Aragon Research RESEARCH NOTE. Workplace Service. The Eight Pillars of a Collaboration Architecture

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1 Aragon Research Workplace Service Author: Jim Lundy The Eight Pillars of a Collaboration Architecture Summary: Collaboration is rapidly approaching an inflection point. Though remains the dominant tool, users are demanding more capabilities. Enterprises need more collaborative execution. An effective and flexible collaboration architecture should be built upon eight pillars. With business demanding ever-higher levels of innovation, agility, and productivity, the pressure to provide far more collaboration across and between firms has never been greater. Increasingly, workers find themselves needing to connect with more individuals, often outside the enterprise firewall. Trying to provide seamless collaboration among product and project teams from multiple enterprises around the world inevitably exposes weaknesses in collaboration tools and strategies. This Research Note identifies the eight key elements of a collaboration architecture that enterprises need to leverage to gain maximum productivity and knowledge sharing (see Note 1). Topic: Collaboration Issue: What collaboration technologies and architectures should enterprises leverage? Note 1: The Eight Pillars of a Collaboration Architecture Content Presence and Real time Communications: IM and Unified Conferencing. Enterprise Social Network Blogs/Wiki/Forums. Profile and Identity Activity Streams. Idea Engine. In 2011, the workforce includes a broader range of generations than seen before, partially because people are retiring later. Differences in attitudes, skills, expectations, and technology expertise create additional challenges for collaboration planning. Due to the view of technology as a tool, users are experimenting with different ways of collaborating. They often start with at the center of the collaboration universe. Content is King Technologists often see problems through different lenses, and for many years collaboration was viewed as a separate problem from managing content. In truth, however, content and collaboration have always been intertwined, and a collaboration strategy won t be successful if it doesn t address the issues of content. Today content is shifting from a focus on text to one that includes rich media. Video is at the forefront of this shift and the content part of collaboration architecture needs to be able to deal with all kinds of content, including all forms of media. Copyright This publication may not be distributed in any form without Aragon Research s prior written permission. The information contained in this publication has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable. Nevertheless, Aragon Research provides this publication and the information contained in it AS IS, without warranty of any kind. To the maximum extent allowed by law, Aragon Research expressly disclaims all warranties as to the accuracy, completeness or adequacy of such information and shall have no liability for errors, omissions or inadequacies in such information. This publication consists of the opinions of Aragon Research and Advisory Services organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. The opinions expressed here-in are subject to change without notice. Although Aragon Research may include a discussion of related legal issues, Aragon Research does not provide legal advice or services and its research should not be construed or used as such. Aragon Research is a private company and its clients may include firms or financial institutions that have financial interests in entities covered by Aragon Research. Further information about the objectivity of Aragon Research can be found at aragonresearch.com

2 For most enterprises, this means taking a close look at their content repositories and how they link to the collaboration architecture, from a high level all the way down to what the user does. It also means that today collaboration can occur in real time inside of a document. at an Inflection Point has historically been the glue that binds together much of the collaboration within and across businesses. Although poorly suited for truly collaborative work, by providing a consistent least common denominator of functionality, has created workable and manageable connections. However, the monopoly stranglehold of on collaboration is coming to a close, as a new generation of workers rejects it and moves to other, community based methods. The Facebook and iphone generation is comfortable with multiple and simultaneous modes of collaborating. They willingly adopt and often demand the newest capabilities. is sometimes intertwined with these tools but most often serves as a notification engine. Any new collaboration tool can be stressful for workers who are accustomed to as their primary collaborative work environment. However, even older workers have discovered the benefits of using different tools to collaborate and accomplish their work. The fear of newer collaboration tools is not new, but the improving integration of the applications that make up these suites is. In the past, interoperability problems often mandated a one-vendor approach. When the lone victorious vendor won the war, it was implied that they automatically earned the right to the rest of the enterprises collaboration software. This thinking is likely to continue in the context of cloud-based collaboration suites, which are becoming more popular. However, with integration improving substantially across collaborative applications (in part due to RESTful APIs and Open Social Widgets), this single-vendor strategy is no longer necessary. The resulting multi-vendor, multi-system environment is a more difficult one to plan for. In order to cope with the higher complexity and business must address the eight essential categories of a collaboration architecture. Collectively, they form the pillars on which an effective en- Page 2

3 terprise collaboration strategy can be created, and Aragon recommends that all eight be included (see Figure 1). They are: Content. (native or integrated with native app) Presence and real-time communication, including instant messaging (IM) and unified conferencing (Web, audio, video and content). Here VOIP is becoming integrated with Web and video conferencing to create a new category of unified conferencing. Enterprise social networks (e.g., Facebook) Blogs/Wiki/Forums. Users can choose how they express themselves with others in a community. Profile and identity Activity Streams. This includes microblogs, virtual walls, comments and ratings. Idea Engine. The newest element of a collaboration suite. Figure 1: The Eight Pillars of Collaboration and Calendar and calendars continue to be the dominant application in most enterprises, but it is only part of the needed solution and faces significant pressure as alternatives are being used. One of its limitations is that it is still point to point (one to one or one to many). Discussion forums are better and faster for sharing info, as are microblogs (wall posts). Instantaneous access is another key limitation, and this is the opening driving many users to go rogue, bypassing enterprise and using other and often consumergrade tools with unknown security and reliability. Page 3

