Social collaboration via the Internet changed the direction of the 2008 presidential election. Whether you like it or not, social collaboration has begun to change the way major companies, such as Procter & Gamble, do business. Things will continue to evolve as more and more members of the net generation, young people comfortable with MySpace and Facebook, enter the work force. No one has better prepared executives for the future than Don Tapscott, author and chairman of nGenera Insight, a technology think tank that looks at new business models. Tapscott consistently identifies and explains the next business imperatives and defines the business models and strategies that the new imperatives require.
Published in 2006 and updated in 2008, his book, Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, has appeared on the New York Times and BusinessWeek bestseller lists, and has been translated into 19 languages. Based on the largest investigation of strategic IT in business ever conducted, Wikinomics explains how businesses can tap the full potential of the emerging networked economy and its self-organized, mass-participatory communities.
Tapscott’s latest book, Grown Up Digital: How the Net Generation is Changing the World, explores how the first generation to grow up with the Internet is redefining today's workplace, marketplace, schools, family and government—how they learn and work and what power and influence they hold. This is an indispensable message for all organizations that seek to turn the net generation’s talents and worldview to competitive advantage. Also based on a multi-million dollar research project, Grown Up Digital carries forward the groundbreaking ideas first expressed in Don's bestseller Growing Up Digital. In this podcast, Tapscott talks about how the net generation’s embracing of Wikinomics will continue to transform the landscape of business and government, and what executives, such as CIOs, can do to prepare for the Wikinomics’ ideas companies might embrace from the net generation. Tapscott also provides examples of how each one of the Wikinomics’ four principles can improve the current business climate.
Bio
Based in Toronto, Canada, Don Tapscott is an internationally sought after authority, consultant, author, and speaker on business strategy and organizational transformation. He served as founder and chairman of the international think tank New Paradigm before it was acquired by nGenera. He is currently chairman of nGenera Insight. He has either authored or co-authored 13 books on the application of technology in business and in society. Tapscott holds a B.S. in Psychology and Statistics and an M.S. in Education, specializing in research methodology. He also holds two honorary Doctors of Laws granted by the University of Alberta ad Trent University. He is an adjunct professor of management at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management, University of Toronto.
The first generation Web focused on pushing out content in a one-way mode. In contrast, Web 2.0 provides a very dynamic, highly interactive user experience, similar to consumer Web sites, such as amazon.com or ebay.com. Steve Papermaster, chairman and CEO of nGenera, a company that offers a platform for transforming next generation enterprises, says, “You don’t notice the technology. Instead, you’re completely tied in with your environment. It’s like you become one with it.”
Enterprise 2.0, Web 2.0 technologies taken one step further, includes a portfolio of newer, mostly on-demand technologies designed for the enterprise. These technologies could include open source, on demand software as a service applications, or other types of on-demand cloud-based applications and services. Papermaster says that the key question is how do these new technologies impact and power capabilities in the enterprise? He says, “You need to understand the business benefit and the economic benefit before you seriously start to deploy them.”
Papermaster’s company has established itself as one of the forthcoming providers of next generation enterprise applications to major companies. In fact, Rob Carter, CIO of FedEx says that nGenera’s collaborative platform enables companies like FedEx to develop new business models and to stay ahead of the competition.
In this podcast, Papermaster talks about some of the business models that Web 2.0 can produce for global companies that deploy it, but also the new types of business models their customers can derive from dealing with it.
Bio Since the founding of nGenera (previously BSG Alliance), Steve Papermaster has been the company chairman and CEO. His other entrepreneurial experiences include the following: chairman, CEO, and or board member for Powershift Ventures LP, Perficient, Inc., Vignette Corporation, Per Se Technologies (acquired by McKesson), Tipping Point Technologies (acquired by 3Com), BSG Corp., LabNow Inc., and ROME Corp. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Papermaster to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Papermaster also received an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He has a BBA in Finance from the University of Texas.