IST 402 Team Project

Enterprise Social Networking Report

Three Rivers Networking

Ryan Haney

Frederic Kouame

Joseph Stariha

Joshua Wirt

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Table of Contents

Introduction.................................................................................................................................................6

Background on Social Networking..............................................................................................................6

Evolution of ESN........................................................................................................................................9

How ESN Is Used In Enterprises – Overview...........................................................................................11

ESN Examples...........................................................................................................................................12

Technology - Existing OTS/OSS Platforms..............................................................................................12

Technology - Individual Technologies......................................................................................................14

Looking Forward.......................................................................................................................................15

The Future of Enterprise Social Networking.............................................................................................16

Company Summary: icueTV, Inc..............................................................................................................17

Company Summary: Pet Food Direct........................................................................................................19

Interview Summary...................................................................................................................................20

STS Introduction.......................................................................................................................................24

Laws and Regulations................................................................................................................................24

Pet Food Direct..........................................................................................................................................28

icueTV.......................................................................................................................................................33

STS Conclusion.........................................................................................................................................36

Pet Food Direct..........................................................................................................................................39

icueTV........................................................................................................................................................39

icueTV........................................................................................................................................................41

Pet Food Direct..........................................................................................................................................41

The Future of ESN....................................................................................................................................43

Recommendations for the Future Research...............................................................................................44

icueTV.......................................................................................................................................................49

Pet Food Direct..........................................................................................................................................51

James Appel – Pet Food Direct – Director of Technology........................................................................54

Luke Kwiecinski – Pet Food Direct – Senior System/Network Administrator..........................................57

George Kurian – icueTV – Chief Security Officer....................................................................................61

John Dever – icueTV – Lead System Administrator.................................................................................67

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Executive Summary

This report details the interaction between Enterprise 2.0 software systems and

companies; it also details the history of enterprise social networking, and gives recommendations

to companies for implementation and acceptance of these new technologies. Enterprise 2.0

technologies are technologies involved in the more efficient exchange of information in the

workplace. These technologies include wikis, instant messaging systems, collaboration package

such as Microsoft’s Share Point, and groupware packages such as IBM’s Lotus Notes. All of

these items are designed to more efficiently share information across user bases, departments,

and divisions. Enterprise 2.0 is a rapidly growing area of information technology in both the

public and private sectors.

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Introduction

Enterprise 2.0 systems are frameworks for interested parties to create their own content.

Enterprise 2.0 systems attempt to solve the problem of information creation and sharing in

modern businesses and organizations by removing organizational stovepipes and other blocks to

information. This is particularly important to organizations as they become more decentralized

and global – with workers increasingly telecommuting, and satellite offices popping up all over

the world in large organizations, information sharing is more and more challenging.

This report attempts to give recommendations for organizations implementing ESN

solutions through the guise of two to mid-sized businesses, Pet Food Direct and icueTV. Pet

Food Direct is a mid-sized company with over 100 employees that focuses on e-commerce.

icueTV is a small start-up focused on interactive television software. Both companies are

growing, and both have implemented Enterprise 2.0 related software in the past, and are in the

process of continuing to roll out new ESN technologies. This report attempts to answer the

question of what technologies should growing businesses look to deploy, and what

considerations are there when looking to deploy these technologies?

The authors of this report were fortunate to be able to interview two employees of each of

these companies; one management and one engineering employee in both cases. This gives the

report two important perspectives – management and implementation.

This report will open with a general background and definition on Enterprise Social

Networking and Enterprise 2.0. The background information will cover the history of E2.0 and

the evolution from its inception to its current form. Next, the report will evaluate and analyze

the current state of ESN, and postulate on possible future paths of the technology. Next, the

report will present the summary of the four interviews conducted, and follow with a socio-

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technical systems (STS) analysis of each company’s E2.0 implementations. The STS analysis

will allow for recommendations to be drawn and made, both in general and for each company.

Finally, the report will summarize and present key findings and conclusions, and recommend

possible future research opportunities.

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Background and Historical Perspective

Introduction

This section of the report will be presented in two parts. The first part provides a

background on Enterprise Social Networking (ESN); when it started, what technologies are

involved, who are the users, and why they use ESN. In the second part of this section, a

historical perspective of ESN details how, when and why ESN evolved.

Background on Social Networking

Social networking began as a natural outgrowth of the Internet (and the Internet’s

precursors). The goal of the Internet was initially to facilitate the transfer of information for the

government, specifically DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. DARPA

launched the DARPA Internet Project in 1969 with the goal of building a wartime digital

communications network (Lincoln.edu). DARPA’s Internet Project (ARPANET) gradually grew

to include universities and other government institutions. As this network grew, so did the

demand for messaging and communication formats that would allow users to communicate. The

natural outgrowth of this need was early email-like systems. These systems grew out of

mainframe host-based mail programs that stored messages between users on the same mainframe

computer (Van Vleck, 2001). In 1971, the first “email” was sent, with an address format similar

to those in use today with the username and computer name separated by an “@” symbol (Van

Vleck, 2001). As these email systems grew, they became widespread among business users and,

as the personal PC revolution grew in the 1980s, home users as well.

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As the personal PC revolution exploded in the 1980s, other forms of social networking

grew as well. Bulletin Board Systems, or BBSs, became popular. These BBSs were a sort of

pre-cursor to modern websites; users would dial in to the BBS via their modems and share

information with other BBS users via email or message board postings (Banks, 2008). BBSs

were noteworthy because they were typically organized around a recognizable social structure

BBS uses tended to be stratified by geography and interest, as dialing into a long-distance BBS

could have major costs associated with it. A BBS also generally served a specific audience that

shared a common interest (Nickson, 2009). These BBS systems, at the core, represent what

would be commonly recognized as the first group of “friends” in a similar sense of modern social

networking sites – that is to say a group of users united by a common bond of either interest or

geography.

Consumer services such as AOL and CompuServe also played an important role in the

early development of social networks. These commercial providers funneled users to their

approved portal in which users could chat and exchange emails and other information. These

services were important because, unlike most BBSs, they were not tied to geography – the users

of AOL throughout the United States were able to chat and exchange information relatively

freely. Each AOL member had a “profile” that is, in many ways, analogous to modern Facebook

and MySpace profiles, with information about the user and their interests (Banks, 2008). As the

Internet and World Wide Web grew in size and influence in the early 1990s, social media sites

began coming of age.

As the Internet came to maturity in the mid-1990s, social networking sites also became

more popular. Two of the earliest sites to come into mainstream focus were Classmates.com and

Sixdegrees.com (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). Classmates.com focused on keeping alumni of various

high schools in tough for reunion purposes. Sixdegrees – whose name was a play on the idea

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that you can connect any two people in Hollywood to Kevin Bacon with six degrees of

separation – was a full on social networking site whose purpose was only to keep users in touch.

A number of other smaller sites also came and went throughout this time. The launch of

Rize.com in 2001 ushered in the business focused social networking site; Rize was, in many

ways, a precursor to LinkedIn and marked what may be considered the first enterprise related

social networking site (Nickson, 2009). Friendster’s 2002 launch also marked a seminal moment

in the history of social networking. The site quickly gained over 3 million users and became one

of the first social networking projects seen as a major investment opportunity by venture

capitalists (Boyd & Ellison, 2007). While each of these sites launches were important in their

own respect, the technical features that allowed users to search for and locate old friends and

people of similar interests truly drove social networking sites into maturity in the mid-2000s.

Due in part to the financial success of Friendster early in its development, venture capital

firms began seeing social networking sites as a possible avenue for investment. This made large

amounts of money for starting a large social networking site available, and in response there was

a boom of social networking startups from 2003 onward. In 2003, MySpace, LinkedIn, and

Last.fm were launched; in 2004 Flickr and Facebook were launched, and in 2005 YouTube burst

upon the scene (Nickson, 2009).

The technologies used in social networking are largely web based; indeed the social

media revolution overall can be thought of as a subsidiary of the larger evolution of the Internet

itself. Due to the small and rapidly transforming nature of many new social media sites, many

use open-source tools and products such as MySQL, PHP, and Linux to create the initial site, and

expand their technological choices as their revenues and customer base increase. Facebook is a

perfect example of this – Facebook started as a traditional “LAMP” stack website – that is to sat

Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP, and has transformed into a technology leader in web

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scalability due to the massive number of users and hits it receives each day (Zeichick, 2008).

Facebook has helped develop memory caching software to hold objects for fast retrieval (Saab,

2008), improved the code base of MySQL itself, and has helped pioneer with “NoSQL”

movement of using key-value pairs to replace traditional OLTP databases (Apache Foundation,

2009). Somewhat remarkably these base technologies of a database, a webserver, and a web

scripting language, have stayed consistent from the early social networking sites of the World

Wide Web like Classmates.com and Sixdegrees to modern social networking sites like LinkedIn

and in-house ESN technologies like wikis and blogs.

Evolution of ESN

All told, ESN and Enterprise 2.0 evolved to leverage existing social technologies in the

enterprise space to facilitate better communication and collaboration. The goal of Enterprise 2.0,

according to the Wall Street Journal, is to in part leverage “online collaboration tools that many

of their employees use routinely in their personal lives” (Garland, 2010), and with that said one

can see that E2.0 arose as a result of existing social communication technologies spreading to the

enterprise versus being a ground-up enterprise effort. Many ESN and E2.0 sites and

technologies can be described both as traditional social networking and enterprise social

networking. Enterprises leverage Facebook to keep in touch with customers; Enterprises also

use YouTube to promote products and launch viral ad campaigns. Enterprises are also

increasingly making use of Twitter to keep in touch with both current and potential customers.

Enterprise social networking is, in many ways, the original type of social networking –

ARPANET was an enterprise network on which the first emails were sent, again between

enterprise users versus a normal home user. Enterprise social networking sites may have been

officially launched with Rize.com in 2001; however, enterprise social networking is not limited

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to enterprise targeted sites like Rize and LinkedIn. Other enterprise social networking (ESN)

tools evolved independently from the aforementioned public social networking sites. Groupware

products like IBM’s Lotus Notes were released in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and featured

some social-related feature such as email, chat, and document collaboration. Modern ESNs tend

to be patchwork and combine many different social aspects within a single company to form an

ESN strategy or policy versus there being a single monolithic ESN solution per company. For

example, a company may have a Twitter account, a Facebook group, a profile on LinkedIn, and

use blogs and wikis internally to disseminate information.

