Scott responded to my recent post on enterprise RSS with a good comparison of my writing compared to that of a more business focused writer. My post was really a rallying call for IT organisations to sing the benefits. Scott has done a good job of reminding me of the main focus – information. Now I’d like to expand on the thoughts about information made in his post and Craig’s post.
Information, and more importantly knowledge, and the application of that information and knowledge is the key to enterprises becoming more innovative. We collaborate to innovate, we need knowledge and information to collaborate.
I collaborate based on information I fundamentally know and maybe have read or trained to learn. RSS allows me to focus my reading in terms of subscribing to things that either interest me or are relevant to me. The importance of this information is paramount to me, I need the latest up to date information and I need to be able to read and spot trends to predict strategic outcomes. The one tool that allows me to do that is an RSS reader, I really can control my reading, control the information and update my knowledge as time goes by.
Enterprise RSS offers this benefit firstly to more people, even in the information worker space I know many who don’t use RSS readers, the second benefit is being able to understand information flow within the enterprise in addition to having a further communication channel.
So I hope this balances my last post with my reflection on the information challenge and how RSS helps. Does this make sense or am I rambling? I’ll shut up now as I think I may be moving into ramble mode 🙂
p.s. don’t forget the enterprise RSS day of action.
Stu Downes 
“We collaborate to innovate, we need knowledge and information to collaborate.”
Why do we innovate? Rarely even just for the sake of innovation. In the case of any ongoing concern, responsibility lies in serving the needs of two primary constituents: shareholders and customers.
Shareholders want a return on their investments which is a typically a function of growth (revenue, market share, etc…). Innovating to spur growth is one purpose for the need to collaborate… it’s a theme that’s so familiar it’s almost boring.
Customers on the other hand, want goods and services that make their lives better. Innovating to support new product development efforts is another example for the need to collaborate.
Data is raw material that can be mined and transformed into information. Information can be combined to form actionable insights. Knowledge can be gained within a given context. Add purpose and experience and you get expertise.
There is a common thread to all of this: there is a hierarchical relationship between tools (how?), solutions (why?) and value (purpose?). Enterprise RSS or Enterprise 2 point anything needs to answer all three questions to gain mass adoption.
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@1 Thanks Scott, I’m interested in your comments on Innovation to spur growth being boring and then following on with innovation to support development. Do you see the two as exclusive or inclusive?
The other tangent we need to consider aside from tools, solutions and value is culture and attitude (both individualy, within the team and organisationally). Would you agree?
Enjoying this debate and your feedback, thanks!
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