OrgCharts and User Profiles

Posted on March 4, 2014 by NicB72

We have just finished rolling out a much improved PeopleSearch/OrgChart solution for our enterprise. This was the culmination of 4yrs of effort to move forward the way we look at user profiles and aggregate user information.

Its an exciting time as we now have a rich user profile that will enable so much across the organisation. But let me start at the beginning with what is a User Profile

Its all about Me

A user profile is made up of lots of information about the individual. Some comes from the user themselves typed in, some from HR systems, some is from applications they use and some is derived based on behavior. Lets look at that in some more detail.

Organisation information
What division you are part of, cost center, site, role, title, level in org, who you report to, etc.
Contact Details
Office location (address, etc.), Phone number(s), email address, twitter handle, etc.
Biographical & Background
Biography, Education, licenses & memberships, languages, etc.
Professional Data
Skills, Ask Me About, Region Responsibility (Sales), Product Responsibility, etc.
Application Data
This is where applications would store data such as settings, preferences, etc. stored in a global profile so it can be re-used in other applications. e.g. if you are in R&D and you focus on one particular area that information should be usable by all apps and you shouldn’t have to re-enter it,
Behavioral Information
This is the interesting stuff. Stores websites you visit, searches you perform, content you tag, content you view, etc. – this tells people a lot more about who you are and what you do than anything else. Of course it has to be time bound and old behavior has to be removed,

I don’t want the world to know

People need to have the opportunity to chose what data to share with the rest of the organisation. This becomes especially important in certain countries where data protection and other laws play a strong part.

Of course its more useful the more data the individual shares but it has to be their choice therefore its critical to explain the benefits and alleviate any concerns.

One last point on this. Safe Harbor rules need to be considered and addressed. You need to ensure people know where the data is stored and provide them the ability to view all that is stored about them.

Lots of Complete Profiles – Now what

Now we have a complete profile not just for the individual themselves but for others inthe organisation we can start to do some interesting stuff that really drives productivity.

Search relevancy
We can tailor the search results from a query based on who the person is, location, past search behavior, etc. we can take the query and the user profile to try to work out the intent behind the query. Of course if we can take into account their calendar and recent emails that can give even more context to the query !
Content enrichment
This is a big one. Nobody likes adding meta-data when they upload content into repositories but that meta-data is essential to aid searching and content findability. The user profile can help by suggesting meta-data based on data from the profile and from past behaviour. The user can still override and if they do that will be stored as new behaviour in the user profile
Recommendation engines
Another big opportunity. Solutions can suggest content, people and sites. They take information from the user profile and meta-data on sites & content and other people’s user profiles to make recommendations. Tie into that the ability for the user to rate content and sites and thumbs up/down recommendations, all of which is stored back in the user profile, over time the solutions get better and better at suggesting content.
‘Personal Assistants’
This is the whole Siri/Cortana/Google Now concept. The assistants can provide better answers to questions by taking into account all the information from your profile including that behavioural data.

See how important a well maintained user profile is. Oh and thats a key point, a profile is never finished, it’s like a flower it needs to be looked after, watering and feeding is the updating and revising of that profile, regularly.

Using my iPad in the enterprise

Posted on October 1, 2013 by NicB72

Bit of History

I purchased an iPad 1 in late 2010 as my organization tried to understand how it could help collaboration. We had to make sure our core intranet portal worked well on it for our Senior Leadership and Board who were all getting these devices due to the ease of use and instant on functionality.

That was fine and our intranet design needed little tweaking to work on the iPad.

Its all about the experience

Over the next couple of years we tried to expand use of the iPad for leadership and management and look for other uses such as in the manufacturing and sales space.

It really took off in the sales space with our sales-force preferring the light and unobtrusive product when looking to show vendors/potential customers material about our products. The instant on means no ‘dead-time’ waiting with the customer for the machine to boot up for you to show designs or videos of the product. Additionally its lower cost over laptops means damage in the field is not so much an issue.

Inside the enterprise we saw teams trying to make their apps work in the browser on the iPad but many enterprise solutions use flash or silverlight and that will never work on an iPad. So in those cases Citrix was the answer. But it isn’t. It just presents a Windows desktop on an iPad, small buttons that do not work well with fingers and touch just make it horrible. Lagging also kills the experience dead.