The State of Enterprise Social Networking

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This section of the report will be presented in three parts. The first part provides an

overview of the state of the art of ESN along with specific examples of ESN. In the second part

of this section, the technology is discussed with an evaluation of existing OTS/OSS and

alternative software packages provided and then an evaluation of additional individual

technologies. The third part of this section looks forward to developing and potential new ESN

technologies and the relevance to enterprises of these new developments.

How ESN Is Used In Enterprises – Overview

Enterprise Social Networking is significantly changing the way we do business. By using

social software to connect diverse users, internal and external to an organization, the creation of

collaborative communities for effective and efficient sharing of vital information becomes easy

and manageable. An ESN may be used in different organizations for different purposes. In other

words, the same tool can be used in multiple ways. For example, a blog can be used to ask

questions and/or provide answers. An ESN can be useful at levels of tie strength ranging from

high to non-existent. Consider the example of Wiki’s, which can be used by either large or small

groups of people, who may be either strongly or loosely tied, in order to collaboratively create

documents and/or Web sites. An ESN permits users to interact online, with little or no previous

contact, with little or no difficulty, and with no technical knowledge.

There are six potential benefits to enterprises using ESN software. These benefits will not

provide the same amount of benefit to every enterprise that may choose to use them. Therefore it

is recommended that a comprehensive study of corporate goals, and the problems and

opportunities facing each enterprise be identified and analyzed in light of the value each benefit

may provide. Subsequently, a proper feasibility study must be conducted. However, these

benefits can be of major importance to an organization. According to Mallon (2008),

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The key is to avoid focusing on the technologies in isolation. Avoid the temptation to implement social software tools simply for their own sake. No, not every company needs a Facebook-like company directory. But having such a directory – thoughtfully implemented - can dramatically amplify the organization’s learning and talent management efforts by increasing the density of connections within the organization, strengthening bonds, increasing engagement, and facilitating knowledge sharing. To reach that potential, first examine the organization’s business goals; then analyze how human interaction and collaboration support those goals. Finally, develop a strategy to leverage a social software platform to enhance that interaction and collaboration.

ESN Examples

There are many specific examples of Enterprise Social Networking, and many different

uses. For example, IBM uses ESN for Expertise Finding. Symantec uses ESN for Blending with

Formal Learning Programs. Computer Associates uses ESN for Peer-to-Peer Learning and

Mentoring. Proctor and Gamble uses ESN for Performance Support. The Central Intelligence

Agency uses ESN for Recruiting. Dell uses ESN for Product Development and Innovation. And

Zappos uses ESN for Customer Outreach. [3]

Technology - Existing OTS/OSS Platforms

There are a number of off the shelf (OTS) paid enterprise social networking applications.

There are the archetypical groupware suites such as IBM’s Lotus Notes, and newer ESN

offerings that have sprung up over the last decade or so. One major player in the OTS ESN

application space is Google; Google’s Apps for the Domain product is a “software as a service”

or SaaS offering that combines a number of Google’s free applications into a single product for

enterprise use. Apps for the Domain utilizes a number of Web 2.0 technologies to move the

entire computing experience for an enterprise user from the desktop to the web browser. These

services include social products such as sharing documents between people and groups,

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integrated chat and email, and easy wiki creation and publication of blogs to both internal groups

and the external internet at large (Google, 2010). Apps for the Domain is essentially a one-stop

shop for both traditional enterprise software and ESN offerings.

Microsoft’s SharePoint also represents a leader in the OTS Enterprise 2.0 space.

SharePoint is a software platform built on Microsoft’s .NET engine that supports collaboration,

file sharing, and web publishing. Corporations use SharePoint to SharePoint to develop web

sites, portals, wikis, and blogs (Microsoft, 2010). SharePoint also links with Microsoft’s Office

to make collaborative document publishing easier within the Office suite. SharePoint has been

criticized by experts for being expensive and for not being open source. These are two flaws that

companies must consider (Palmero, 2007). Oracle’s WebCenter and Beehive represent another

large enterprise alternative to Microsoft’s SharePoint.

In addition to the aforementioned paid ESN suites, there are a number of open source

software suites available as well. One such suite is Zimbra. Zimbra is an open-source software

suite that includes email, shared calendars, document management and collaboration, and other

mobile tools to tie in smart phones to the collaborative network (Zimbra, 2010). Zimbra, like

many large open source projects, has both a free version and a paid, fully supported version.

This allows for smaller enterprises to start on the free version of the platform, and move to the

paid version as their needs and demands grow. Zimbra is also available as a hosted solution

from its parent company, VMware, where the enterprise pays for monthly access to the Zimbra

suite with no capital outlays for server infrastructure.

Other completely free open source Enterprise 2.0 products include a number of content

management system software, or CMS software. CMS packages represent a section of the

overall Enterprise 2.0 package – they typically are the central management point for a company’s

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blogs and intranet; however, they do generally lack other parts of the overall Enterprise 2.0 ESN

suite such as real time chat and document collaboration. Examples of CMS suites include

Joomla, Drupal, and WordPress. Each is, at its core, a blogging engine; however, developers for

all three platforms have extended their capabilities beyond simple blog management. For

example, Drupal has a modular infrastructure that allows users and developers to extend

Drupal’s core abilities to include things such as document management and collaboration

(Drupal, 2010).

Technology - Individual Technologies

There exists a number of other individual ESN and Enterprise 2.0 technologies that can

be implemented piecemeal in the enterprise to provide E2.0 functionality. These technologies

include instant messaging programs such as Google Chat, SameTime (via Lotus Notes), or other

XMPP capable chat servers such as Jabber. These open source chat servers can be hosted locally

or remotely. For group communication and collaboration, a wiki platform such as MediaWiki

may be installed. MediaWiki uses the traditional LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) and

powers a number of large wiki websites such as Wikipedia (Wikipedia, 2010). Wikis allow for

fast and easy collaboration, and solve problems such as simultaneous editing of documents and

version control.

Looking Forward

Looking forward, social networking technologies will be available through applications

offered by service providers, much like current trends in IT. These applications will be bought

and implemented by organizations willing to upgrade the way their employees collaborate. Over

time, the providers will enhance the capabilities of these applications, and their functionality will

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most likely continue to grow. Social networking will continue to grow and add new features

such as micro-blogging and chatting. Forrester research states that:

2010 will be a defining year for enterprise Web 2.0. With IBM Lotus and Microsoft attempting to extend dominant positions in collaboration and messaging to social software, a very broad and rich landscape of technology vendors will differentiate to stay relevant in this crowded market. With enterprise social technologies, buyers must now assess vendors pursuing three distinct strategies: commoditization, horizontal and vertical solutions, and integration with adjacent technologies. The trend will drive lower-cost options for many and higher-value purpose-fit options for those that require them. (Koplowitz, Brown, & Burnes, 2010)

Organizations will continue to use enterprise social networking as a means of getting

their employees to collaborate their ideas. There has been a reported average increase of 25% in

funds allocated toward social media activities by enterprises from 09 to 10, which will no doubt

make social media adopted across product, services and solutions companies (Lichtenberg,

2009). However, each company needs to research and study how much social networking will

impact… Each company is different and using social networks might not be necessary or even

help a certain organization. “Having the need and the funds, enterprises will determine the next

generation of social experiences. They will push enhancements that meet their needs, specifically

around monitoring, automation, alignment with the sales cycle and integration with existing

systems, expanding social "media" to encompass the ecosystem of social computing across

solutions, and making them actionable for the company.” (Lichtenberg, 2009)

The Future of Enterprise Social Networking

Social networks are on the verge of becoming a standard of how information is shared

throughout a business. Enterprise applications will begin to adopt both collaboration and social

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http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/enterprise_social_networking_2010_market_overview/q/id/56777/t/2#%23

http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/enterprise_social_networking_2010_market_overview/q/id/56777/t/2#%23

features more and more as time goes on. They have already begun to do so, with an increase in

collaborative technologies, blogs, chat rooms, and other social networking tools spreading across

the enterprise space. These tools will likely move away from being simple copies of existing

social networking tools for the general public and move towards specialized enterprise

applications designed specifically for corporate use. Social networking sites will be increasingly

used to place candidates with jobs, improve corporate communication, and keep satellite workers

“in the fold” as offices become increasingly telecommuter centric. Perhaps some businesses will

even use enterprise social networking as an internal job board, where employees suggest and

volunteer for projects and jobs that interest them. Either way, Enterprise 2.0 and enterprise

social networking are important information technologies that will continue to shape businesses

far into the future.

Interview and Company Summary

Company Summary: icueTV, Inc

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icueTV is an interactive television software company based out of Cherry Hill, NJ.

icueTV is privately held startup that has been in existence for approximately four years.

icueTV’s funding comes primarily from a single angel investor; however, additional venture

capital has been raised from a number of individual and institutional sources. icueTV is

attempting to bring interactivity to cable and satellite systems. icueTV’s product offering would

allow voting, product purchases, and requests for information to be carried out over existing

cable and satellite infrastructure; this would offer cable MSOs and satellite companies a new

revenue stream, and allow content providers to charge a premium to advertisers for

advertisements with interactive capabilities. icueTV is joined by a number of other interactive

television companies including Navic (a Microsoft company), 4th Wall Media, Seachange, and

Ensequence.

As icueTV is a startup, it does not currently have reliable revenue sources. Agreements

have been signed with Nielsen to provide data on purchases that will likely net future revenue.

icueTV’s business model is a revenue sharing model with the MSO; icueTV will provide the

software license for free in return for a variable percentage of the proceeds generated by the

interactive service. icueTV currently has 27 employees; the majority of the employees are

programmers and infrastructure engineers. icueTV’s skew towards having a highly technically

adept employee base likely affects its interaction and uptake rate for E2.0 technologies. In

addition, icueTV’s small size likely has an effect on its interaction with E2.0 and ESN

technologies. One may assume that the small size makes rollout and acceptance of E2.0

technologies easier, while on the other hand the company’s small size makes the organizational

problems solved by E2.0 deployments less pressing.

The two interviewees from icueTV represent two aspects of the company. The first

interviewee, George Kurian, would be considered senior management. He is the Chief Security

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Office of icueTV, and also provides management and guidance to the technical team overall.

Mr. Kurian has an interesting work history; his past jobs included information security positions

at Random House, and a Vice President position at Citibank. Mr. Kurian holds both bachelors

and masters degrees, and has been in the information technology field for roughly 20 years. Mr.

Kurian was knowledgeable about E2.0 products and applications, and offered an interesting

perspective as a very experienced IT manager seeing E2.0 technologies develop in the

marketplace throughout the past 20 years.

