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Enterprise Software: To Be or Not To Be Like Facebook

By Chelsi Nakano  | Published Mar 12, 2010   Comments  3 comments

While most of us have been preoccupied with game-changing releases from Google, a war has been waged in the name of the future enterprise. On one side, Marc Benioff, chairman and CEO of Salesforce.com, leads those who believe enterprise software should be more like Facebook. On the other, a crowd of naysayers who don’t like the idea of mixing business with pleasure.  

Team Benioff

Benioff initially stirred the pot when he posted an article titled "The Facebook Imperative" on TechCrunch. Here’s an excerpt:

We need to transform the business conversation the same way Facebook has changed the consumer conversation. Market shifts happen in real time, deals are won and lost in real time, and data changes in real time. Yet the software we use to run our enterprises is in anything but real time. We need tools that work smarter, make better use of new technology (like the mobile devices in everyone’s hands), and fully leverage the opportunities of the Internet.

As you can probably imagine, such strong beliefs spawned a ton of strong feedback from the Internets:

Team Dignan

It seems appropriate to deem Larry Dignan of ZDNet the leader of the opposing team, seeing as how he compared Benioff’s idea of a better enterprise to feces.

Seriously.

“In a nutshell, Facebook is a lot like poo,” he wrote in a recent article. “You inadvertently step in it and then spend a lot of time trying to clean it up. Do we really want to extend that social-poo-ridden approach to the enterprise? I don’t. All I want at work is to find an expert within two or three clicks. On Facebook, I can find a few good Farmville experts, but not much else.”

Also on this side of the fence is Charles Zedlewski of Enterprise Irregulars. He highlighted some of this own beliefs in a recent article, including:

  • Facebook is designed for entertainment, not productivity.
  • I do not have the same social relationships with my co-workers that I do with my Facebook friends.
  • Facebook is not another better Lotus Notes

“I’m not so sure that ‘spend as much time on the site as possible’ is a useful design paradigm for the enterprise,” he writes. And then, in a brilliant play on pop culture, “…to ask 'Why isn’t all enterprise software like Facebook?' is a bit like asking, ‘Why isn’t all enterprise software like the final season of LOST?'”

Heh. I love that show. 

Social is the Way to Go

Both gentleman concede that nowadays enterprise software needs to be social, but feel that using the direct Facebook approach would be the opposite of useful. For example, Zedlewski suggests that the enterprise be more like Amazon's user design paradigm: find what you’re looking for, transact your business, get out.

"That doesn’t mean Amazon doesn’t have community features like favorite lists or reviews or collaborative filtering," he says, "but they’re designed in service of useful outcomes for the consumer and the business."

Benioff replied to criticisms by posting yet another beast of an article on TechCrunch, in which he states:

The enterprise is not just going to the cloud, it’s now going social, and it’s going mobile. Facebook and Twitter have shown us the way. Like Microsoft, and IBM, not everyone has to get it yet, but eventually they all will. As they say: Shift happens.

Obviously there are great arguments on both sides, and we must say, Benioff is right about shift happening. The number of emerging social solutions for the enterprise (FMYI, Socialtext, and CubeTree are just a few) prove that.

Yes, we are on the brink of a new way of working, but whether or not it will be entirely Facebook-driven as Benioff posits, is up to the masses. Sure, it would be nice to see Facebook's success translate over to the enterprise, but before we make a move that bold, it would probably be to keep in mind the fact that we've been known to get ahead of ourselves before (see: Google Wave).

So, tell us, how do you want to work?

 
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3 Reader Comments

1 | Anup Kejriwal — March 12, 2010 5:00 PM

Fascinating debate on both sides. Size and nature of the business has a lot to do with what “socialization” of business means. Just as we debated Facebook and Twitter's usefulness 12-18-24 months ago..we are going thru' this process of debating usefulness of social within the enterprise. In our minds, it has a clear space in the communication spectrum with clear first mover business advantages.

-Anup
www.engagesmart.com

2 | Ed Schlesinger — March 12, 2010 6:03 PM

“Facebook for Business” or “Chatter for Students” ( which will eventually evolve into social networking features WITHIN the enterprise)

Clearly, the most adept group of users [students] will benefit from Chatter; as will the universities that seek their interest and participation through out the 'student life cycle'. Imagine the power of Chatter for Students (and Higher Ed in general) - who can now share; classes, study groups, assignment projects, social interests, curricula, career aspirations and experiences, content, research; join common groups as members of specific Colleges, departments, upperclassmen, Freshman, Sophomores, frats, sororities ……. in a SECURE environment that is flexible enough for personalization; all while taking advantage of a common security and data model (sorry for the lack of grammar !!) And, because the interface is familiar - the learning curve is about a half a minute !!!

And what about those student graduates? Now they can have a shared; yet, secure platform besides the all purpose fb so they can stay connected to their Alma mater and each other and all those wonderful experiences they had in school. Keeping those 'memories' fresh, relevant and alive will insure benefits to the individuals and the institution (think Fund Raising, Career Development).

Chatter for Students or Facebook for Business - call it what you want; its a wonderful tool to engage the student from application through the entire 'student life cycle' and beyond into the enterprise.

3 | Justin Yuen — March 17, 2010 3:28 AM

Chelsi,

Thanks for including us in a list of social solutions for the enterprise! At first when I saw “Team Dignan” this came to mind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottle_Rocket

I love the “stirring the pot” feeling of this article. I think Marc and Charles are both right and both wrong:

1. A shift is happening when it comes to enterprise software - but the big story isn't about working in real time, cloud computing, new technologies, or dashboards. It's increased simplicity, enhanced usability, and rising user adoption with the “mainstream.” The reason why social media took off in the social realm is because those tools are easy to use for average people. Social networking and blogging sites lowered the barrier to publishing content on the Internet. People had fun. When was the last time someone said their enterprise software was fun?

2. The Facebook model provides transparency without efficiency. It's great to see the latest news from friends or articles we should read. But try to find a link from more than a week ago. Or try planning a big party with a bunch of people. Being social doesn't inherently equal business results. And the danger of what most large players deem social enterprise solutions (more feeds of real time info, more visibility to everyone being shared, and more discussions) can actually result in more confusion. Think about it - most people don't like to be bombarded with too much info. That's why people hate overflowing inboxes, or only look at the latest status updates.

If social enterprise tools are going to be successful, it has to be as easy to set up and use like Facebook to encourage user adoption, but empower people to accomplish business goals in the most efficient and user-friendly way. Until then, “social enterprise” is just going to be a buzzword to sell more software =)

-Justin

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