This week I will be running a pre-conference session at our Summer Executive Forum about enterprise collaboration.

Unfortunately for most companies, enterprise collaboration either falls way down the priority list, or worse, entrusted to their IT peers to “own”.

Enterprise collaboration is not new, it just looks very different today.  I was on a recently panel at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference when someone in the audience, ask, “how is [enterprise collaboration] different from knowledge management"?  I tried to politely respond but the answer is that its completely different in terms of structure, culture, users, vocabulary, business outcomes, technology, the list can go on.

Enterprise collaboration is about connecting the right people with the right information while driving towards a common goal.  That's not my definition...I borrowed it from Wikipedia, the free, web-based, collaborative, multilingual encyclopedia project…

Enterprise collaboration is not just about “one thing” but a collection, or more specifically, a collision, of IT, HR, R&D, marketing, sales...essentially all corporate departments.  Think talent management combined with knowledge sharing, workforce information, customers’ data and relationship management, etc.  The lines between employees, customers, partners, suppliers are blurring.  So will your enterprise collaboration strategy.

Its not just about this cool, new "social” stuff either.  Even though “social” has become the word of the day for us as “friends”, “followers”, or “consumers”, it has become the dreaded “s—word” for many companies when you think about security, employee policies, risk, and legal compliance.  Just like the Internet was the Wild Wild West back in the early 90s, social networking notably Facebook has become the new free-for-all (especially considering the recent privacy debate).  Many executives have been lead to believe “social” means “Facebook” that inevitably distracts the real value of enterprise collaboration enabled through connections.

How does collaboration change talent management?  Talent management become less about assessing individual performance, setting compensation plans or developing high-potentials.  Real talent management initiatives aren’t about rigid processes that are nearly impossible to define and control.  Its about engaging the workforce that will allow them to do their job faster, better, and ultimately cheaper.

So then, what does the future of enterprise collaboration look like?  Jive Software, the platform that supports our KI OnDemand service, offered a glimpse into work of the future last week when they shared new capabilities slotted for later this year which includes understanding influence within a company and being able to view real-time "what matters" amongst individuals, groups, and projects.  Jive is not the only software vendor driving enterprise collaboration.  Many HR vendors are also innovating around enterprise collaboration include SuccessFactors (with the Cubetree acquisition), Saba and Cornerstone OnDemand.

     Source: Jive Software, 2010

Hopefully this week I will get those companies in my session to raise the priority and focus around enterprise collaboration.  It starts by understanding your culture and changing the vocabulary.