The second interviewee from icueTV was John Dever, the Senior System Administrator

for the company. Mr. Dever’s focus was more technical than George’s; his position was

primarily responsible for the oversight and administration of the hardware infrastructure of the

company. Due to the timing of the interview, it occurred immediately after John left the

company and took a similar position within Yellowbook; however, the interview focused solely

on his time at icueTV. Mr. Dever did not have a college degree; the majority of his knowledge

came from experience working in the IT field from a relatively young age. Mr. Dever did not

seem to have strong feelings about E2.0 or ESN technologies overall and, given his background,

job responsibilities, and young age, this may not be surprising.

Company Summary: Pet Food Direct

Pet Food Direct is an e-commerce company focused on selling pet products through their

various internet e-commerce stores. Pet Food Direct was founded in 1997 and has grown to

become one of the largest internet pet product providers in the world. Pet Food Direct is based

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out of Plymouth Meeting, PA. Pet Food Direct’s funding is a mixture of institutional investment

and income generated from operations; the investment funding is provided largely for

acquisitions, as Pet Food Direct has recently purchased a number of smaller pet product websites

as well as an online pet pharmacy licensed to sell prescription pet medications online. Pet Food

Direct has approximately 100 employees, with the majority being warehouse and shipping

related staff; however, Pet Food Direct also employs a number of web developers, programmers,

and IT engineers responsible for the coding and support of the e-commerce web site.

The first interviewee for Pet Food Direct, James Appel, is the Director of Technology.

He is in charge of the programming and infrastructure teams, and would probably be considered

middle management in most organizations. Mr. Appel is a graduate of the University of

Pittsburgh with a degree in Computer Science. He previously held positions at Fiserv in

Pittsburgh, and SAP in Philadelphia. He moved from a pure technical position at Fiserv to

management at SAP, and continued on to Pet Food Direct in a management role. Though

somewhat unfamiliar with the label Enterprise 2.0, he was familiar with the technologies behind

the concept and offered a good insight in to how a director level position may view these

technologies in a company.

The second interviewee for Pet Food Direct, Luke Kwiecinski, is the Senior System and

Network Administrator. Mr. Kwiecinski’s position is largely technical, though he does have

minor management responsibilities for the other members of his team. Mr. Kwiecinski’s

background is also highly technical; he held positions working for an ISP and as a Citrix

administrator for a global shipping company. Mr. Kwiecinski’s holds a degree from Drexel

University in Information Systems, and also attended the University of Pennsylvania for

mechanical engineering.

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Interview Summary

There were a number of common questions and some common responses throughout the

interviews. While each of the interviewees understood the concepts behind Enterprise 2.0 and

ESN, there was some divergence as to what meanings the interviewees derived from the terms.

Mr. Appel, from Pet Food Direct, needed clarification on the term “Enterprise 2.0”. This, at face

value, is certainly not surprising – with the number of trends existing in the IT field keeping up

with the naming conventions for a group of technologies can be difficult. The interviewees as a

whole, however, understood the basic concepts behind E2.0 – collaboration, information sharing,

and communication.

There were two common software packages that came up in relation to E2.0 – Lotus

Notes and SharePoint. Both companies were either using or in the process of implementing

SharePoint as their primary collaborative engine. This is evidence of E2.0’s growing importance

and influence in the corporate infrastructure – both companies realized that many of the E2.0

features can be easily implemented with a package like SharePoint. The usage of SharePoint

may also be indicative of both companies’ sizes – for a relatively low licensing fee they get

access to a large array of E2.0 features without a major internal development effort that a larger

company may be able to undertake. Both Mr. Kwiecinski and Mr. Appel had backgrounds that

included Lotus Notes as a groupware product, and both seemed to have a somewhat negative

overall impression of the Notes software package. Mr. Kwiecinski identified that he had used

the Sametime feature of Lotus Notes as an in-company chat client.

Chat was another similarity that both companies shared – both used Jabber, an open-

source XMPP implementation, for company-wide chat. Jabber is perhaps better known as the

chat engine for Google Talk. Both technical employees – Mr. Dever and Mr. Kwiecinski –

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identified chat as one of the most useful day-to-day products that would fall under the ESN/E2.0

umbrella. Mr. Kurian specifically identified chat as a product that he did not use often; however,

given his position within the company this is not surprising. Wikis were also a major common

factor between the two companies, all four interviewees identified wikis as major positive forces

for documentation and information sharing, though typically with the caveat that user acceptance

had a major role in a wiki’s effectiveness. Both companies’ employees identified wikis as an

effective way to lessen the barrier of entry for new employees or contractors as large amounts of

technical documentation are available in a central, searchable location. Other similarities

between all four interviewees include a general consensus that E2.0/ESN will grow to become a

more influential force in IT as time passes. All four employees stated that they expect

collaborative systems to play a larger role in their work responsibilities as the concept of E2.0

becomes more mature. None of the employees interviewed viewed E2.0 as a passing fad;

however, there was some small level of disagreement as to the overall effect of E2.0

technologies in the workplace.

Mr. Kurian had perhaps the most forward looking attitude towards E2.0 – his stated goal

for approaching E2.0 projects in a small start-up environment such as icueTV’s was to “build our

collaborative systems with an eye to the future, and not have to mix new technologies with pre-

existing implementations.” icueTV also had a more clearly defined path forward in terms of

future E2.0 projects – Pet Food Direct had one seemly minor project on the horizon, while

icueTV was moving forward with a wholesale replacement of their company intranet. This may

also be in part due to the more mature state of Pet Food Direct – icueTV would necessarily have

more projects available to implement as they have implemented fewer projects overall. Mr.

Kurian also identified that there must be an appreciable return on investment for E2.0 projects in

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a similar manner to other IT projects, and that they cannot be undertaken simply for their own

sake.

While implied more than directly stated, one can also draw conclusions about the attitude

of both companies senior management with regards to ESN/E2.0. Mr. Appel stated that, outside

of himself, Enterprise 2.0 style projects were largely “off the radar” for the senior management at

Pet Food Direct. This is in contrast with Mr. Kurian’s stated interest in continuing to develop

icueTV’s E2.0 infrastructure given his position as senior management within the company. This

is particularly interesting given the relatively larger size of Pet Food Direct as well as in the face

of their more geographically diverse operations due to acquisition – one could easily imagine

that Pet Food Direct would benefit more from a strong E2.0 initiative. This also shows the

strength of having a proponent for E2.0 (or even any project) in upper management.

The interviews allow one to draw a number of conclusions. Small companies still find

Enterprise 2.0 technology important, and by and large see the benefits of implementing an E2.0

infrastructure. Once these interviews were lined up, there was some concern by the team overall

that the small size of the companies would inhibit their knowledge or enthusiasm about ESN;

however, this does not appear to be the case. The unifying trends between the companies were

that wikis work well, particularly given the technical nature of both companies (and likely the

technical nature of the interviewees), and that chat can be a valuable asset even in a small

company. Both companies either used or were implementing SharePoint as well; SharePoint

seems to be an easy all-in-one solution for companies wanting to implement a variety of E2.0

technologies in a single package. As a whole, Enterprise 2.0 seems to be a very important aspect

of infrastructure technology for businesses of any size.

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Socio-technical Systems Analysis

STS Introduction

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This socio-technical system analysis is an attempt to explore the social and technical

aspects of Pet Food Direct and icueTV’s Enterprise 2.0 technological implementations. This

analysis will begin with the legal and regulatory aspects of such systems; the legal and regulatory

frameworks are relatively common to both companies, so this section will largely address both

cases simultaneously. The analysis will then diverge in to specific company issues and

implementations.

Laws and Regulations

In a societal context all companies are subject to the laws and regulations imposed upon

them by the local, regional, national and international governments under which they operate.

Laws and regulations, in addition to being procedures that describe the way things should be

done, also carry special societal sanctions. Sanctions may include fines, imprisonment, court

mandated monetary awards, or all three if violators are caught. These laws and regulations may

apply to personal issues such as the protection of privacy or they can apply to the use and

dissemination (control) of proprietary information regarding the development, manufacturing

and testing of products and new ideas. They may also govern (regulate) how companies and

their employees may legally use software and hardware. More importantly, these laws and

regulations might be in conflict with internal procedures and rules. In other words, companies

may implicitly expect employees to share and/or copy commercial software, however they

cannot legally make this expectation an explicit part of their company policies and procedures.

The most significant issues in which laws and regulations will affect Pet Food Direct and icueTV

are privacy and copyright issues

Privacy Issues

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Most users do not know the law. They are liable for their publication choices just like

other content publishers, such as newspapers or magazines. Social networking users do not have

immunity granted to social networking sites under the law. Users most often get into trouble by

posting defamatory content or content that infringes on intellectual property rights. There are no

statutory immunities to shield users, so the standard laws pertaining to defamation and

infringement apply. Because users’ identities can be revealed through access and audit controls,

users can suffer adverse consequences due to their actions via demotion, suspension, or

termination.

Copyright Issues: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA).

One of the most popular laws used in the United States is Section 512 of the Digital

Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). This United States copyright law implements two 1996

World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) treaties. It criminalizes production and

dissemination of technology, devices, or services that are used to circumvent measures that

control access to copyrighted works and criminalizes the act of circumventing an access control,

even when there is no infringement of copyright itself. It also heightens the penalties for

copyright infringement on the Internet. There are numerous other laws to protect property rights

including the proprietary rights for company processes and procedures as well as the use of

vendor hardware and software.

Summation of the Issues

In summary the most significant areas in which laws and regulations will affect Pet Food

Direct and icueTV are privacy, proprietary information, and copyright issues. The use of strong

controls and filters, monitoring users and implementing penalties for abuses is not sufficient.

And they are reactive, costly and inconsistent with the self-regulatory aspects of Enterprise 2.0.

In addition, proactive programs of education and awareness training supported by upper

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management should be implemented to help prevent misuses and abuses of ESN in regards to

both privacy and copyright issues.

Putting Things into Context for Pet Food Direct and icueTV

IT systems, social systems, and enterprise social networks, have several things in

common. They require hardware, software, people, data and procedures, they do not operate in

isolation and they have a tendency to change over time. With these common features in mind,

several comments made by interviewees in this paper are used in this section to help put into

context the importance of maintaining up to date procedures and policies as they pertain to laws

and regulations governing Enterprise 2.0 technologies.

