Web 2.0 Consulting to CEOs
Since February 2009 I have had the privilege of speaking to over 80 CEOs of Canadian firms through the Presidents of Enterprising Organizations network, the CEO Global Network, the Women Presidents Organization (WPO) and the York Technology Association on the subject of Web 2.0. The companies whose executives have seen the presentation include Lyreco, Energizer, McMillan, Toronto Board of Trade, Consumer Impact Marketing, Melitta, Tree of Life, Kids Help Phone, Tyco/DSC, Swiss Natural Sources/Swiss Herbal, Wardrop Engineering, Jan Kelley Marketing, Marsulex, Kinectrics, Progistix Solutions/SCI Group, Peerless Electric, Pathway Communications, Glenway Golf & Country Club, Junior Achievement, the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario, RHR Canada, Triumph, Summerlea Office Solutions, LaserNetworks, Soft Care Corp, HostMySite.com, Aseco Integrated Systems, Greenblue Systems, Skyway Wind Energy Group, Torino Drywall, 360 Visibility, StaffClick Personnel, Blazing Design, Amer.com, Beneplan, Blake Jarrett & Company, NCI Marketing, Maracle Press, Melmart Distributors, Freedom 9, National Logistics Services, Industrial Thermo Polymers, Nealanders International, Atria Networks, End to End Networks, The Climate Change Infrastructure Corp. and The DOUG Agency.
Most CEO’s have heard of web 2.0 but they don’t really know what it is. When I ask them they say “it’s Facebook and Twitter and all those kind of web programs my teenagers use.” At the start of every meeting I ask them to share how Web 2.0 makes them feel. From younger groups (CEOs in their 40s) I hear “exciting, opportunities, possibilities, connections.” From older CEOs (50+) I hear “it’s weird, my kids are into it but I don’t get it, an invasion of my privacy, I feel left behind, I feel a loss of control, I feel overexposed, it’s a big waste of time.”
The big idea I share with CEOs is that Web 2.0 is fundamentally about the shift from publisher generated content to user generated content. Leveraging web 2.0 for your business means harnessing the incredible power of user generated content. But it requires a huge paradigm shift and many companies are getting left behind.
In a July 2009 global survey of 1,700 executives on Web 2.0 by McKinsey & Company “69 percent of respondents report that their companies have gained measurable business benefits [from Web 2.0], including more innovative products and services, more effective marketing, better access to knowledge, lower cost of doing business, and higher revenues.” Click on the chart to the right to see the details of this.
I quickly realized that the technology aspect of Web 2.0 is of secondary importance and it’s rarely why the implementations fail. The primary issue is always people and their work processes or online habits. The introduction of internally facing web 2.0 technologies into a workplace is fundamentally about changing people’s work processes, the way they get their work done. And if it it’s not planned around and integrated into the way users currently get their work done, then you have a sure recipe for failure.
The other observation I made is that internal web 2.0 applications are often brought on by the IT department to solve a particular problem and are rarely considered in the broader context of the firms business model: how they are organized and how they make money. Yet when you consider how you might leverage the power of user generated content in the context of a firm’s business model you open up the potential to enable significant profit growth by making strategic changes to the actual business model.
Because of these realizations I have partnered with John Sutherland, a business model design and innovation expert and together we have put together a Web 2.0 consulting offering that is being very well received. We have begun consulting engagements with a number of the firms whose CEO’s saw the Web 2.0 presentation and wanted to go to the next step.
Today most small and mid-sized firms will be able to find ASP/SaaS (ready made) solutions for their Web 2.0 needs. We have spent time researching and engaging with the top ASP/SaaS solution providers for implementations for 5 users all the way up to enterprise installations for thousands of users so we can recommend the best solution for your specific needs. We have also researched the best technology partners for customized solutions if you want to build off your existing Microsoft Sharepoint platform and get more functionality than the ASP solutions provide.
Companies that are finding our services most useful are $10-500 million Canadian companies where the leaders are aware of web 2.0 but don’t understand the opportunities it presents or how to move forward to capitalize on them. Our particular specialty is guiding management teams through the discovery, decision and implementation phases built on a mutual understanding of the firm’s business model.
If you know anyone who fits this description we’d be happy to have a chat with them.
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Tags: linkedin, speaking engagements, Web 2.0