Accidentally on Purpose Blog

Shel’s interview with Michael Dell is an important milestone in the SAP Global Research Survey. 

Why?  As Shel stated in the post:

• It’s probably the most extensive interview with a major CEO on this subject ever. 
• He answered all questions, including a few that were tough.
• Michael is thinking broadly about this topic as evidenced by his quote below. 

You know, people talk about social media programs but I just think about conversations with customers.  We have hundreds of millions of them every year.  We listen on the phone and in the offices of our customers.  Why not improve our online listening skills and the number of ways we can do it?  We want our customers to walk the hallways of Dell.  From our engineering labs to manufacturing plants to service and solutions teams. This means that when we’re making decisions, we’re always thinking about our customers.

Thank you Michael for adding your thoughts regarding how Dell’s use of social media is impacting business and culture!  Hat tip to RichardatDell for making this happen!

Technorati Tags: Michael Dell,SAP Global Survey

This past Saturday David Churbuck posted about a new blog authored by Reid Walker, VP of Global Communications at Lenovo.  Walker’s blog is focused on the topic of Worldsourcing.  Reid deserves an “attaboy”  for devoting an entire blog to an increasingly important topic.

“What is Worldsourcing?  Walker defines it as:

Increasingly, we live in a world with just one time zone and business must source materials, innovation, talent, logistics, infrastructure, and production wherever they are best available. And they must sell wherever profitable markets exist, anywhere in the world. In a nutshell, that’s worldsourcing — a business strategy that taps global diversity and resources and distributes management, operations, processes, and production to create more efficiencies wherever they will function best to deliver the best value to customers. Worldsourcing is not about cutting costs, it’s really about growing your company’s value by leveraging the right expertise in the right places to identify and serve markets in both developed and emerging markets.

This got me thinking about the SAP Global Survey and how it was predicated on a similar idea — that being — a global company must understand the global marketplace and all of its diversity to be capable of actively participating in that global marketplace.   The “Survey” is in effect, the Worldsourcing of how social media impacts business and culture around the globe.   With that understanding, we can then leverage our resources in the right ways, in the right places and with the right people to deliver value to all of the markets we serve.

I was both amused and flattered to read Sascom’s Alison Bolen’s recent post in response to our Global Social Media Survey.  Alison asks, “where are all the little guys” in this conversation — a conversation that has included quite a few “big-name” blogger’s.  She then modestly notes that she’s one of those little guys.   There’s nothing little about Alison’s answers to the survey, they’re are among the smartest and most insightful to date.

One of the most remarkable things about social media is that it provides a forum for lots of interesting voices.  As a new blogger myself, I am thrilled that I can make the acquaintance of and converse with many of my peers in the communications business through social media.  And I am grateful that so many people are taking Shel’s advice and “rolling their own” survey responses.

So, if your a self-described “little guy” and you haven’t participated in the survey — please do! 

Well the project is moving along and already proving valuable with the insight Shel is receiving.  I’m amazed at the reach this project is achieving.   I was in facebook (specifically the “facebook for business” group and saw Shel’s post being discussed, I’ve received my first request for a media interview on the effort and the quality of the posts and conversation on the questions being asked is FANTASTIC!  So, I guess its appropriate for me to weigh in and discuss why this project is even underway. 

First, a little background. 

I use Word Press for this blog, I’m on facebook and Linked in, I’m a member of SDN and BPX (two of the SAP communities) and I run Blogger Relations at SAP.   I’m a Social Media evangelist and responsible, to some degree (not all), of where we take our use of Social Media, at least in the Communications realm.

I’m also a member of the Social Media Collective.   As such, I am privy to the discussions that go on in our Google group.  There are a lot of smart people in that group and I learn a lot from them every day.  The best part is I’m gaining such insights from a group of highly experienced practitioners who’ve been doing this for longer than I have.  Now, to be fair, the worst part is that a lot of the discussion happens to center around the tools of Social Media.  That’s not a knock; its very interesting and incredibly enlightening.  Its just that it doesn’t provide me with all that I’m looking for when I’m trying to understand how social media is developing across various parts of the world.

In order to make the necessary recommendations for what to do next and why: I need more information!  What is the difference between facebook and Linked in?   What’s important – today, tomorrow, three years from now?   What trends in social media are developing in Asia vs. Europe vs. Latin America vs. North America?  What’s the best way to engage – now and in the future.  Moreover, these learnings will be shared elsewhere in SAP, so that others who are also considering what’s next will have the information they too need to continue to innovate.

Simply put, we’re trying to skate to where the puck will be!

Now, why is this project happening in such a public fashion? 

Three words – WHEN IN ROME… When Giovanni and I discussed the project (prior to speaking with Shel) I thought of it as a typical research project.  The research would be conducted and the results would be sent to me in a report.  I really didn’t think of whether or not the research should be conducted in public or private.  But, Shel was right when he said:

I suggested to Mike that we conduct and report on this project, transparently, online on this site in the same way Robert and I wrote Naked Conversations. If the book had magic, had not come from the research or the actual writing.  It came from the collaboration we had shared with the blogosphere.  Bloggers gave us leads. They corrected the facts.  They let us know when we were making valid points and when we had gone over the top.

I proposed that we do the SAP Global Social Media Research on this blog, in collaboration with the blogosphere, that we do it transparently and that what we find we share on this blog. This, as far as I know, would differentiate it from any market research and the process in itself would become an example of thought leadership.

And as Shel wrote; I did love the idea!  The only way to do this right was to conduct the research in the open for all to see on his (and now other’s blogs).  This way everyone can participate.  Its the nature of the social media topic so why should the research be any different.

So, that’s the high level view.  For those that have contributed — THANK YOU.  For those of you yet to participate — THANK YOU in advance for what you will contribute!

I truly hope that the conversations that happen as a result of this project continue to evolve and that everyone benefits from the discussion.