When asked how he thinks management views Enterprise 2.0 in his company, James

Appel, Director of Technology for Pet Food Direct stated: “To be honest, outside of myself, it’s

very much off the radar for the rest of the management team. I guess that can be said about IT

overall too, as long as it works, there’s not a lot of thought given to the rest.” When asked about

how his company deals with inappropriate behavior using this E2.0 technology, Luke

Kwiecinski, Senior System/Network Administrator for Pet Food Direct stated: “We didn’t really

deal with it, it was more something I guess that HR would deal with if something happened. We

didn’t have anything in place to filter words or content in any way”. And when asked about

security implications while implementing ESN projects, George Kurian, Chief Security Officer

for icueTV stated: “Although free flowing information generally benefits a company, there are

obvious cases where information should be restricted due to its nature. Human resources is one

example, and credit card and sensitive financial information is another. Keeping strong controls

on access and having strong audit policies is very important as you centralize information. You

must ensure that only those that should have access to an information area do.”

These statements are indicative of the potential risks, problems, and solutions already in

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place at Pet Food Direct and icueTV. There are the potential problems associated with isolation

between upper management and the functional areas of a company as well as isolation between

these functional areas. Upper management should be wary of falling into complacency or Group

Think when “as long as it works, there’s not a lot of thought given” to a particular program or

project. Nor should they lump every IT program and project together and dump all

responsibilities, legal, HR and technical, onto the IT department. Also, the actions of HR, the

Legal and IT departments, and the employees using ESN’s should not be looked upon as

functioning in isolation, nor unrelated to attaining the goals of the organization.

Privacy issues regarding employees and HR and vendor licensing agreements must

always be considered. But the laws and regulations affecting ESN’s as they evolve in an

external societal context must also be considered and incorporated internally within the corporate

social context. There is no substitute for involved and supportive leadership, continued

education and training of all relevant personnel, and updating information, procedures and

policies on a continuous basis.

Strong support from upper management can prevent departmental isolation, help mitigate

personal privacy, vendor licensing and copyright abuses, promote the implementation of

proactive employee training programs, and ensure timely updates to policies and procedures

related to the laws and regulations affecting the use of Enterprise 2.0 technologies. Furthermore,

upper management must support intra-departmental cooperation, regular meetings between

department managers, and the sharing of relevant information. These actions, along with strong

controls in the areas of access and audit, will help Pet Food Direct and icueTV continue to avoid

the potential risks of liability issues related to misuse and abuse of their ESN’s, especially as

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these technologies, the internal and external social systems in which they are used, and the laws

governing them evolve over time.

Pet Food Direct

Hardware

Mainframe computers are referred to as powerful computers used mainly by large

organizations for certain applications, usually ones consisting of large data processing.

Mainframe computers have almost become a thing of the past with the advancement of

technology. However, with the minimal time that it takes to complete multiple tasks and the

amount of volume that this type of computer can handle, the mainframe is still appealing to some

organizations. I suggest that Pet Food Direct use a mainframe computer that has the ability to

bring together employees for completing work. There is not a need for a large mainframe

computer, even though the smallest mainframe is still massive in terms of information that can

be handled. Pet Food Direct is a small company with very few employees. However, certain

applications, such as social networking within the company, can be utilized.

Workstations need to be set up that allow for quick and efficient exchange of information

and support various forms of communication, including wikis and the SharePoint system.

Devices that are attached to computers or workstations, or peripherals, allow for increased

capabilities of communication. Some devices include microphones, webcams, and loudspeakers.

Pet Food Direct should use these devices to their fullest extent to get the most out of their

enterprise social networking. They will create a more trusting environment between employees

with seeing actual faces and hearing real voices. Pet Food Direct needs their network to be

connected properly, with hubs and routers set up in the right way. This will create a system that

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runs smoothly for enterprise social networking, with employees being able to communicate

quickly and efficiently.

Software

The software used by Pet Food Direct is SharePoint, Jabber, Google Chat, Wiki, and

company-wide intranet. Microsoft SharePoint is used for collaboration, web publishing and file

sharing amongst users. Pet Food Direct uses as one of its E2.0 software’s as a means of

communicating with fellow employees when working on specific operations. Although, email

still remains as the main method of sharing information, Microsoft SharePoint adds another

bridge within the company. SharePoint also provides the company intranet where users can look

up information, post news, and communicate updates with employees in the enterprise.

Email software remains to be the most used at Pet Food Direct. The reason for email

being so popular is due to it being so easy to use for non-technical users. The software is very

easy to follow and easy to track.

Many technical users use Google Chat at Pet Food Direct. Google chat being a freeware

plug-in that can be used on many systems is another way of instant communication amongst

users. It is also known as instant messenger software. The use of Google Chat is to communicate

instantly with fellow employees or distant employees of an enterprise such as Pet Food Direct. It

can be used to talk to someone in a different department, different state, or international to keep

operations functional.

Wikis are another E2.0 technology used at Pet Food Direct. Wikis are used to share

information across the enterprise. Most users upload documents to wikis. It is also used to update

information so that it is easily accessible throughout Pet Food Direct. The software Pet Food

Direct uses are technologies that are configurable being that they are a collection of distinct

components. These components like SharePoint, Jabber, Google Chat and Wiki’s are all brought

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together to help Pet Food Direct IT systems work simultaneously to provide information and

communication amongst its employees.

Physical Surroundings

Pet Food Direct operates as an Internet website where consumers can purchase pet

products, so there is no actual building where the purchasing takes place. Their corporate office

is located in Plymouth Meeting, PA, and their warehouse is located in Harleysville, PA. Their

warehouse provides a feeling of product safety and security, while the office provides a feeling

of hard work and dedication. When working with a staff of a few people, it is vital that people

have their needs met and feel obligated to do great work.

People

The people involved at Pet Food Direct in their Enterprise 2.0 developments can perhaps

be best broken down in to producers and consumers. The information producers are those that

add information to the E2.0 resource frameworks; consumers consume and utilize the

information presented. These two groups are not mutually exclusive; in many cases a producer

will also consume information created by another person or group, and vice versa. The person

primarily responsible for Pet Food Direct’s Enterprise 2.0 strategy is the Director of Information

Technology. Other IT department employees support him in the implementation of technologies

that fit the company’s strategy. Pet Food Direct may be somewhat unique in that upper

management – that is to say management above the Director of IT, does not seem to take an

active role in the Enterprise 2.0 strategy of the company; however, that may due to Pet Food

Direct’s size – the company is relatively small compared to some larger companies and therefore

their budget and implementation are both smaller in comparison as well.

The group that comprises the majority of the E2.0 users is the technology group as a

whole – this includes the IT department and programmers that program the Pet Food Direct

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website. Pet Food Direct finds the most use out of their E2.0 technologies in spreading technical

information to new technical people – programming conventions, IT information (such as servers

and procedures), and other information are all found on the company wiki. In addition to the

technical focus, Pet Food Direct’s non-technical employees use the SharePoint system for human

resource related information and documentation, such as the company’s sick policy, vacation

requests, and benefit forms. In this case, other content producers would include the company’s

HR team; however, the interviews did not specify who had responsibility for creating this

content. The final major content producer is the company’s CEO – he has a blog on the

company intranet that serves as a conduit for communication to the company as a whole. There

are a few clear winners in this process – the IT team as a whole is one clear winner; they utilized

their E2.0 implementation to lessen the amount of work and effort required to relay knowledge to

new workers. One wonders, however, if new employees may be on the losing end of the bargain

– they do not get as much one on one time with an experienced staff member, as their training

consists of more reference material on the wiki than in person, hands on training.

Procedures

Unfortunately the interviews did not extrapolate in much depth on the company’s

procedures in relation to Enterprise 2.0 technologies. It is regular procedure to use the included

wiki for new hires to familiarize them with procedures and standards. HR procedures also

dictate interaction with the E2.0 system for forms and requests, though the extent of the internal

policies requiring users to utilize SharePoint is unclear. Follow-up questions via email to Mr.

Kwiecinski clarified that it is official IT policy to document procedures on the wiki for SAS-70

and PCI related audit requirements. The framework within SAS-70 that Pet Food Direct utilizes

require IT policy to be auditable, and writing down procedures on the wiki creates the rules

under which the audit can be performed. There are a number of HR policies that exist on the

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wiki for similar audit reasons; PCI (Payment Card Industry) certification requires that procedures

for hiring and terminating employees be auditable as well to insure that credit card data is

properly secured when an employee leaves the company. Many of the procedures for Pet Food

Direct fall under the normative category and are not official procedures enumerated by the

organization. These rules are largely informal, but make up an important part of the procedures

for the company as a whole. This lack of formalized rules follows the precept that information

technologies favor the status quo – even though time and money were expended to create the

E2.0 framework that exists at Pet Food Direct, the status quo that exists before the E2.0

technologies were put in place still exists today.

Data

There was little detail in the data structures contained within Pet Food Direct’s Enterprise

2.0 implementation in the interviews. One would imagine that, given that the company deployed

a wiki and SharePoint, that the information is stored in a Microsoft SQL database with a normal

mix of tables and data types. One would also imagine that the usage of MS SQL coincided with

the company’s existing deployment of the database for their primary web site; the web site itself

functions on the .Net framework with a MS SQL back-end. This follows the concept of

information technologies co-evolving – the existence of the database technology drove the

evolution of the Enterprise 2.0 implementation.

icueTVHardware

icueTV may want to use a mainframe computer that is similar to Pet Food Direct. This is

the case because icueTV, like Pet Food Direct, is a small company that does not need to handle

huge amounts of information when it comes to ESN. It will take minimal hardware to have

efficient collaboration between employees. Due to the fact that icueTV is a small company (less

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than 30 employees) and many of their employees are programmers or system engineers creates a

system that allows for workstations to be used very efficiently. Technical and/or scientific

applications are designed for these microcomputers. Workstations can be set up to create simple,

yet effective collaboration of work using the Internet. Wikis, intranets, and other things will be

used to create a team environment. An organization that takes advantage of social networking

tools will be better off when trying to get employees to work together. Peripherals should be

utilized in a manner that will create a sense of togetherness and allow employees to feel more

comfortable with sharing information. Some peripherals include webcams and microphones that

let people get to know their co-workers. It is vital that icueTV has a networked that is linked

together in the correct fashion to make sure that workers willing to share and discuss their ideas

have the opportunity to do so.

Software

The E2.0 technologies used by icueTV are Jira, Drupal, Jabber, and SharePoint (which

they are in the process of implementing). Two of these E2.0 technologies are also used with Pet

Food Direct to help complete operations within the company. Some of E2.0 software icueTV is

planning to remove due to unmet needs in the company.

icueTV uses the Jira ticketing system software to help manage records, view bug reports

with clients, record and comment on developmental requests throughout the company. Jira

software helps the system work flow to perform smoother. The E2.0 software also makes it

easier to manage information across the icueTV enterprise.