4 Regardless of the pressures being placed on , it remains a foundational and key pillar of collaboration strategy. Other collaboration tools need to interact with , but enterprises don t have to buy all the tools from one vendor (even though vendors want you to). Any provider worth evaluating should offer interoperability with nearly any reputable enterprise system, including legacy systems. Presence and Real-time Communications Presence Providing reliable and useful information about the online status and accessibility of others is a necessity for many users. Today, however, presence, the predominant way of doing that, is locked inside a single application (instant messaging or chat), and for this reason it is often overlooked. Regardless of what collaboration mode is in use, presence enables the critical capacity to find coworkers online, so that users can communicate with others when they need to. In that spirit, presence is an enterprise priority, and should be considered a crucial part of a successful collaboration architecture. In the 1990s, executives fretted about deploying instant messaging because of the need to archive the conversations, often delaying or not deploying IM at all. Failure to act left users to their own devices, and large numbers of users chose their own tools from among consumer offerings such as AOL or Yahoo. As a result, instant messages were often open, unsecured and unmanaged. Real-time Communication, including instant messaging and unified conferencing (Web, audio and video), is rapidly growing in acceptance and use in enterprises, but these technologies have most often been deployed for niche purposes and are as a result siloed and isolated. Today users want these capabilities to be integrated into their day-to-day work life and all the applications they use. Given the shifts in the consumer space, more real time capabilities are being used in communities and as part of other applications. There is strong industry movement toward making unified communications integrated and interoperable. The issue for many enterprises is that we are not at a point of true unified real-time applications, and even unification is piecemeal. IM is often still a standalone product and its extensibility varies, but one criterion Page 4

5 for evaluating a system is that it allows users to shift into group chat, a web meeting, or a voice call, or to add audio, video or content sharing. Similarly, web conferencing products are growing in acceptance, but are not always as part of integrated suites of products. Video is clearly part of the collaboration mix, and the ubiquity of cell-phone video and video calling has unleashed grass roots, consumer-oriented enthusiasm among users. Enterprises will derive some ad hoc benefits from this, as they did from the IM boom, but security, manageability and archiving remain serious issues that IT must address. Enterprises that deploy a professional, business-oriented suite early in the demand cycle will face far fewer problems from the uncontrolled use of consumer products. Enterprise Social Networks Enterprise social networks (ESNs) are becoming the hub of daily activity for many users; in some ways they are the descendants of enterprise portals and intranets. Giving workers a safe, secure environment to connect and share with their colleagues and access resources is key to effective collaboration and decisionmaking for today s highly dispersed workforce. An important ingredient is providing seamless interoperability with other collaborative and sharing applications. The network should always be available as a primary channel for notifications, updates, workflow and other social networking activity. Connecting to other users through IM or chat based on an item of interest anywhere within the social network should be simple and immediate. One major challenge for many enterprises is that their ESN projects are susceptible to several high-risk failure modes. The worst failure mode for a collaboration system is that nobody uses it. Limitations in social networking functions or usability may result in lack of user interest and usage, or in diminished support if content becomes stale due to inaction. Lack of direct access to document management resources or IM connections to the experts that the presence system has identified may also depress user enthusiasm. Many enterprises have a generational gap separating -centric users from those who tend to avoid and use social networks instead. A well-designed social network will enable an active and thriving community, and will surface all of the capabilities across the seven pillars of collaboration. Blogs, Wikis and Discussion Forums Blogs, wikis and discussion forums have been used for many different business applications since the early 90s. They remain im- Page 5

6 portant tools for many types of sharing and communication. Not all of these tools may be used within an enterprise, but quite often social computing and collaboration initiates with a departmental or group use of one of these tools. Blogs Blogs are a public form of group discussion with limits on whether comments require editorial review or can be auto-posted. Today, blogs are being integrated into social networks and collaboration suites. Although similar to discussion forums, blogs remain a separate category because they allow individual users to not only participate but to have their own identifiable voice. In addition, some more advanced blog platforms, such as Wordpress, are growing in features and capability to compete with Web content management systems. Wikis Wikis are a popular way to share and edit content that are also becoming a pillar of collaboration strategies. Content in wikis is typically designed to have a certain shelf life to support a project or shared creation activity. However, beyond its initial use the content of a wiki will often continue to be available for access via search. Wiki functions tend to be basic or advanced. The difference is significant because in its advanced form, the wiki is truly a shared authoring platform. This makes it very good for support sites where people are updating regularly and adding best practices. In addition to the content, wikis themselves often have a set life and will tend to require end of production and archiving plans. A growing use case for structured Wikis is as replacements for Intranets. Community shared spaces can be set up where users can share content. An example of this is the deployment of sales kits for a field sales force. A wiki is set up with a list of the available tools (presentations, reference material), guidance for their use, and links to the actual files. This is easy to set up and can be modified by the content owners without going through the publishing process of an intranet. Discussion Forums The oldest online community format is the discussion forum or newsgroup. Today, forums are an important way to capture tacit knowledge from users, customers and partners. Good, fast search is important in a forum so users can quickly and efficiently access the content. Page 6

