Well, it's finally published.  Courtesy of a great partnership with Cisco marketing, I am pleased to finally share my completed white paper, which you can read here.  Unlike what you may consider to be a typical Cisco white paper, this one does not reference a single Cisco product - not a one. I purposely wrote this paper with a business-first (as opposed to technology first) approach.  Afterall, collaboration within the enterprise means nothing without a business objective to support.  Simply put: you must first understand the business objectives before you can begin to develop a strategy to leverage technology in an effective manner. My hope is that as you read through this paper, you walk away with not only an approach for how to organize your thinking around collaboration but also an appreciation / realization that technology is simply an enabler of collaboration, not the genesis of it. If you are interested in reading through some of my prior posts chronicling my journey from penning the initial draft through multiple rounds of peer and corporate edits, read Parts 1 and Parts 2, respectively. And as always, feel free to leave comments / questions / thoughts.  And if you are so inclined, follow me on twitter: @JoeSMoran ... View more

Back in the beginning of June, I wrote of the effort I was going through to get my upcoming white paper, 'Transforming Collaboration Through Strategy and Architecture' published.  Well, I am happy to report that it appears the end is near - a suprisingly (to me at least) 2.5 months since I penned the original draft.  I'm hopeful to have the final version of the paper available by early next week. Overall, the paper has been getting a very favorable response internally at Cisco as well as from some select external reviewers.  And for those of you accustomed to the typical 'technology-heavy' white papers from Cisco, I think you will find this paper to be a refreshing departure with a business first, technology second narrative. My aim is to get decision makers in organizations to start rethinking how collaboration technologies are evaluated, deployed and used within the enterprise.  If I were to summarize my thesis, it would be: Technology does not define collaboration, it is simply an enabler.  Focus on business first, technology second. I am looking forward to getting this white paper in front of as many people as possible and thanks to the support of Cisco marketing, I should have plenty of opportunities.  In addition to getting multiple locations within Cisco.com to link directly to the paper, it will also be included in the assets featured in Cisco's upcoming Collaboration Launch event in the Fall. Below is an additional preview passage (see my previous post for another excerpt) from the paper as food for thought.  Whether you agree or disagree, if it at least makes you think, then you will find the complete paper well worth the read. Holistic Collaboration Architectures Often the terms unified communications, Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0, and social media are used interchangeably to describe collaboration. However, none of these terms is synonymous with collaboration, because each represents only a subset of the much broader spectrum. For enterprises to develop and embrace a comprehensive vision, they must make sure the evaluation process extends beyond unified communications or Web 2.0 and consider all collaborative capabilities. Enterprise collaboration strategy and architecture, however, should not necessarily result in a roadmap for deploying every available collaborative capability. The evaluation process should lead to a collaboration strategy and architecture that are selective, consisting only of those capabilities that help meet identified business imperatives. To continue the discussion, leave comments below and consider following me on twitter:  @JoeSMoran. ... View more