The use of Jabber is used for communication at icueTV but very rarely. Just like Pet

Food Direct, email software is use as the most popular use of communication. The use of

company intranet is not use at icueTV as much as Pet Food Direct. icueTV is in the process of

removing Drupal as its primary E2.0 software. It is looking to replace it with SharePoint.

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SharePoint is used by Pet Food Direct as an extra software bridge in collaborative systems. As

we can see here, iceTV is following trajectories that are in favor of the status quo. Drupal is an

early and therefore near obsolete E2.0 software that has limitations. icueTv is planning to

provide more expansions and has decided to implement SharePoint in the upcoming months.

Physical Surroundings

icueTV operates their business from their main office in Cherry Hill, NJ. Their location

consists of a modern-style building with a lake in the front. It is a gorgeous building and

environment that makes it a great place to work at. The location provides employees with a

sense of fresh air and a reason to come to work each and every day, willing to work with others

to benefit the organization as a whole.

People

The people involved in the Enterprise 2.0 projects at icueTV are largely focused on the

technical employees of the company. icueTV, like Pet Food Direct, is a small company (icueTV

has no more than 30 employees), and many of their employees are technically trained (either

programmers or system engineers).

The E2.0 systems in place include a wiki, instant messenger system, and an intranet. The

company was in the process of moving to SharePoint when the interviews in this paper were

conducted. Of all the available collaborative systems at icueTV, most employees used the

instant messenger system. IM allowed people to communicate quickly and efficiently, and

reduced the need for meetings. The IM system also helped to integrate outside contractors with

the team when they were located remotely.

Analysis indicates that icueTV has three distinct groups of people in relation to their

Enterprise 2.0 systems – technical employees, non-technical employees, and outside entities.

These outside entities comprised consultants and business relationships. Unlike Pet Food Direct,

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there was not a single person that was tasked with oversight and management of icueTV’s

Enterprise 2.0 systems – this again could be due to the company size; at 30 employees the

benefits of E2.0 systems are likely reduced due to the simplicity of face-to-face communication.

Both interviewees for icueTV stated that user acceptance was an existing problem with

their Enterprise 2.0 implementation. This reinforces the idea that information technologies tend

to follow the status quo: the systems that icueTV implemented came after the majority of their

employees were hired and set in their ways, so user uptake to a new system and a new way of

working was low. This concept is reinforced in smaller companies where face-to-face

collaboration is easier – if one can simply turn their head to exchange an idea face to face then

the cost benefit of exchanging ideas through a collaborative system is lessened. As Mr. Kurian

pointed out in his interview, however, user acceptance should be increased as a baseline for

future growth – as more people use the E2.0 systems, the more likely it is that new employees

will become integrated with the system as well.

Procedures

icueTV’s procedures with regard to their existing Enterprise 2.0 technologies lie mainly

in the usage of Jira for ticket submission on issues. This is, after a follow up question to Mr.

Kurian, the only formalized instance of a procedure existing for the use of the Enterprise 2.0

technologies they have deployed. The exact procedure is for both internal and external entities to

submit a trouble ticket via Jira if there is a problem (either in programming or with the hosted

environment on the systems side). Other informal procedures exist that govern the usage of the

technologies themselves – users are expected to abide by the rules of acceptable conduct outlined

in the employee manual, and to treat the virtual collaborative systems in a similar manner to a

real life interaction. Given the issues that icueTV has had with user acceptance, one could

imagine that an increase in formalized procedures regarding the usage of E2.0 technologies could

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help drive a corresponding increase in user acceptance. In this case, procedures and policies

could be used to overcome the inertia of the status quo.

Data

Data and data structures were not discussed during the interview, though given the

existing technologies one may make a number of educated guesses about the existing data

structures present in icueTV’s E2.0 deployment. They obviously have a database backing their

SharePoint project and, given that SharePoint only runs in Microsoft’s SQL platform, one

imagines that they have MS SQL as their primary database platform for the new SharePoint

deployment. Jira appears to run on multiple open-source databases including MySQL and

PostgreSQL. Given the largely text based nature of all of these products, one imagines that the

database would be structured to store large blocks of text. SharePoint, by default, does not store

files or images in the database as blobs, but rather on the file system.

STS Conclusion

Throughout this social-technical systems analysis a number of common patterns emerge.

First, both companies have experienced difficulty in implementing E2.0 technologies,

particularly in relation to user acceptance and uptake. Both companies also utilize similar

software sets, suggesting that for smaller enterprises there is a great deal of overlap in software

and technology selection. Due to the similarity in software, the hardware the software is

implemented on is also similar for both enterprises: both use commodity hardware from

commodity suppliers such as Dell and HP. These commonalities extend to data structures as

well, though it stands to follow that the usage of the same software packages (SharePoint in this

case) would lead to similar data structures. Overall this socio technical systems analysis shows

that two similarly sized companies in two similar geographic locations chose similar

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technological paths to expand down with relation to Enterprise 2.0 systems. It would be

interesting to re-visit this social technical analysis as the companies grow to see if their paths

continue to run parallel to each other or if they diverge as the user base grows.

Recommendations

According to McAfee, "ESSP's typically do increase the amount of discoverable

information within an organization." Since this would most likely be a dynamic and significant

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characteristic, ESN cannot just be deployed, dumped onto the IT department, and ignored by

management. Companies using ESN's should consider a policy/program be instituted to ensure

and require the creation of a task team meeting quarterly and comprised of legal, HR, IT and all

relevant departments each of which will be represented by either the respective department head

or a motivated "Generation Y evangelist".

The responsibility of each department rep would be to maintain and share with team

members up-to-date knowledge, information, etc. related to their respective departments and the

company pertaining to current and pending legislation involving their ESN's and their real and

potential effects on the company.

Furthermore, this task team could conduct an annual review and if necessary revision of

ESN company protocols and policies including additional training of users to maintain up-to-date

and adequate education about inappropriate behaviors and communications in the workplace

both prior to and after deployment of ESSP's. The purpose is to create an effective proactive

team that is prepared for legislative changes before, or at least as, they are about to occur rather

than waiting for an issue that catches them off guard and unprepared.

In addition, this task team could monitor the success and use of the ESN in terms of

"ambient percentage" of users, effectiveness of self-policing aspects, and to show users that

management is "paying attention" to how the ESN is being used including the behaviors and

decorum of users as well as relevance and accuracy of posted information. This review could

also be incorporated into providing incentives for new ideas that help the company to attain goals

through the use of their ESN's. Perhaps a bonus program could be instituted to reward good

ideas.

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Pet Food DirectPet Food Direct specific recommendations are largely centered on better planning for

Enterprise 2.0 services. The company has implemented a number of E2.0 focused technologies;

however, they lack an overall action plan on Enterprise 2.0 specific implementations. A greater

focus by upper management on technology would help drive this increased planning. In turn, the

IT department at Pet Food Direct must act as educators and evangelists for E2.0 products to

management – in the case of Pet Food Direct, it seems that the lack of focus is related to a lack of

knowledge, and the IT staff has the most knowledge to spread and share.

Secondary recommendations include Pet Food Direct conducting a complete IT review to

see where E2.0 can be better integrated into the existing infrastructure. A review of their

existing policies and procedures would also show where E2.0 could be better integrated.

icueTVicueTV specific recommendations are largely centered around creating policies and

procedures that force better usage of their implemented E2.0 technologies. In the interview, both

icueTV employees stated that they had user acceptance issues with previous E2.0 related

implementations. Creating and enforcing strong procedures related with employees interacting

with the new systems would help increase the user acceptance and uptake of the new system.

icueTV has some advantages in that they are a new company and so they are not replacing

existing systems but rather creating new systems to be used in the future, so creating new

procedures can greatly encourage users to use a new system, since there is no institutional

memory for an older system.

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Summary and Conclusions

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icueTVicueTV has positioned itself well with regards to its Enterprise 2.0 software selection and

implementation. Though the company is still small, its management is forward looking as

evinced by the interview. Mr. Kurian stated quite clearly that he is attempting to guide the

implementation of collaborative technologies for the company’s future, and less so its present.

icueTV has, in the past, had some difficulty with technological update and usage for Enterprise

2.0 technologies; however, with management’s commitment to spreading these technologies

throughout the infrastructure, one imagines that they will be ultimately successful. icueTV’s

problems with user acceptance arise from two issues: first, there is no institutional history for

usage of ESN technologies. In an established company, the more experienced workers will help

guide new employees on using E2.0 technologies – in a young start-up like icueTV, this does not

exist, and management must identify and support technical evangelists within the company to

help promote these ideas. Secondly, icueTV is relatively small and close-knit, so the benefits of

ESN are not as readily apparent as it would be for a larger, more dispersed corporation. That

said, icueTV is well positioned to take advantage of ESN as it grows larger, and the willingness

of its employees and management to utilize ESN and E2.0 technologies will grow as they see the

advantages for information flow and collaboration.

Pet Food Direct

Pet Food Direct is an e-commerce company focused on selling pet products through their

various internet e-commerce stores. It is a company that has already begun to implement various

forms of enterprise social networking, including company-wide chat and wikis. However, Pet

Food Direct senior management does not view enterprise social networking type projects as a

priority at this time.

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Pet Food Direct is in the process of implementing SharePoint as their primary

collaborative engine. They believe that SharePoint provides the capabilities necessary to have

proper functionality versatility to provide E2.0 features to all employees. Pet Food Direct, it

seems, finds the low cost of the licensing fee for using SharePoint worth it because of the various

E2.0 features that can be used. Pet Food Direct uses an open-source XMPP implementation,

called Jabber, for company-wide chat. Technical employee Mr. Kwiecinski believes that chat is

a very useful product that should be taken full advantage of in the workplace. Pet Food Direct

sees wikis as a great way to share information and also documentation, but also understand that

the use and acceptance of these wikis depends on the users. Both employees that were

interviewed identified wikis as an effective way to ease new employees into the company as

large amounts of technical documentation are available in a central place.

Pet Food Direct believes that E2.0/ESN will grow to become a more potent factor over

time. Both employees stated that they expect collaborative systems to play a larger role in their

work obligations as the concept of E2.0 becomes better defined. They believe that enterprise

social networking is something should be viewed with long-term implications, and will most

likely be around for a while. However, Pet Food Direct only has one minor project on the

horizon that deals with ESN. Mr. Appel, an interviewee, stated that, outside of himself,

Enterprise 2.0 style projects were largely “off the radar” for the senior management at Pet Food

Direct.

