Thema Produktentwicklung (80%) spielt hierbei eine besondere Rolle.

Das Spannende ist, dass etwa 2/3 dieser Kooperationen auf Basis regelmäßiger informeller Treffen gepflegt werden. Das bedeutet, die Soziale Interaktion stellt eine bedeutenden Komponente in der Pflege von Kooperationen dar. Mit dem starken Fokus auf Produktentwicklung entsteht ein Bild der kommunikativen, informellen Innovation in Deutschland ...

Das erschreckende an der Studie ist allerdings, dass nur etwa 30% der Unternehmen ein Intranet betreiben (leider sind keine Angaben zu Extranets in der Umfrage enthalten). Des weiteren nutzen nur etwa 9% der Unternehmen Social Networking. Da bereits 70% der Unternehmen einen Webauftritt haben und mehr als 76% der Befragten angeben von den entsprechenden Möglichkeiten des Social Networking zu wissen, stellt sich die Frage was die Firmen zurück hält dies zu verwenden.

Diese Frage wird umso interessante, wenn man eine andere Größe hinzunimmt. Statistiken zu Facebook belegen, dass das Wachstum weiter anhält und mittlerweile die Zahl von 150 Mio. Teilnehmern überschritten wurde. Hierbei besonders spannend ist die Tatsache, dass die Altersgruppe von 35-54 Jahren mit 276% zulegte. Das ist ein weitere Anstieg der Wachstumsrate von zuletzt 172%. Gerade diese Altersgruppe stellt die Leistungsträger in vielen Unternehmen.

Fassen wir zusammen:

Firmen unterhalten Kooperationen, insbesondere in innovativen Bereichen wie der Produktentwicklung und pflegen diese vor allem durch informelle Treffen. Genau diese Firmen nutzen allerdings die neuen Möglichkeiten von informellem Informationsaustausch durch Social Networking kaum, obwohl die Kernaltersgruppe mit grossen Schritten in diese Richtung marschiert. Es bleibt abzuwarten ob dies nur eine Momentaufnahme oder eine besonders konservative Schicht der deutschen Unternehmer darstellt. Es sollte uns in jedem Fall zum Denken und dann auch zum Handeln anregen.

Hinweis: Ergebnisse beziehen sich auf die siebten FAZIT Unternehmensbefragung (Herbst/Winter 2008 von baden-württembergischen Unternehmen, landesweite Ergebnisse können abweichen. Details Verfügbar unter www.fazit-forschung.de.

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 21:25:00 +0000

Noch wenige Stunden und es geht los: CeBIT, die größte IT Messe der Welt ...

Das Team hat wieder Großartiges vorbereitet und natürlich kann man sich all die neuen Dinge (und auch eine Vorschau auf das was noch kommen wird) live auf der Messe anschauen. Siehe auch die offizielle PR.

Aber es gibt noch mehr spannendes zu berichten. Wie bereits erwähnt, haben wir unsere eigene 2.0 University eingerichtet. Das Open Text Research Centre of Digital Media unterstreicht unser Commitment zu Web 2.0 oder besser unserer Enterprise 2.0 Strategie besser bekannt unter Bloom.

Dazu passend hat heute Tom Jenkins, Chairman meiner Firma Open Text einen Artikel veröffentlicht, in dem er die Digital Revolution für Kanada fordert. Während der Artikel seine kanadischen Landsleute daran erinnert, dass die Digitale Economy in Kanada evtl. hinter den USA und Europa zurück bleiben könnte, enthält er auch einen für uns alle wichtigen Punkt:

"Today's teenagers – tomorrow's work force – are immersed in the digital world, constantly connected to friends via text messages and social websites. They will lead a cultural shift in the way people collaborate and share knowledge in the workplace, with a premium placed on openness and the free flow of information."

Ich mag besonders: "a premium placed on openness and the free flow of information." Ist das nicht der Kern der ganzen 2.0 Bewegung? Ich bin auf derCeBIT zu erreichen und freue mich auf Feedback zu unseren Ideen der Digitalen Revolution und wie wir das in unseren Alltag einbauen.

Bloom Basics February 2009

View more presentations from Daniel Kraft. (tags: enterprise text)

CeBIT & the Digital Revolution - a great day!

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:39:00 +0000

I have been working all day to prepare for CeBIT the largest global IT show starting tomorrow. We are ready to go and from what I can see it is going to be a great event. Most of what the team what has been working on will be available for you to see live on the floor. For more check-out the official PR.

But that's not all. You may have seen my earlier post about our very own 2.0 University we launched last year. The Open Text Research Centre of Digital Media underlines our commitment to the Enterprise 2.0 movement best know as Bloom.