7 Blogs, wikis and discussion forums have much in common, and this often creates confusion among users regarding usage and applicability. Ideally, blogs are used for communicating and getting feedback. Forums are ideal for asking questions and soliciting answers from the entire community. Wikis have attributes from both of the others, but are best at creating a platform for gathering shared ideas and allowing multiple users to create documents. Profile and Identity Profiles and identity management are key capabilities that enable and facilitate the other functional aspects of collaboration and social networking. Profiles are often misunderstood in an enterprise. A defining element in a social network is the user profile, and for enterprises the source of this information needs to be the HRIS, the LMS (employees) or CRM system (customers). Identity gains initial certification and authenticity by using the core systems of record for either employees or customers as the definitive source of IDs for the social network. However, this only works reliably if the source systems containing identity and profile information are treated as an essential ingredient in the initial system planning and design. If they are connected as an afterthought, the result can be redundancy and potential identity errors. Profiles are also essential as the basis for expertise location. Information from profiles is used in searches to find individuals with specified skills, competencies, experience and interests. Within the enterprise, trust in the accuracy and validity of some data in the profile (such as job title, department, competency or learning certification) is critical, and should be controlled by the underlying core system (HR or CRM). Other data, such as more detailed descriptions of skills, interests or other work experiences, can come from users themselves or even their colleagues ( customer ratings ). Activity Streams Microblogs, such as those seen intwitter, provide a streamlined way to share a single idea in a simple form. Due to their popularity and use in wide ranges of applications, microblogs have evolved into activity streams that allow the equivalent of many simultaneous group chats. These streams move information faster and let dispersed people find content and colleagues to help them solve a business problem. Page 7

8 Activity streams also require an integrated approach to the seven pillars of a collaboration strategy. Information posted in a formal document, contained in an thread, updated to a wiki or blog, or broadcast as a microblog entry are all sources that may be needed as workers make use of multiple communication channels. Idea Engine Idea engines should no longer be viewed in isolation. They offer an easy way to solve problems and generate answers to nagging issues that plague enterprises. Making an idea engine a selection criterion for collaboration suites is useful for two reasons: Ideas are the fastest way to innovate. A standalone idea engine costs far more than one that is part of a suite. Openness and Integration Mobile First Integrating different tools has always been complex and difficult. RESTful APIs are important, particularly when integrating applications from different providers. This has been the mantra for the last few years. Increasingly, users will be looking for mobile capabilities Enterprises need to query providers today and learn how they enable simple, fast and easy collaboration on mobile devices. In the tablet arena, today that means Android based tablets and the Apple ipad. The Security Risk Keep in mind that, given the vulnerabilities in operating systems, IM is still an easy penetration vehicle for hackers, so it is all the more important to make an enterprise decision on presence and IM. Security must be part of the overall criteria for product selection and testing, particularly with regard to profile, identity and access. The Compliance Angle Compliance is tied to regulations, and for publicly traded companies that means records must be kept. As collaboration gets more intertwined with content, it becomes important to establish records policies for messages (such as , instant messages and tweets) that can be used to prove that certain things happened at certain times and in a certain order. This makes vendor selection more important, since IM or archiving is mandatory in regulated industries. Page 8

9 Aragon Advisory Aragon recommends that enterprises undertake five key steps: 1. Evaluate the eight pillars of our collaboration architecture and use them to determine the best way to develop an approach for your enterprise. Implementing an architecture in phases can be very effective, because it allows users to both see progress and understand the vision. 2. When developing an approach, an important early step is to take inventory of your current tools. It is not uncommon to have multiple versions of multiple products from various providers used in silos around the enterprise. The more there are, the more you have to evaluate integration capabilities. Integration isn t inherent but it is important. 3. Focus on developing the right approach to collaboration that fits your enterprise and your culture. Collaboration is tricky and deserves more attention, particularly as the PBX gives way to a more computing centric approach to real time collaboration. 4. Launch and learn. It is also not a bad idea to sandbox new approaches as you refine what works for you. Limiting the scope of a pilot can often allow lessons learned to be quickly applied to a larger group. 5. Ensure that your approach to content management is part of the overall collaboration architecture. Bottom Line Enterprises need to get ahead of user demand for collaboration. While it is impossible to stop users from going rogue, developing a comprehensive approach to collaboration and creating an enterprise architecture is a critical step. Not all the elements need to be in place today, but by establishing an architecture, you can develop a plan for the future that will give you access to a broad set of capabilities. Page 9