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In fact, calculating the ROI on social software is complicated to the point that economically it is unrealistic to do so. Instead of an estimation a posteriori a pilot phase, ROI as it is commonly referenced in the “Enterprise 2.0″ scene is pure guess and absolute non-sense in most cases.

* New metrics. Because we deal with different stuff, we need to invent metrics that are relevant to what we are trying to follow and drive. For social software, one can start with the usual web and online community metrics. Some new initiatives, such as Me-trics, open doors to more in-depth analytics that are worth considering (with a barrage of ethical considerations however).

Why Balanced Score Cards? For four reasons: 1. Kaplan & Norton have escaped the collusion of measurement and quantity. Measurement is not necessarily quantitative. That is a common source of confusion and of inefficiencies in numerous parts of human activity (to name a few: reporting (exhaustiveness), research (methodology), education (elite creation via selection on maths)). Measurement can be qualitative (see  Georgescu Roegen work if you’re curious). It is no surprise if numerous initiatives in intellectual capital used Balanced Score Cards 2. Balanced Score Cards are notably visual, which is not so with quantitative ratios.  That visual characteristic invites greater meaning and relevance. 3. Balanced Score Cards are heterogeneous and are therefore a more natural receptacle for a) qualitative and quantitative analytics and b) can encompass a variety of topics. In this regard, one can build official reporting encompassing both physical and knowledge activities. 4. Balanced Score Cards are aggregative so that one can build reports from various levels in the organisations. Coupled with its heterogeneous nature (previous point), one can build reports for HR, Marketing, Finance, … under the same format and surface analytics at one or many levels. The result is that some knowledge related metrics can climb the hierarchy up to the summit.

And while some of it must remain under strict control, particularly in public companies, much of it is unnessarily — and usually to a fault — hidden, unreused, and unexploited.

Explain the reasoning behind retaining more knowledge, in making it public, searchable, and organizing it via tagging.  Describe the benefits of being able to access much fresher and more up-to-date information elsewhere in the organization because their colleagues are managing more of their projects, tasks, and other work via social tools. 

Provide useful templates for common activities and reference material such as projects, tasks, resource management, policies, procedures, standards, and so on.  You still have to keep template layouts and template usage simple; excessive structure tends to kill the golden goose of contributions quickly.  But a little basic structure goes a long way and prevents contributors from having to figure out how to structure all the white space and provide a simple layer of consistency.

The enterprise has not caught up, largely because most enterprise information doesn't allow a hyperlink structure, and links aren't encouraged very much when it does

setting up blog and wiki directories as well as good enterprise search based on link ranking (which is what Google does to make the right information come up in the first few pages of search results.) 

Provide your own search engine in the tools only if you must.

, the real issue, day in and day out, with getting Enterprise 2.0 to take off is to educate, evangelize, demonstrate, and most importantly, evolve the interface and structure of your tools until you pick the right formula that resonates with your audience.

This boils down to having some form of moderation, either human or automated, to ensure that the level of discourse remains at some bare minimimum acceptable standard. 

A high-profile executive sponsor that obviously uses the tools can also help in a big way.

Triggering an Enterprise 2.0 ecosystem quickly is likely an early activity driver.  This can mean a lot of things but the link structure of Web tools allows information to quickly flow, circulate, and mesh together.  You can leverage this in a almost infinite number of ways to drive user activity, interesting content, create awareness of what the company is "thinking", and more.  For example, create a blog for every employee in the company and mail the link to them with instructions on how to use it. >  Create a social bookmarking site for the enterprise where everyone can see what is being bookmarked by everyone else that day. >  Create an internal Wikipedia that contains a seperate copy of all Intranet content and let users edit away. >  The possibilities are endless and provide a much greater number of "entry points" where people can get started with these tools.

The problems will be with the business culture, not the technology. 

For example, create a blog for every employee in the company and mail the link to them with instructions on how to use it. 

Create a social bookmarking site for the enterprise where everyone can see what is being bookmarked by everyone else that day.

Create an internal Wikipedia that contains a seperate copy of all Intranet content and let users edit away.

Allowing the output of SQL queries to be inserted into wikis when they load, calling Web services or using Flash badges that access data resources can turn Enterprise 2.0 tools from pure knowledge management into actual hybrids of software and data

And the reverse should be true as well, getting data back out into traditional tools including Office documents, PDFs, and XML must be easy to inspire trust and lower barriers to use.

Fusion Tables est encore un produit expérimental destiné à intégrer des données issues de sources différentes et de formats différents dans une même table et de fournir des fonctions de collaboration, de requêtes, de visualisation et de publication sur le Web. Fusion Tables est plutôt destinée aux très grands volumes de données.

Cette semaine, Google dévoilait Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook, un outil permettant de synchroniser leurs courriers, calendrier et carnets d'adresse entre Exchange/Outlook et Gmail. Cet outil fait suite à un autre qui permet de faire à peu près la même chose sur la téléphonie mobile. Cet outil qui est proposé comme un plug in est disponible pour les utilisateurs des versions payantes de Google Apps, à savoir les versions Premier et Education Edition.

Quel est l'intérêt de cette offre ? Tout simplement que beaucoup d'utilisateurs préfèrent ou sont déjà habitués à l'interface d'Outlook.

Le plug-in est pour l'instant disponible uniquement en anglais, il est compatible avec Outlook 2007, Windows XP SP3 et Vista.

Google Apps est commercialisé à 50 dollars par utilisateur et par an. Google aurait quelque 500 000 utilisateurs payants de Google Apps Premier Edition (Soit un chiffre d'affaires en base annuel de 25 M$ en abonnement).

 D'autres fournisseurs comme IBM, Oracle, Novell et Sun reconnaissent que le support natif d'Outlook est le meilleur moyen de lutter contre Exchange (l'utilisateur final ne se soucie pas de savoir quel est le serveur de messagerie mis en œuvre par l'entreprise) »

Google positionne son plug-in comme un outil permettant aux entreprises d'effectuer une migration d'Exchange vers Gmail plutôt que comme une combinaison permanente

Google Wave n'est pas encore un Tsunami Parallèlement à cette offre tactique qu'est Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook, Google a montré avec Google Wave ce que pourrait être un outil de messagerie et collaboration dans les années à venir.

Google Wave intègre plusieurs fonctionnalités en général distribuées dans différentes solutions, à savoir les messageries électronique et instantanée, collaboration en temps réel et traitement de document à plusieurs (une sorte de Wiki en plus perfectionné).

« Avec Wave, Google veut changer fondamentalement la manière avec laquelle les utilisateurs/internautes (internausateurs ou utilisanautes) communiquent en transformant le Web en un système de collaboration temps réel intégré »

Google Wave ne concurrencera pas Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange ou Office SharePoint Server avant 5 à 10 ans

Une nouvelle version de Google Search Appliance

Conçues selon une architecture dynamique, plusieurs GSA, même distantes, peuvent fonctionner en parallèle

La GSA 6.0 offre des options de personnalisation pour l'administration, la sécurité, les paramètres de classements des documents... Elle inclut ce que l'on appelle des fonctions de recherche dites sociales, c'est-à-dire issues des suggestions des utilisateurs.