I read an article this morning on Inc.com about a recent survey performed by Robert Half. According to the results of the polling of 1,400 CIOs (from companies with 100 or more employees), 60 percent of them currently have (47%) or are planning to deploy (13%) online training. “At the same time, most respondents were less interested in emerging Web 2.0 technologies, with nearly three quarters saying they had no immediate plans to adopt blogs, wikis, and other networking tools. Despite their potential benefits, many businesses are likely waiting for these technologies to spread before implementing them as an essential business tool, according to Katherine Spencer Lee, the firm’s executive director.”
The phrase that hit me was, “…waiting for these technologies to spread before implementing them as an essential business tool.” I read it again and again with Geoffrey Moore’s (actually Joe M. Bohlen and George M. Beal in 1957) technology adoption cycle flashing persistently in my mind’s eye.
Initially I was discouraged. I would have thought the 60 percent number would have been higher, considering it included companies that were planning to deploy Web 2.0 technology in the next five years.
Then I began to think about my years in the enterprise application software industry and our many customers who became (or retained their position as) market leaders as a result of employing technology to support the execution of winning business strategies. Whether they were innovators, early adopters, or even the first wave of the early majority, they changed the playing field, sometimes in the face of considerable risk.
Whether it’s gen-i or GE, companies that have a strong competitive business strategy and deploy technology in its execution possess a significant asset for competitive advantage.
So, if you’re reading this and your company is in the 40 percent group, you’d be well advised to strongly consider not “waiting for these technologies to spread before implementing” Web 2.0, or Sales 2.0 or any other leverageable technology. If you do, you might very well be relegated to picking over the customers your competitors have decided are not worth pursuing.
August 8th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
Dave,
Your comments are really very relevant and accurate. Speaking from the Australian context, I can’t help but feel many organisations are kind of hoping that web 2.0 and now Sales 2.0 just goes away. As much as we get out into the business community promoting these ideas, we get blank looks and smirks as they feel it’s another storm in a teacup.
I got stuck into one of my customers about their laggard attitude to Social Media, particularly as one of their competitors was starting to get into the space. Funnily enough, I now seem to have his attention.
August 10th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Hi mparker:
What the laggards have to realize is Web 2.0 and Sales 2.0 are not some dot-bomb start-ups such as we had in the late ’90s. These 2.0 technology-based business-enablers aren’t going away.
The old imperative “Get with the program” has rarely been more relevant.