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Enterprise Social: Better Communication But Communication About What?

Ben Farrell
August 1, 2012

Washington Business Journal recently published a thought-leadership piece from Appian CTO Michael Beckley on social in the enterprise. The piece contrasts the flood of "enterprise social platforms" on the market to Appian's worksocial approach ofmarrying social (and mobile) directly to the business events and business data that drive an organization.

"Enterprise social platforms deliver better communication ñ but communication about what?" Mike asks."They don't hear about or post system-generated business events in real-time. They don't track collaboration in the context of an auditable business process. They are no better than e-mail at enforcing business rules, ensuring quality task completion, and measuring process improvement. Where's the highly touted social advantage?"

The Social and Mobile revolution in enterprise technology holds the key to solving many crucial problems faced by business and IT ñ provided it is approached and incorporated in the right way. Otherwise, it will simply create new silos, add to application sprawl, increase the IT cost structure and deliver limited business value.

Mike said it well in his WBJ piece: "Most enterprise social platforms are productivity killers because they are disconnected from work. They are yet another siloed platform, cut off from broad enterprise processes, systems and data. They are simply a new channel for water-cooler talk."

Our CEO Matt Calkinsdiscussed the same notionin a recent eWeek article: "The applications that make up your business are full of events, and some of those events demand interaction and so, ideally, what we should be doing is taking those events, exposing them to the right people and facilitating the necessary interaction right there."

That same eWeek story quotes Forrester senior analyst Clay Richardson talking about the BPM-based enterprise social approach. Clay said, "To be sure, some BPM vendors adapt to the social trend by simply adding some social components to their existing software...[Appian] bakes social into the core of their BPM offering."

Worksocial is the next evolution of Appian's history of market-leading innovation. It can help your organization turn the Social and Mobile revolution into real business value right now. And it will position you to be ready for what comes next in the ever-evolving nature of business and IT. Read our white paper on "The Transformative Power of Worksocial for Business" to learn more.

Ben Farrell

Director of Corporate Communications

Ben Farrell