New Shiny iPad

Anyway in 4Q13 I got my new iPad, I had been waiting for the retina Mini and got it as soon as it was released. Specifically I have the iPad Mini Retina with Cellular.

So a few things. This new form factor works even better for me. It is the perfect place between my laptop and my phone. The screen quality is great and of course cellular means I am always connected so thats excellent, yes I can tether a laptop but its a pain. I am using it more and more and leaving my laptop docked more and more.

I did grab a Zagg keyboard for it so that I can do long posts like this and author content properly. The majority of my time though is spent reviewing and providing short feedback/comments on content/design, approving expenses and reviewing budget ! So I often use it without the keyboard.

Many enterprise software solutions have been updated over the last few years and the experience has got a lot better. New versions of Concur (travel and expenses) are great – I actually prefer using Concur on my iPad over my laptop; WebEx has got a lot, lot better for Video Conferencing and Lync from Microsoft is also massively improved; DropBox/Box.Net/OneDrive allow me to sync my content beautifully across devices and QuickOffice or Office4iPad allows me to author.

I still miss a good version of OneNote for the iPad and in its absence over the last few years (a cut down version is now available on iPad) I changed to using EverNote for both my personal and professional content.

One thing though with all this is still security, not of content on the device as Mobile Device Management software has evolved massively so devices can be remotely wiped and Apple has improved its encryption massively. But those cloud based storage options still worry organizations and legal departments. Once that gets resolved and tied in to on premise solutions for Search, etc. it will be truly powerful.

SharePoint and the iPad

So I am a big user of SharePoint for better or worse. Actually I drive the strategy for collaboration so I am to blame (for now) for SharePoint being in my organisation.

How does it work on the iPad. Well its mixed. SP2007 was horrible, SP2010 is better, the UI through the browser generally works, SP2013 through the browser is great, especially with the Service Pack.

File access though, well you are just opening from the browser and no access to local storage so its a little complex and getting stuff uploaded to SP is best done using email enabled libraries.

OneDrive is a good glue for those on O365 but for on premise installations its not a pleasant experience.

To be honest I use the browser UI to review websites, perform searches, read our intranet, etc. We have enhanced our search tool so I can tag content I find for editing on a main device, etc.

For file access I use Acronis Access (was MobileEcho) this lets me sync content bidirectionaly (or not) for offline usage. It also lets me access the entire doc libraries within any sharepoint site for browse use (ie. I dont have to sync for offline use).

I would also recommend looking at SharePlus, Mobile Entree and Filamente.

In conclusion…

So for now I love my iPad, don’t like Citrx, love Concur, I continue to use it more and more, just need the apps and the content to catch up.

e2.0 Blog – bit of a hiatus

Posted on April 11, 2013 by NicB72

Looks like I will be taking another little hiatus as my organization goes through some changes following an acquisition and updates its social policy. Normal service will resume in a few months I promise and 2014 will be much more regular !

e2.0 blog – 2013 Predictions

Posted on January 11, 2013 by NicB72

Apologies that I had no posts in 2012 beyond the predictions. Unfortunately a death in the family resulted in my focus having to be elsewhere.
So here is a restart and my 2013 Predictions

Networked Organizations
CMSWire uses this term and its the best description for something I have talked about for quite some time, its also been called Org2.0, etc. In essence it is where organizations mature and realize that not all the expertise they need is inside the company. They don’t have to employ every skill set. Small companies do this as they have no choice ie. they won’t necessary have an accountant or legal department but instead reach out when they need it. Large companies do this already with IT, outsourcing large elements so they don’t have to have a workforce of thousands !

This year it will become more and more prevalent as companies try to reduce their internal costs. Of course they often pay a premium for these services outside but they don’t pay 24x7x365 so companies that plan properly and understand their business can lower their costs.

In essence this is an evolution of the outsourcing model. The question of course is where it ends, what is core.

Why am I commenting on this ? Well as you move more elements outside and connect with different external entities to provide services you need to be able to collaborate with them. External collaboration will become more important than internal collaboration in the next few years. If you look at the Pharma industry or the aerospace industry this is the case today. Boeing works with many, many different companies and external institutes to develop its aircraft and its essential they can act and collaborate as one.

