Excerpts: Accelerating Process Performance
Taming the Supply Chain Beast with Enterprise 2.0
Excerpt: No one knows the true power, limitations and opportunities for each component of a product better than the very folks who build them. Second, component manufacturing is largely a commodity business. As a supplier, I need to differentiate myself from competitors who are waiting for me to falter or cut me on price. I need to be a strategic partner to be somewhat indispensible. Social Software can open up the lines of interaction beyond R&D, Procurement and Product Development, allowing suppliers to learn, first hand, any pain felt by the end customer. Or help marketing really understand the deep competencies of each component of the end product. Or provide new insight to R&D on early technology innovation at the component level. And on and on.
That’s purpose built collaboration (a.k.a business case) with dead clear incentives for suppliers to participate (a.k.a adoption) and play a role in the success of an end product in the market place.
Social Media a Time Waster for Sales Reps? Not until YouTwitFace shows up!
Social media for Selling pays huge dividends 1) as a lead qualifier and 2) as an engagement platform, after you have established a requisite qualification level. Start with a qualified list from your existing funnel and using Social Media to connect, network, nurture and enrichen your prospect intelligence, as you begin the close.
Enterprise 2.0 and the Paradigm of Social Partnerships:
Excerpt: Then there’s another side to this: My work experience has proven that organizations that do well understand that even internally they are really orchestrating a matrix of complex partnerships. Sales with Marketing; Product Development with Marketing, R&D with engineering etc., where each of these tend to work in extremely different ways. To be successful, you need to understand the unique dynamics of this relationship that make for a solid partnership that can ultimately drive the business forward. Outside of internal team collaboration (say, a group of marketers, a group of engineers, etc.), no spray & pray / general purpose employee collaborative strategy (or tool application) is going to really show sustainable impact for every tribe or collective. And just like traditional business ecosystem partnerships (customers, suppliers, channel), these internal partnerships also get significantly rattled in the face of industry consolidation.
Sales Intelligence in an Enterprise 2.0 World
Excerpt: Given the unique characteristics of a typical sales rep (more on that below), common participatory models that epitomize social networks (i.e. the stuff that has to do with sharing) would run counter intuitive to how a sales rep operates. That said, there’s plenty of good stuff bundled in the E2.0 moniker that absolutely can make a significant impact. I’m hoping to start a discussion of what those elements are with this post.