The Future of ESN

No one can predict what the future holds for ESN. The key is to be prepared through

education, training, and motivated involvement in the research, development of new applications

and reviewing and revising goals and protocols to maintain pace with the inevitable evolution of

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social networking technologies. If the current state of ESN technology is defined by Web 2.0,

and this replaced Web 1.0, then it appears likely there will one day be a Web 3.0 and even a Web

4.0 and so on.

“Web 1.0” was basically an information repository, (i.e. users went to websites to read

content but rarely if ever to interact with and contribute to them). Most people agree that Web

2.0 is an interactive and social web facilitating collaboration between people. Dale Dougherty, a

vice-president at O'Reilly Media, coined the phrase “Web 2.0” in 2003 and the phrase became

popular in 2004. If the next fundamental change in happened in roughly the same time span,

Web 3.0 should be appearing sometime around 2015. By this time there will have been many

changes, advancements and replacements of existing technologies, platforms, and programs.

What will Web 3.0 be like? Will it truly be the next evolutionary step or will it merely be

just a marketing term? Will it replace email? Will it be a complete and comprehensive virtual

web experience? Will it bring about the advent of advanced artificial intelligence? If advanced

AI is to be one of the major features of Web 3.0 than the definition of ESSP and ESN’s will also

have to change. One of the chief advantages of Web 2.0 social media, and a feature that makes

them so remarkable and fundamentally different from the technologies of Web 1.0, is the

collaborative intelligence of humans. For example, the use of social bookmarking via Delicious,

Digg and Lotus Connections to create folksonomies can provide better results than using the

Google search engine. Because websites have been voted on collectively by humans, one has a

better chance at hitting a good website. However, because humans can manipulate the results

with the intent of making it popular, this can also lead to less than ideal search results.

Therefore, if artificial intelligence can learn how to separate the good from the bad, it could

produce results similar to social bookmarking and social news sites while eliminating some of

the bad elements.

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Another potential characteristic of Web 3.0 may be the creation of a semantic web where

all information is categorized and stored in such a way that a computer can understand it as well

as a human. The semantic web will teach the computer what the data means, and this will evolve

into artificial intelligence that can utilize that information. Whatever social and technological

causes may initiate, compel and/or complete the cycle and contribute to a new web experience

for users, it will definitely be the next fundamental change both in how websites are created and

how people interact with them.

Recommendations for the Future Research

Further research should be made into how to effectively create greater acceptance of

ESN’s in a corporate environment. Concentration on the unique perspectives of both the

employees and upper management must be considered. Because the social aspect of these

technologies cannot be understated, continued support and contribution is essential from upper

management. And without continued and growing acceptance and contribution from the

employees, ESN’s will fail to become useful and popular tools. Also important is research into

and creation of a social media policy as a necessary addition to each company’s business charter,

policies and protocols at the beginning of the project planning phase of any ESN project.

Major points to be covered would include deciding where the company stands with

respect to their desired relationship with social media. Also, it is important to decide where the

company stands relative to monitoring employee use of social media. And the company must

determine and define what constitutes social media. Ground rules for participation in social

media by employees must be established including clear examples of taboo topics. A

clarification of who owns online and offline content written, used, received, developed and/or

saved in company owned PC’s, laptops, cell phones and other electronics is necessary as well.

44

Finally, ongoing and easily available training must be available to all employees participating in

social media.

In summation, by placing greater emphasis on the long haul effectiveness of social media

to upper management by program and project managers, the more effective will be the support

from upper management in successfully deploying and maintaining these ESN’s. And with

greater support comes greater interest and participation and, ideally, more effective maintenance,

proactive research and preparedness for the next big change in ESN’s.

References

Apache Foundation. (2009). Apache Cassandra. Retrieved 9 25, 2010, from Apache.org:

http://cassandra.apache.org/

45

Banks, M. A. (2008). On the Way to the Web: The Secret History of the Internet and Its

Founders. [Amazon Kindle DX Edition] Retreived from Amazon.com.

Boyd, D. M., & Ellison, N. B. (2007). Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship

. Retrieved 09 24, 2010, from Indiana.edu:

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html

Chakraborty, Angsuman. (June 14, 2009) "Social Networking Sites Can Raise Publicity Legal

Issues". http://blog.taragana.com/index.php/archive/social-networking-sites-can-raise-

publicity-legal-issues/

Drupal. (2010, 04 29). About Drupal. Retrieved 09 26, 2010, from Drupal.org:

http://drupal.org/about

Enterprise Social Networking. (2008, July 03). Bersin & Associates. WhatWorks in Enterprise

Learning and Talent Management. http://www.bersin.com/blog/post/The-Potential-of-

Enterprise-Social-Networking.aspx

Fayle, Kevin. (n.d.) "Understanding the Legal Issues for Social Networking Sites and their

Users" http://articles.technology.findlaw.com/2007/Sep/18/10966.html

Google. (2010). Google Apps for Business. Retrieved 09 26, 2010, from Google.com:

http://www.google.com/apps/intl/en/business/index.html

Koplowitz, R., Brown, M., & Burnes, S. (2010, 04 22). Enterprise Social Networking 2010

Market Overview. Retrieved 09 26, 2010, from Forrester.com:

http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/enterprise_social_networking_2010_market_overv

iew/q/id/56777/t/2?action=5

46

http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/enterprise_social_networking_2010_market_overview/q/id/56777/t/2?action=5

http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/enterprise_social_networking_2010_market_overview/q/id/56777/t/2?action=5

http://articles.technology.findlaw.com/2007/Sep/18/10966.html

http://drupal.org/about

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html

Lichtenberg, R. (2009, 12 11). 10 Ways Social Media Will Change In 2010. Retrieved 09 26,

2010, from ReadWriteWeb:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/10_ways_social_media_will_change_in_2010.ph

p

Lincoln.edu. (n.d.). Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia . Retrieved 09 24, 2010, from

Lincoln.edu: http://www.lincoln.edu/math/rmyrick/ComputerNetworks/InetReference/

57.htm

McAfee, Andrew, P. (2009) “Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for your

Organization’s

Toughest Challenges”. Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston, MA

Microsoft. (2010). SharePoint Product Information Overview. Retrieved 09 26, 2010, from

Microsoft.com:

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/product/capabilities/Pages/default.aspx

Mittleman, Danny. “Virtual Collaboration in the Workplace: Enterprise Social Networking”

(n.d.) http://pm440.pbworks.com/w/page/10247662/Enterprise-Social-Networking

Nickson, C. (2009, 01 29). The History of Social Networking. Retrieved 09 25, 2010, from

Digital Trends: http://www.digitaltrends.com/features/the-history-of-social-networking/

Ossian, Kathyrin, L. (n.d.) "Legal Issues in Social Networking".

http://www.millercanfield.com/media/article/200120_LEGAL%20ISSUES%2 0IN

%20SOCIAL%20NETWORKING.pdf

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http://www.digitaltrends.com/features/the-history-of-social-networking/

http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/en-us/product/capabilities/Pages/default.aspx

Palmero, J. (2007, 09 13). Sharepoint is not a good development platform. Retrieved 09 26,

2010, from CodeBetter.com:

http://codebetter.com/blogs/jeffrey.palermo/archive/2007/09/13/sharepoint-is-not-a-good-

development-platform.aspx

Saab, P. (2008, 12 12). Scaling memcached at Facebook. Retrieved 9 25, 2010, from

Facebook.com: http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=39391378919

Savell, Lawrence. (June 28, 2010) "Minimizing the Legal Risks of Using Online Social

Networks". http://www.law.com/jsp/article.jsp?

id=1202462946165&Minimizing_the_Legal_Risks_o f__Using_Online_Social_Networks

Van Vleck, T. (2001, 02 01). The History of Electronic Mail. Retrieved 09 24, 2010, from

multicians.org: http://www.multicians.org/thvv/mail-history.html

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki

Zeichick, A. (2008, 07). How Facebook Works. Retrieved 9 25, 2010, from Technology Review:

http://www.technologyreview.com/web/20921/

Zimbra. (2010). Zimbra Collaboration Suite. Retrieved 09 26, 2010, from Zimbra.com:

http://www.zimbra.com/products/zimbra-collaboration-suite.html

Appendix A – Interview Guide

icueTVBackground Questions

1) What made you want to get into IT field? Was this your first choice in high school?

48

http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=39391378919

2) Where did you attend college? What degrees did you earn? (Do you have a Master’s

degree?)

3) Do you believe a master’s degree is necessary for today’s technology workers? What

advantages do you believe it offers?

4) What relevant past work experience in IT do you have. What were your titles and some

of your responsibilities?

5) Who is your current employer, and what is your current job title?

6) Do you find the management or technical challenges of IT more satisfying? Why?

Enterprise 2.0/ESN focused questions

1) Can you explain what collaborative systems icueTV uses?

2) What collaborative system do you feel most impacts your daily work?

3) What have been the most remarkable advantages of implementing the icuetv company

intranet?

4) What do you think are the advantages of implementing E2.0 platforms into a work

environment? Are there any pros and cons on what to watch out for when implementing

E2.0?

5) What collaborative system that exists in your work environment do you feel impacts your

daily work the least?

6) Why do you feel that _______ technology has little impact? Could anything be done to

improve its impact?

49

7) How are collaborative systems handled in your current position versus past positions?

8) In your recent years of experience, you participated in a project migrating a company’s

intranet from Drupal to SharePoint. What was the cause of the move? As an E2.0

platform, does SharePoint provide a better environment than Drupal? Are there any

advantages to using SharePoint than Drupal as an E2.0 platform? If so, why?

9) Do you feel that Enterprise 2.0/enterprise social networking/collaboration

systems/groupware are a passing IT trend, or an important part of corporate IT

infrastructure?

10) What do you see as the next evolutionary step in enterprise social networking for

icueTV?

11) What are some security implications you’ve run into implementing E2.0/ESN projects?

12) How have E2.0/collaboration systems changed in your time as an IT professional? How

has their security impact changed?

13) Have you experienced problems with inappropriate behavior by the users of company

E2.0 resources?

14) Are there any E2.0 related recommendations you would have for CS/IT students?

Pet Food DirectBackground

1) What made you want to get into the IT field?

2) Where did you go to school? What was your major?

50

3) Where have you work in the past, and what were your titles? What were some of your

more remarkable IT responsibilities?

4) Who is your current employer, and what is your job title?

Enterprise 2.0/ESN Questions

1) Given that you’re a relatively recent graduate, were any Enterprise 2.0 technologies

focused on in your education? If so, do you feel that it prepared you well for the

workplace?