Personalization & Recommendation engines
Call it the Facebook/Amazon/Google Search effect or the nature of the RSS generation but people want content that is relevant to them and not all the other ‘fluff’. I like the fact that Amazon knows me from my past purchases and recommends stuff to me. I like that Google Search knows my previous searches and what I click on to `tweak’ the relevancy of results.

Millenials expect that in the work place as do more and more general colleagues. When I do a expertise search I want the system to know more about me, my location, content I like, previous searches to recommend people to me. I want solutions that know what I am working on and recommend content to me. When I go into any solution I should be able to tailor it to my needs and it learn about me.

3D Printing will bring a whole new level of collaboration
3D printing might be an odd one here, what does it have to do with collaboration ? Well as teams get more and more widely dispersed its more and more difficult to physically look and understand products in the design stage. When folk used to be in the same physicality they could all look around a product, pick it up, discuss it, look at it from different angles, etc.

I believe 3D printing will bring that back. Imagine a design meeting where each site can print out the product and review it. Then update it in the meeting, reprint it out, etc. Refinement. Everyone wherever they are gets to hold, touch and contribute.

Collaboration again is key here, how do we share those 3D designs, tie in to our normal collaboration tools, etc. 3D printing makes it physical.

Video Conferencing anywhere
Large organisations will struggle to take hold of this because of expensive investment in hardware.
But in essence the hardware becomes irrelevant and video conferencing using the cloud as the converter/interpreter means you can BYO video conf device and VC with anyone. Today its horrible, everyone has to be just about on the same tech. This kills Video conferencing across org boundaries (see networked organizations) and very often inside (e.g. one country office goes with one tech over another). Plug and Play / Bring Your Own video conferencing is the nirvana. It will start to happen in 2013 and it will be pushed by the consumer space.

Big Data (yawn)
Ok, first my little gripe, We have always had big data, it is nothing new ! – ok rant over.
This will be big for the next few years as its a big money earner for software companies, consultancies, enables companies to sell storage and sell cloud compute units !

But as said we have always had big data and we have always had people looking for patterns and analyzing it.
Take a look at Formula 1. I had the chance to visit McLaren in 2001, at that point in testing they had over 100 sensors on the car returning data every millisecond. On top of that they had external data they captured from weather to track temperature and condition. They used all this data from each test and data from races themselves to predict by looking for patterns. That is big data. Its nothing new.

The key here will be how people collaborate and share big data. You can’t email it around ! Uploading and downloading from storage locations isn’t practical either. It will be about ubiquitous access to big data always residing in the cloud but visualized through rich collaborative tools.

Cloud
Cloud will continue to be pushed and many still won’t understand what it is ! But security concerns and resilience will continue to be barriers for large organizations with existing on premise investment.

Just look at the great XBox Live outage over Christmas 2012 or the NetFlix outage or the Google outage, shall I go on !

I have heard many large organizations state that Security is also a concern. Shared data centers, content residing on the same box as a competitors, etc. Legal and InfoProtection departments will worry obviously. Their worry is not really warranted as many of these large companies have moved into data centers run by external companies like HP and guess what those data centers also have competitors data in them ! I believe we will finish 2013 with more companies considering IaaS rather than full cloud offerings like O365.

Windows 8
Windows 8 will get little traction in the enterprise. Many waiting for a point release and waiting to see if the BYOD element can really take off yet and whether Google Chromebooks can be a reality in the enterprise. Why is this important well many organisations tie their version of Office and other collaborative tools to their OS release, ie. when they upgrade Windows they upgrade the rest of the stuff. Additionally Microsoft and other vendors are only releasing their products for newer OS’s ie. many products will not run on WinXP and older non-HTML5 compliant browsers. Until all collaboration vendors make their software fully device/browser agnostic what is on the desktop will impact your ability to collaborate.

Mobile
Companies will attempt to make everything mobile ready but not actually fully realize it is not just about making enterprise solutions accessible on mobile devices. It is about different mobile experiences. Lots of consulting dollars will be wasted exploring and on POC’s ! CIO’s will look good for attempting and saying ‘It works on the iPhone/iPad’ in board meetings !

