Virtusa has participated in quite a few conferences lately. At each one, I noticed a pending mash up of whatever core technology was covered with all things social. Right now, social looks like the Blob consuming everything in its path.
On the one hand, social is terrifying to many IT professionals. It reeks of teenage ADD, wasted time, no defined ROI, inappropriate behavior and disclosure and all things bad on the web. End users are going out and doing it on their own signing up for services with their credit cards without IT’s knowledge. At one conference a presenter admonished “give up, you cannot control it”.
On the other hand, social is inexorable and will not be deterred. Its relentless march continues as Twitter reaches fifty million Tweets per day. Handset manufacturer exacerbates the problem with the release of their Devour handset built on the Android platform specifically for social media. Major consumer brands like Pepsi are diverting huge amounts of their marketing budgets from traditional advertising media, like the Super Bowl, to social media.
At face value social would seem to clash with the disciplines of IT in areas like BPM. The unruly world of social media would not seem to conform to the rigor of enterprise processes. Upon closer inspection social would benefit greatly from the discipline and offers great opportunities for expanded collaboration and interaction along what would normally be an insular process.
Each step in a process has the opportunity to benefit from engaging an expanded audience. If one is looking to conduct a financial transaction, one can ease the “buyer’s remorse” by satisfying the urge to consult a wider audience and do a little research. We’ve all been there. We walk into the store and eye that new mobile device that has seduced us with that big new screen. We pick it up, hold it, type on it, fantasize about possessing it…and put it back on the shelf. We know we want to buy it but we walk through the display area just to look at the other options to convince ourselves that we are making the right choice. This baby is going to require a minimum 2 year commitment. Is it that good? Buyer’s remorse.
Enter social media. I’m able to read the hashtag about what people have to say about this device. I can ask questions in a forum and participate in a threaded discussion. I can read reviews. I allay my fears. The remorse is still there but “I’m not alone”. If I have a problem, there will be others like me and we can bond together to seek solace if not remediation.
What about a surgical procedure and the patient experience? I wrote a post for ebizq.net (http://www.ebizq.net/blogs/tech_tomorrow/2010/04/forget-the-buzzwords-how-do-we-improve-the-customer-experience.php) and imagined the patient experience of the future (hopefully not too distant). I tried to avoid any specific references to technology that would cloud my imagination.
Many processes and many industries can re-tool themselves for a better customer experience without technology limitations. Is IT prepared? Are the underlying foundation applications agile and lean so they can support a new generation of application? Can IT embrace, implement and execute platforms fast enough to meet the velocity of the demands of the business? Does IT need to control everything or should it let the business community do it on their own? What does it mean to succeed?
[...] Social BPM – Doug Mow On the one hand, social is terrifying to many IT professionals. It reeks of [...]