2) What are some different E2.0/ESN implementations you’ve seen at past jobs?

3) You have implemented Lotus Notes as a company-wide instant messenger. How do you

deal with users that have inappropriate behavior using this E2.0 technology? How does a

user document such an incident and how do you investigate the issue when it occurs?

4) What E2.0 technologies are deployed at your current job?

5) What are your views as of Wikis? You have worked on a successful wikis yourself. Do

you believe it is an excellent E2.0 platform and should organizations not be afraid to use

it?

6) How do you feel management views E2.0 in your company?

7) What techniques have you found successful in helping to introduce and encourage

acceptance and use of ESN tools by your older knowledge workers?

8) Do you have any E2.0/ESN related projects on the horizon?

9) Have any E2.0/ESN projects that you’ve been a part of failed or had problems achieving

its goal?

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10) With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight what would you have done differently, or will you do

differently for your next ESN project from the project that had problems?

11) If the problem was acceptance related: with that same 20/20 hindsight, what would you

have done differently, or will you do differently in the future with your next ESN project,

to achieve and/or encourage earlier and greater acceptance by the primary

users/stakeholders?

12) What portion of your budget or work is related to E2.0 systems? Do you feel this is

adequate?

13) Do you feel that Enterprise 2.0/enterprise social networking/collaboration

systems/groupware are a passing IT trend, or an important part of corporate IT

infrastructure?

14) What are the best and worst uses of E2.0 in your experience? What makes one usage

successful and one less successful?

15) Do you see E2.0 as being a continuing focus throughout the future of your career? Can

you imagine any way in which it may impact you in the future?

16) What do you see as the next evolutionary step in enterprise social networking for Pet

Food Direct?

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Appendix B - Interviews

James Appel – Pet Food Direct – Director of TechnologyHello James, my name is Ryan Haney, and I am a student in the IST program at Penn State. I am

taking a course on Enterprise Social Networking and Enterprise 2.0 technology. This course is

specifically designed to explore emergent social networking technology and relevant trends in

IT. As part of my virtual team project, I am conducting interviews with IT professionals who

have used Enterprise 2.0 technologies in their work. More specifically, I am contacting those

who have implemented E2.0 in a corporate infrastructure. I am interested in your thoughts as the

53

manager in charge of Pet Food Direct’s infrastructure as well as any past experience you have

had with Enterprise 2.0/ESN technologies. With your permission, I want to start with some

personal background questions in order to lay the framework for later technical questions.

What made you want to get in to IT?

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do in college, so I ended up majoring in computer science. I

graduated in 1997, and computer science was sort of a new thing then. It was supposed to be a

good way to get a job and has worked out pretty good.

Where did you go to school?

I went to school at Pitt.

University of Pittsburgh?

Yes, I’m from Altoona which is a little outside of Pittsburgh.

Where did you start working and how did you end up at Pet Food Direct?

I started working for Fiserv in Pittsburgh after graduating. I moved out to Philadelphia because

my wife went to Penn for a master’s degree, and worked for SAP for a few years before starting

at Pet Food Direct. At Fiserv I was doing some programming and database work, and at SAP I

moved more into a management position. I met some of the PFD founders through some friends

at SAP, and ended up becoming the director of technology a few years back as PFD expanded

and started needing a larger number of developers and DBAs.

How did you first interact with Enterprise 2.0 technologies?

What would you say is enterprise 2.0?

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Wikis, blogs, instant messaging in the work place – more non-traditional communication and

collaboration methods…

Well, Fiserv used Lotus Notes, which I hated (laughs). It was a terrible program that people

seemed to fight with more than use. Every place I’ve worked before PFD usually used email as

the main method of sharing work. SAP had a company intranet that had letters from department

heads and the president and some documents, but it wasn’t really used for collaboration. At

PFD we use google chat a lot now, and have implemented Sharepoint for an intranet site. A lot

of people still use email entirely, but that’s due to most of them not being as technical. Everyone

uses the intranet for some daily stuff like submitting time off requests. The IT and programming

teams use it a lot more as a place to document a lot of our work, which has helped a lot for new

hires. The programmers and IT guys use jabber when they work from home too, it helps keep

everyone in touch.

How do you feel management views E2.0 in your company?

To be honest, outside of myself, it’s very much off the radar for the rest of the management team.

I guess that can be said about IT overall too, as long as it works, there’s not a lot of thought

given to the rest. We’ve acquired a few companies in the last year that are in Florida and

Kentucky, so the IM stuff has become more important, but the upper management in particular

still uses email and phone calls more than the IM and Sharepoint and wikis.

Do you have any E2.0/ESN related projects on the horizon?

No, nothing right now. We might look at integrating our phone system with SharePoint in a year

or so for easier directories, but that’s pretty far off.

55

With the benefit of 20/20 hindsight what would you have done differently, or will you do

differently for your next ESN project from the project that had problems?

The SharePoint launch was a problem. We launched it at the same time we moved offices, with

the idea being that the new office could use SharePoint as a resource from the start. The

problem was there just wasn’t enough time to try and move offices and implement a new intranet

for the last month or so of both projects, so the SharePoint launch just got pushed back until we

were all set up in the new place.

What portion of your budget or work is related to E2.0 systems? Do you feel this is adequate?

There isn’t a specific budget line-item for any collaboration related things, it falls under general

Windows licensing and server costs. Given the size of the company and the needs, I think we’re

doing fine with what we have.

Do you feel that Enterprise 2.0/enterprise social networking/collaboration systems/groupware are

a passing IT trend, or an important part of corporate IT infrastructure?

For us it’s a small part of the overall IT system, not really something we focus a ton of time on.

If we keep acquiring companies outside of PA I could see needing a better solution, but for now

the basics of what we have serve us well.

Do you see E2.0 as being a continuing focus throughout the future of your career? Can you

imagine any way in which it may impact you in the future?

I think things like that will probably become more common, and it’ll end up being another

technology that IT as a whole will end up supporting. I guess in larger businesses it may be a

56

bigger thing with dedicated people and things, but for smaller companies I think it’ll become

another part of the overall picture.

Luke Kwiecinski – Pet Food Direct – Senior System/Network AdministratorHello Luke, my name is Ryan Haney, and I am a student in the IST program at Penn State. I am



IT. As part of my virtual team project, I am conducting interviews with IT professionals who

have used Enterprise 2.0 technologies in their work. More specifically, I am contacting those

who have implemented E2.0 in a corporate infrastructure. I am interested in your thoughts as the

implementing administrator for Pet Food Direct’s infrastructure as well as any past experience

you have had with Enterprise 2.0/ESN technologies. With your permission, I want to start with

some personal background questions in order to lay the framework for later technical questions.

What made you want to get into the IT field?

Mostly because I didn’t do well in mechanical engineering (laughs). It seemed like a good idea,

I like computers and had a job offer from a company I did an internship with.

Where did you go to school? What was your major?

I went to Penn for Mechanical Engineering and transferred to Drexel and got my degree in

Information Systems.

When did you graduate?

2006

57

Where have you work in the past, and what were your titles? What were some of your more

remarkable IT responsibilities?

I worked at Comcast first in 2003, with my first Drexel internship for 6 months. After that

internship ended, I started another at Pegasus in 2004. They were a satellite TV reseller and

had just started a wireless broadband service. I worked as the general IT guy there, and did a

little bit of everything along with one other person. At Comcast I was a Windows administrator

at the West Chester office. After around 4 years at Pegasus I worked for BDP for a year. BDP

did logistics and shipping, and I worked as the Citrix guy. BDP had some financial problems

with the recession and I ended up looking for a job about a year after I got there, and started

working at Pet Food Direct about a year and a half ago.

What is your job title at Pet Food Direct?

I’m the Senior System and Network Administrator.

Given that you’re a relatively recent graduate, were any Enterprise 2.0 technologies focused on

in your education? If so, do you feel that it prepared you well for the workplace?

Not really, there wasn’t much of a concentration on enterprise 2.0 stuff, it was more focused on

traditional things like networking and databases. Since it was an IS program there was more

business mixed in, but there was not really anything on collaboration technology or enterprise

2.0 that I remember. I’m sure some of it was talked about.

What are some different E2.0/ESN implementations you’ve seen at past jobs?

At Pegasus we used Lotus Notes and Sametime, which is the Lotus chat client. We also set up a

company wiki for the broadband support group, and used IRC as a chat room for the technical

team in general. It worked better than Sametime because you could get all 10 people in the same

58

chat room, which was important since the broadband network covered 3 different states. At

PFD we set up SharePoint as the company intranet and wiki system, and use jabber for instant

messaging.

You have implemented Lotus Notes as a company-wide instant messenger. How do you deal

with users that have inappropriate behavior using this E2.0 technology?

We didn’t really deal with it, it was more something I guess that HR would deal with if

something happened. We didn’t have anything in place to filter words or content in any way.

You mentioned the wiki, SharePoint, and jabber, are there any other E2.0 technologies deployed

at your current job?

Nope, those are the only ones.

What are your views as of Wikis?

They work great as long as the people using them are willing to update them. The biggest

problem always seems to be making sure the information is up to date. They work really well for

us at PFD because our processes usually require wiki documentation at some point.

How do you feel management views E2.0 in your company?

My boss supported the wiki rollout and using jabber, both made it easier for us to document stuff

and communicate if someone was working remotely. It also made it easier for contractors we

would hire for our out of state offices to search our documentation and keep in touch with me via

jabber.

What techniques have you found successful in helping to introduce and encourage acceptance

and use of ESN tools by your older knowledge workers?

59

This hasn’t really been a problem really, we’re a pretty young company and the target groups

for the collaboration stuff we’ve implemented is usually the technology people anyway. Usually

they understand the technology and see that it makes their lives easier in the end.

Do you have any E2.0/ESN related projects on the horizon?

Not that I know of.

Have any E2.0/ESN projects that you’ve been a part of failed or had problems achieving its

goal?

Our SharePoint rollout was a little rough and we missed the deadline by a month or two because

we moved into a new office, other than that the projects were pretty easy to implement.



I know for us it’s not really a major focus, we sort of find solutions for problems, and if they

happen to be enterprise 2.0 applications then it’s sort of a coincidence. Improving

communication and collaboration is a good thing, and if that all falls under enterprise 2.0 then I

guess it will be a pretty big part of IT in the future.

What are the best and worst uses of E2.0 in your experience? What makes one usage successful

and one less successful?

User acceptance is probably the biggest thing, for something new to be useful the users have to

actually work with it. I think wikis are probably the best use, most people just seem to

understand how they work and why they work well, particularly for IT or programming groups.