It will take a few more years before Mobile experience coming first or is designed in parallel rather than a bolt on to existing solutions. Take online training courses that many enterprises have. The experience on an iPad or iPhone will be completely different than on a PC/Mac due to the real-estate, the integration of touch, etc.

Planning ahead

Posted on January 2, 2012 by NicB72

I have had some time over the break to read, think and pull together a list of topics I want to cover on this blog over 2012.

1) HTML 5 vs Native Webapp Development – a lot of movement in this area and if devices continue to evolve then a device-agnostic approach seems to make most sense. But open-eyes are needed going in.

2) Search – The concept of Enterprise Search has been a lofty goal for quite some time, you can achieve 90%+ in the unstructured space and adding the structured is possible although costly. But has Enterprise Search been surpassed by the need for Hybrid search and how do we manage the cost of search infrastructure, cloud/external hosting makes sense but IP protection concerns are a barrier – or are they.

3) The big 3 (or 4), Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon – yes Amazon. All these are affecting the direction of everything technology, from OS to devices, from productivity software to the way software is developed and hosted.

4) Patent wars – 2011 was characterised by many things including major buy-up of Patents and a lot of work for lawyers. Nearly everyone was suing everyone and I foresee as the economy is still weak, 2012 and 2013 will continue in this vein.

5) Microsoft and Apple – 1990 and 2000 was all Microsoft and Apple were in the minority. In an enterprise you couldn’t go wrong saying Microsoft and desktops were Microsoft, Microsoft, Microsoft. Google played a little in enterprise in the mid 2000’s but kept abandoning products. But Apple by not paying attention to the enterprise changed it by going after the consumer and ensuring IT departments were caught off guard by a flood of Apple devices (iOS and Mac). And right at the end of 2011 Google announced Google+ for enterprises and started to win some big Google App battles. Renewed interest from Google, why and what will it mean going forward.

6) Mobile Devices and Collaboration – From PalmPC’s to HP Jornada to BlackBerry to iPhone. From TabletPC to iPad to Kindle. Apple seemed to have it locked down, Google with Android took over market share but had patent wars beyond belief and Amazon stole the low end iPad market with Kindle Fire ! It is all changing and I suspect 2013 will deliver more surprises.

7) Social Networking – lots of buzz in this area for years and the focus historically has been on connecting people inside an organisation. But as organisations realize they don’t know it all and they can actually utilise expertise outside cheaper than having staff on payroll the concept of true social connection across organisation boundaries will become a reality. But what about Personal Information Protection and the Data Protection rules in different countries !

8) And Microsoft again – 2012 is a massive year for them with Windows 8, Windows 8 server, updates to their cloud and Office offerings. New OS for their Windows Phone. All this seems to come together into a single eco-system which with ARM support can now be used across device-chip types. But what about the search and consumer space. Well Bing continues to make progress and comes with innovative features we would expect from Google ! and Kinect for XBox will move into the enterprise in 2012. A new XBox could also be coming becoming more of a information/entertainment hub than a games console (you can see this with the Fall 2012 update for XBox360).

Well thats my list for starters 🙂

What is this all about

Posted on January 2, 2012 by NicB72

I work for a large Fortune 100 Blue Chip company and have done for nearly 20yrs. I joined straight from University and have had a great career (so far!). I have worked in the IT/BT/Informatics, whatever you want to call it group, all that time. My function has always worked very closely with the business functions including R&D, Manufacturing, Marketing and of course our Corporate elements including HR, legal, etc.

I have worked in the Collaboration and Content space for most of my career with some sideways ventures into Resource Management across an enterprise, Laboratory automation and a great project looking at our end to end chain from Research to Market.

I personally see technology as a catalyst in business and appropriately placed it can accelerate process, open up new business and create new opportunities that were previously not seen or possible.

From this experience and vantage point I thought I would share some of my thoughts on the wave that was called enterprise 2.0 and is in reality just the next phase of collaboration and organisational connectedness. Looking at what works, what hasn’t worked, what the next 5yrs could look like and how technology and consumer technology is affecting organisations unlike ever before.

e2insideout

Author Archives: NicB72

OrgCharts and User Profiles

Using my iPad in the enterprise

e2.0 Blog – bit of a hiatus

e2.0 blog – 2013 Predictions

What is this all about