For IT Decision Makers
Take Charge of Your Intranet 2.0 Initiatives
Table of Contents
Innovation and the Collaborative
Intranet........................................1
Uniquely Situated........................2
MindTouch Support for Pilot
Projects.......................................2
User Adoption Grows –
No Problem for MindTouch
Standard......................................3
MindTouch Enterprise –
Implement Innovation..................3
by Mark Fidelman
MindTouch, Inc.
For centuries, their credit has been claimed by others. They are routinely robbed
of promotions and blamed for failures. But, look who’s laughing now. Middle
managers are at the center of the Intranet 2.0 universe, and it’s about time.
In the business world today, you must innovate or die, and the plug is pulled
quickly on those that don’t make it. Smart companies don’t wait for the next
Steve Jobs to show up at their door; they use the power of collective thought –
primarily from those middle managers – to generate and implement innovative
ideas. To motivate and empower that collective thought, the corporate Intranet
has become the platform of choice. At the most effective and competitive
organizations, an Intranet 2.0 platform supports the rapid development of
strong personal networks that connect people and their ideas to facilitate
collaboration, knowledge sharing, and project execution.
Yet, many companies have not implemented Intranet 2.0 concepts. Their
Intranets remain encyclopedic; the users are merely students of static
information. This paper looks at the role of the middle manager in initiating a
MindTouch Intranet 2.0 solution, building consensus in its use, and expanding
its reach across the enterprise to create a collaborative environment that fosters
innovation.
Innovation and the Collaborative Intranet
Web 2.0 revealed the value that can be derived from mass participation. Intranet
2.0 adapts those same social technologies to the smaller enterprise domain to
create a collaborative Intranet. Innovation grows as collective thought is both
enhanced and subjected to the increased scrutiny of real-time collaborators.
It all makes sense when one understands Intranet 2.0 implementation best
practices. Absent the depth and cultural motivation of open web social networks,
a collaborative Intranet can only go where user adoption takes it. And, like the
consensus of collective thought, user adoption is a more reliable indicator of
valuable innovation. User adoption and collective thought grow more efficiently
Take Charge of Your Intranet 2.0 Initiatives 2
For IT Decision Makers

and produce more innovation rising from participation than descending from
TIP – Select the Best
top-down mandates. Project Team

There is no master plan for the successful implementation of a collaborative The success of a social Intranet
pilot project will depend entirely
Intranet, just as one can’t plan innovation. The process is iterative and
the society. Keep the group to
ongoing, and is based on deliberate experimentation, testing, and refinement a manageable size – no more
of ideas. Solutions are deemed successful when business goals are achieved. than 50 or so – but have enough
people to constitute a small
The key is to have a powerful development platform that supports
community. Choose people open
collaborative Intranet initiatives. to new ideas and technology.
Include a senior executive,
While innovative ideas can come from anywhere in the organization, and preferably one with access to a
the driving force behind an Intranet 2.0 implementation can be any of many budget or influence on budgeting
decisions.
factors, both evolve more often and more efficiently from middle managers.
And while a master plan defeats the purpose, we can offer a few tips to the
middle manager contemplating an Intranet pilot project.

Uniquely Situated
TIP – Build the Project
Middle managers are uniquely situated at the confluence of ideas and action, Around a Specific
with a finger on the pulse of their departments or project teams and the voice Requirement or Event
of senior management in their ear. They print and spend the currency of A successful evaluation requires
innovation – the pilot project. Only middle managers are ideally positioned to real-world analysis. Pick a
closed-end project or apply
launch and assess pilot projects, drive user adoption, and form the consensus collaboration to a real event.
that substantiates the business case for collaborative Intranet initiatives. Budget owners need to see
real benefits and final results to
justify an investment.

MindTouch Support for Pilot Projects

Innovative middle managers can implement a collaborative Intranet solution
for a department or work group quickly and with only minimal corporate
resources using MindTouch Core, the open source development platform that
is rated as the best collaboration software by industry analysts. MindTouch
Core is ideal for technical enthusiasts that can get by initially without the
productivity tools and plug-and-play enterprise connectivity provided by
MindTouch licensed solutions.

Managers can confidently undertake grassroots initiatives because Core is

simple enough to be immediately useful. Intranet 2.0 success depends on
building active, sustainable participation, and Core delivers a platform that
enables rapid application development – and rapid re-development to quickly
respond to early user feedback. Pilot projects have every chance for success

October 28, 2009 © 2009, MindTouch, Inc.

Take Charge of Your Intranet 2.0 Initiatives 3
For IT Decision Makers

due to MindTouch Core’s low costs, flexibility, and ease of use.

User Adoption Grows – No Problem with

TIP – Kick-start the Project
MindTouch Standard
A blank screen isn’t going to
Whether the initial project attracts users or other departments see that success excite any one. Start the project
and jump on the Intranet 2.0 bandwagon, MindTouch 2009 is a seamless by creating a basic navigation
upgrade that adds functional support for a growing user base. This low cost, structure and uploading/creating
some initial content.
licensed solution provides access to enterprise features that deliver instant
ROI, including database and CRM adapters, charting tools, full featured
LDAP. Additionally, MindTouch Desktop Productivity Tools, provide drag-
and-drop integration with any Windows application. TIP – Create and Build
Activity
As importantly, the MindTouch 2009 license comes with basic support. The Introduce the pilot by assigning
growing user base is supported, and managers can focus on developing new initial tasks to be completed by
team members that add content
functionality.
or commentary to the site.
Enable notifications and RSS
Figure 1. MindTouch Executive Dashboard feeds so that others can see the
increasing activity around the
community.

TIP – Announce, Launch,

and Promote the Site

Publicize the imminent launch of

the pilot site to team members
and senior executives. After
launching, encourage usage
through follow-up meetings, new
assignments, and announced
successes.

MindTouch Enterprise – Implement Innovation

Enabled by MindTouch to launch Intranet 2.0 applications without corporate
resources, middle managers become the incubator of new ideas that prove
business value as user adoption grows. The tools created can be used across

October 28, 2009 © 2009, MindTouch, Inc.

Take Charge of Your Intranet 2.0 Initiatives 4
For IT Decision Makers

the enterprise both internally, to increase efficiency and productivity, and

externally to communicate with customers and other stakeholders.

MindTouch 2009 is a complete collaborative Intranet solution that offers

robust enterprise-grade capabilities and scalability for medium sized and
large organizations. Large scale, high traffic, unlimited user deployments
are supported, and each user is able to create customized views of all
organizational data to empower individual and collective innovation.

October 28, 2009 © 2009, MindTouch, Inc.

Headquarters MindTouch Partners
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Intertesto

MindTouch Inc. is the leader Technology Partners

in Enterprise 2.0 Collaborative
Aurelia Reporter Pentaho
Networks and is changing the
GroundWork Salesforce.com
way businesses capture, share
and collaborate on information. Kaltura ScreenSteps
With MindTouch, companies are Microsoft SugarCRM
revolutionizing how they work and
MySQL The Washington Post
increasing returns on investment
Novell
from existing software, hardware
and humanware.

MindTouch serves more than 16 Join MindTouch

million users and thousands of
companies. Customers include
Mozilla, Microsoft, Intel, Intuit, The
Washington Post, EMC, Harvard,
Timberland, The US Army and The
United Nations. MindTouch users
report double-digit percentage
increases in productivity and
orders of magnitude of return on
investment from their MindTouch
powered Collaborative Intranets,
Extranets and Documentation
Portals.