For that last year, I've been spending a lot of time talking about Cisco Services' approach to developing holistic collaboration strategies and architectures.  Overall, the conversations have been great, filled with a lot of positive feedback.  So the thought occured to me that I should probably spend some time taking my presentation and the accompanying talking points and organize them into a white paper that could be shared with whoever was interested in reading about the topic. I gathered up my various presentations and notes, set aside some signifcant blocks of time in my calendar and dedicated myself to completing the paper - which I eventually did over the course of a few long days (and some even longer nights).  After a couple rounds of internal peer review, I had my completed draft. So off to marketing I went with hopes of having a polished, published version available to share with the world in just a matter of weeks.  Marketing's response:  "content looks great, we'll look to have this go through the publishing process in time for November." "November?!", I said,  Wow, that was a reality check in Cisco publishing logistics I was not expecting. I'm working some angles to see if we can get my paper moved up in the schedule, but needless to say I am looking at months, not weeks, before it gets published.  So while the world anxiously awaits, I figured I would provide a small preview. One of the first things I discuss when speaking about collaboration is why it's different than other technology initiatives.  By focusing on the considerations that an organization must account for when evaluating collaboration initiatives, it creates an interactive dialogue that allows stakeholder from Business and IT to realize that they must both play an active role if they are going to develop a successful collaboration strategy. If you're interested in the following passage from the paper, you'll most likely also be interesting in reading about why we consider a holistic architecture approach to be critical to any collaborative analysis and the steps we feel are crucial to developing a collaboration strategy which is both business AND technology relevant.  Enjoy: Considerations for Collaboration As a domain, Collaboration is unique in its potential to impact every employee, business partner and customer.   While recent advances in collaborative technologies have brought an increased awareness and focus to the discipline, it is important to recognize that the process of collaboration already exists within every enterprise, large and small.   Collaboration has been occurring long before personal computers, smartphones and video solutions entered the workplace.    However, today’s environment is providing an extraordinary opportunity to reevaluate and transform the ways in which enterprises collaborate. Collaboration is much more than just technology.   Collaboration is more than a technical architecture, a solution, or product—it’s the transformational journey and experience that integrates people, processes, and technology.   Collaboration is the catalyst for evolving from simply using technology to re-thinking business; changing process; and adapting culture.   As a result, holistic collaboration strategy and architecture must account for and address not only the technology, but how solutions impact an organization’s process and culture. Successful collaboration cannot be viewed as a ‘One Size Fits All’ proposition.   It becomes critical to evaluate and understand both internal (e.g., Executives, Sales, Knowledge Workers, etc.) and external (e.g., Customers, Suppliers, Vendors, etc.) roles in order to develop strategies and architectural solutions which meet those unique communication / collaboration requirements.   For example, a highly mobile sales force will likely have a very different collaboration profile than your typical desk-bound knowledge workers.   Additionally, understanding the complexities within a given industry vertical must also be considered.   For instance, collaborative solutions effective within Media and Entertainment enterprises may have minimal, if any, applicability within the heavily regulated world of Financial Services. User adoption is the true indicator of collaboration success.   Unlike other technology based initiatives, simply deploying a collaboration solution does not signal success.   Successful collaboration relies on the ‘network effect’ which states that a product or service’s value increases as more people use it.   Before a collaboration initiative can deliver any value it must have active participants – the more people using, the more potential value.   However, without a clear alignment to business imperatives / objectives, collaborative technologies risk becoming isolated islands of functionally.   The result: deployed capabilities struggle to gain traction and adoption within the organization; anticipated benefits fall short of expectations; increased operational complexity and overhead for IT organizations. ****** Background Information about the  Collaboration Architecture Blog Series ****** This blog is part of the  Collaboration Architecture Blog series.   View the brief  video below to find out what this blog series is, and why you should  read, subscribe, and post your feedback. View  all posts in this series . Posts to the Collaboration Architecture Blog are made at least once a month.   Subscribe  via RSS feed so you don't miss the next one. ... View more

Sites like this one have the potential to be like the extras that you get on DVDs; providing glimpses into the thought process behind the production and often times, content that never made it to the final cut.  Consider A Collaboration Vision. In Plain English one of those 'extras' to the Cisco Collaboration epic. This video was the result of some brainstorming by myself and a few people from Cisco's Advanced Services Collaboration practice this past summer.  The intent was never to convey, or even imply, Cisco's product roadmap future.  It was simply an exercise in creative thinking with the sole intent of provoking some internal dialogue that would perhaps expand our thoughts about what Cisco's role could be in the collaboration space. In sharing this video on Cisco Community Central, I'm looking to provide some of that behind-the-scenes insight showing just how broad the spectrum of ideas can be within Cisco when it comes to collaboration. So with that, thanks in advance for watching and I welcome any and all comments.  And for the competitive lot out there, let's see what alternative (and hopefully humorous) names you can come up with for CICNaaS (you'll have to watch the video to find out what that is). Video Link : 4605 For those of you already familiar with CommonCraft, you should recognize the presentation style (hence the CiscoCraft reference). And credit to Wired magazine for their article about the changing landscape of the auto industry, which provided inspiration for industry context incorporated into the video's narrative. ... View more