60

Do you see E2.0 as being a continuing focus throughout the future of your career? Can you

imagine any way in which it may impact you in the future?

I’m sure it will, especially as more people work from home and companies become more

international. If the employees are more spread out then getting them to work together well will

become harder, and better communication technology will be needed to make it all work

together.

George Kurian – icueTV – Chief Security OfficerHello George. I am Ryan Haney, and I’m a student in the IST program at Penn State. I am

currently taking a course on Enterprise Social Networking and Enterprise 2.0 technology. This

course is specifically designed to explore emergent social networking technology and relevant

trends in IT. I am conducting interviews with IT professionals that have used Enterprise 2.0

tools in their work, and more specifically those that have implemented E2.0 in a corporate

infrastructure. For the record - we have worked together and I have some knowledge of

icueTV’s E2.0 features. However, I am interested in your thoughts as the project manager for

implementation of these new technologies and as the security officer for the company.

What made you want to get into IT field? Was this your first choice in high school?

I was set on IT from the start, my parents had also pushed me in that direction. It is a very

popular field in India, and my father worked as a programmer for IBM since the 70s.

Where did you attend college?

I attained my undergraduate degree at NYU and my MIS from SUNY.

Do you believe a master’s degree is necessary for today’s technology workers? What advantages

do you believe it offers?

61

I think that anyone that wants to go into management or reach high levels needs a master’s

degree, it differentiates you from your peers as virtually everyone in the market has a bachelor’s

degree now. It also helps train younger workers in business practices that they may not have

much exposure to in the case of MBA or MIS degrees.

What relevant past work experience in IT do you have. What were your titles and some of your

responsibilities?

I spent most of my career working in New York City, I have worked for the UN, Ameritrade, and

Citibank to name a few. My last position was at Random House as the security officer for the

credit processing division. At Citibank I was the Vice President for Internet Security of the

consumer banking division. I have also been a network administrator and DBA prior to going in

to the security field.

Who is your current employer, and what is your current job title?

I am the Chief Security Officer for icueTV. icueTV designs interactive television systems that use

credit cards to process consumer orders for products placed on the TV.

Do you find the management or technical challenges of IT more satisfying? Why?

I enjoy the technical challenges more than the managerial challenges, the technical challenges

have good solutions while many managerial challenges end up with one party being unhappy

with the result of the problem. At heart I still feel that I am an engineer and not a manager, so

the technical difficulties I find more interesting to solve.

Can you explain what collaborative systems icueTV uses?

62

icueTV is an interesting case, as the company is a young start-up. When I arrived, there was

very little collaborative infrastructure in place, and the focus was simply on building the

product. Since then, we have implemented a number of collaborative tools which have helped

our technical processes, particularly in our interaction with clients such as Comcast. The Jira

ticketing system is probable the most used collaborative system. It lets us record and comment

on development requests and bug reports with our clients, and is also the main system used to

manage the SDLC. Our consultants also use the Jira system for work assignments given by the

software development manager. We also use jabber for instant messaging, and we are in the

process of implementing SharePoint for a company-wide intranet and wiki system and moving

off of Drupal.

What do you think are the advantages of implementing E2.0 platforms into a work environment?

The biggest advantages that I have seen involve centralizing the information repository for the

company as a whole. This helps prevent stovepipes in the information flow between divisions. In

a smaller company like icueTV this is less important, but at the same time laying the ground

work for such a system will make the transition much easier as the company grows larger.

Strong collaborative systems also help control the work flow overall and allow managers to

shorten their timelines on projects.

Are there any pros and cons on what to watch out for when implementing E2.0?

The pros and cons of an enterprise 2.0 system must be evaluated similar to any other technology

project. You must look at the expected gain versus cost of implementation, and decide if the risk

is worth the reward to the company. In many cases this risk is relatively low for collaborative

systems as they can be implemented and used organically, but there are still expenses involved

for server and software costs, and hiring new workers to manage the system.

63

What collaborative system that exists in your work environment do you feel impacts your daily

work the least?

For me personally the jabber chat system impacts my work day the least. I still prefer face to

face communication and do not use the messaging system as much as some of the developers and

engineers.

How are collaborative systems handled in your current position versus past positions?

Both Random House and Citi used collaborative systems quite a bit. SharePoint has always

been the most common implementation for company blogs, wikis, and document repositories.

Citi in particular was pushing a company-wide initiative for senior management to communicate

more effectively with their employees with blogs and using the comment section to interact with

readers. At icueTV, the company is very small in comparison, so we are able to build our

collaborative systems with an eye to the future, and not have to mix new technologies with pre-

existing implementations.

In your recent years of experience, you participated in a project migrating a company’s intranet

from Drupal to SharePoint. What was the cause of the move?

SharePoint enjoys a higher knowledge level with the majority of the existing staff over Drupal.

Drupal is a wonderful resource and can be less expensive to implement given its licensing model,

but our developers are generally focused on the .Net platform, and are more familiar with the

Microsoft technology stack as a whole, so moving to SharePoint made sense given the skill set of

those supporting the application.



64

I believe this depends on the size of the company in question. Larger companies tend to have

more opportunities for communication problems than smaller organizations, and these problems

are more difficult to overcome. In larger organizations, Enterprise 2.0-type technologies will

become increasingly important. In smaller companies I believe their importance will grow as

well however not as quickly as in larger organizations.

What do you see as the next evolutionary step in enterprise social networking for icueTV?

Once our SharePoint migration is complete I believe the next evolutionary steps will be to

increase user acceptance. We have no other major projects on the horizon for collaborative

systems, and increasing usage of our existing systems would become the focus of any enterprise

2.0 activity in the company.

What are some security implications you’ve run into implementing E2.0/ESN projects?

Although free flowing information generally benefits a company, there are obvious cases where

information should be restricted due to its nature. Human resources is one example, and credit

card and sensitive financial information is another. Keeping strong controls on access and

having strong audit policies is very important as you centralize information. You must ensure

that only those that should have access to an information area do.

How have E2.0/collaboration systems changed in your time as an IT professional?

Well, when I started working in technology email was really the only major collaborative system

used. Other technologies such as file and document repositories existed, but they tended to be

poorly managed. Now you have technologies such as the wiki, the SharePoint system, and

instant messaging all becoming standard practice in organizations.

Are there any E2.0 related recommendations you would have for CS/IT students?

65

Keep an open mind when you are working for an organization to where communication

problems exist. If you can identify these areas and come up with a solution to improve

communication, you will move forward quickly in your company.

John Dever – icueTV – Lead System Administrator (Please note that John left icueTV three days before this interview was conducted, unfortunately time did not permit scheduling another interview with a current icueTV employee)

Hello John. I am Ryan Haney, and I’m a student in the IST program at Penn State. I am currently



IT. I am conducting interviews with IT professionals that have used Enterprise 2.0 tools in their

work, and more specifically those that have implemented E2.0 in a corporate infrastructure. For

the record - we have worked together and I have some knowledge of icueTV’s E2.0 features.

However, I am interested in your thoughts as an end user and implementing engineer of these

new technologies.

What made you want to get into the IT field?

I’ve been using computers since I was a kid, IT was a good fit. I started working for a dialup

ISP when I was 15 doing basic Linux stuff.

Where did you go to school?

I went to school at Ohio State, but did not graduate.

Where have you work in the past, and what were your titles? What kind of work did you do?

66

I worked for OSU as an IT tech for the library, and then started a consulting company that built

inventory solutions for gas stations, then icueTV, and now I’m a Linux admin for Yellowbook. I

usually focus on Linux and Windows administration.

What was your job title at icueTV?

I was the Lead System Administrator at icueTV, I worked there for just about 3 years.

Can you explain what collaborative systems icueTV uses?

Chat and email are probably the most used. Pretty much everyone uses the instant messenger

system running on XMPP, and email to send documents and other things around. We had an

intranet that was not terribly popular, and I know they are in the process of finishing up the

transition to SharePoint. Icue also used a project management and ticketing system from

Atlassian to work with client requests.

What collaborative system do you feel most impacts your daily work?

Both the ticketing system and chat are probably the two that I used the most. Developers would

usually use chat to ask for code to be deployed to an environment. Clients would submit tickets

for changes through Jira and most of those changes were filtered through me. The old intranet

was not used all that much.

What do you think are the advantages of implementing E2.0 platforms into a work environment?

Generally they just make things work a little easier. With the chat client, people can ask a quick

question and get a fast answer without having to get up from their desk or interrupt someone

with a phone call. It’s also less formal than email, so a lot of times you’ll end up with a

conversation for solving a problem than just an email or two. Once icueTV implements the new

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intranet stuff I think that will help centralize a lot information and make it easier to document

changes. One of the hardest things going for PCI compliance was keeping up with the

documentation requirements.

What collaborative system that exists in your work environment do you feel impacts your daily

work the least?

The old intranet without a doubt had the least impact. It was never really used after being

launched.

Why do you feel that the old intranet has had little impact? Could anything be done to improve

its impact?

Well they’re going to replace it, which should hopefully fix a lot of the problems. It wasn’t

integrated in to anything we used on a daily basis. The authentication was different, so people’s

usual domain credentials wouldn’t work for the intranet. The wiki was a good idea, but because

so few people visited the site overall the wiki was under used.

How are collaborative systems handled in your current position versus past positions?

icueTV definitely had more of a focus on collaboration than any job I’ve had previously. My

boss definitely pushed for ways to help some of our contractors that were out of state work with

the rest of the people in New Jersey. We implemented a video conferencing system in the main

conference room and would hold the change management meetings with clients using the video

conferencing as well. It probably saved a lot of money on plane tickets.



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I think as long as they make sense for the company they will continue to grow. The upper

management at icueTV pushed both the old intranet and the new SharePoint site pretty hard, and

while an intranet made sense on paper, I think you also have to be careful about how it’s

implemented. I think other collaboration tools like chat and video conferencing are here to stay

for sure, and will probably grow. It makes communication faster and easier and less intrusive.

Do you see any differences between Yellowbook and icueTV’s Enterprise 2.0 systems?

Well I don’t know a lot about Yellowbook’s system yet, but I do know the intranet has a lot of

functions that you’re sort of forced into using. Your paystub is posted there every week, and you

have to use it to enter in over time. It’s also how people request time off and enter sick time.

They use SharePoint as well.

What are your views as of Wikis?

I think wikis are great as long as people use them. I think editing a wiki is still a little too

complicated for a lot of people, but for the tech part of the company they’re a good tool to use.

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IST 402 Team Project

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