Today Tom Jenkins, Chairman of my company Open Text has posted an article about the Digital Revolution that is over-due in Canada. While the article reminds the Canadians that the digital economy requires some action to keep pace with the US and Europe, he states something that holds true for all of us:

I especially like: "a premium placed on openness and the free flow of information." Isn't that core of the entire 2.0 wave? Let me know if you'd like to learn more about our ideas on the Digital Revolution and how we can help implement that into our daily work.

The Best Team Ever!

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 21:58:00 +0000

Many technology companies talk about the concept of “shoemaker’s children”. Well, at Open Text we to often suffer from this challenge. We have great technology (shoes) and provide amazing solutions for our customers but internally we sometimes go without shoes. This week, our team not only cobbled us a great pair of shoes but exemplified what team work and imagination can bring to an organization.

Many of you may find yourself in a similar challenge so I would like to share our success from time to time in an effort to motivate your organization to achieve the same. So as I congratulation our team, you will get to know what drives us, and why we love what we do at Open Text.

Last week we had the opportunity to pitch our latest Web Solutions offering to a group of industry experts. The team has done a wonderful job! The overall goal of the meeting was to show how marketing organizations can use our technology and mature throughout a series of online marketing initiatives.

Everything from creating multi-lingual sites (see Web Solutions for Multisites) to driving engaging social experiences online. I saw true passion come from the team delivering a story for marketing driven initiatives that included:

Personalization managed directly by the marketing team - even I could do it - incl. preview for different personas and times: you can go forward in time and see how it will look in the future, e.g. when you kick-off a campaign
Fully integrated rich media management to manage all your marketing assets (BTW: we got rated best marketing asset management in the industry)
Facebook integration: have a look at the SwitchedOn Widget
Whole set of web analytics, incl. Google Analytics integration as well as governance & popularity reporting
Campaign management with integration into Salesforce.com

And of course my favorit presentation was a full set of 2.0 capabilities (incl. Blog, Forum, Tagging, Voting, Wiki) and a full featured community solutions (enterprise class scaling and mobility support for iPhone and Blackberry) ... the true reality of our Bloom strategy we launched at Content World. And as you would expect from a leader in compliance we also showed Social Compliance: the amazing combination of Enterprise 2.0 with the Web Compliance Manager

I know this post has some more marketing to it, but our team truly did an amazing job and what I realized was that as with many solutions, the technology works great, but it’s the story that captivates the audience. The energy, the team work and passion about the web is driving our Web Solutions team. Want to learn more, meet us at CeBIT ... I am going to be there and happy to tell you more about us!

Bloom Basics February 2009

View more presentations from Daniel Kraft. (tags: enterprise text)

The end of an era - the start of a journey

noreply@blogger.com (Daniel Kraft) — Mon, 02 Feb 2009 15:40:00 +0000

Time to say good bye.

On December 2008 we had to say good bye to one of our dearest friends - the RedDot. In an emotional ceremony all of his fellow co-workers gathered together to share great stories and express their respect for one of the greatest web visionaries of all times. When we had to enable everybody to change the web, RedDot was there for us! When 3,000 companies knocked on our doors to help them with their web solutions, RedDot was there for us! When two Canadian software companies looked for a great acquisitions in WCM, RedDot was there for us. He was always there for us, our great friend, co-worker and admired leader. We have to say good bye now, but we promise that we will keep RedDot in our hearts, we promise to finish what we have started, and we'll make the Web vision a reality while Open Text Blooms."

You may have noticed that we have made some adjustments to the branding of the Web Solutions Group. Entering 2009 we decided to focus on the Open Text brand for all teams within the group, including RedDot. This is the final step of a 2 year project aligning the operation. RedDot as a product and dedication to WCM does not go away, in fact as we have become an integrated ECM offering our strength in Web Solutions will continue to grow. RedDot is now the Open Text Web Solutions Group and Web Solutions is a continued focus for Open Text.

Many customers may ask, what does this mean for me?

Over the last two years we have made excellent progress providing a fully integrated ECM strategy. It turned out that WCM is a strategic component for many of our customers and with a completely integrated approach we allow you to not only to buy a long term path for your organization with Open Text orchestrating strategic success. As a current customer, our dedication continues and our support network is expanding. For new customers, you can turn to Open Text for the WCM expertise we have gathered over the last 14 years with RedDot while joining Open Text in the journey to be Content Experts.

Join me as we say our farewell to RedDot as a brand but hello to Web Solutions a strategic component of Open Text's ECM strategy. Share with us your opinion on this journey so we can ensure that your investments in Open Text continue to drive more ROI in the future.