SlideShare une entreprise Scribd logo
1  sur  22
Télécharger pour lire hors ligne
The Social Layer
HOW THE RISE OF WEB-ORIENTED
ARCHITECTURE IS CHANGING ENTERPRISE IT




Written by Christopher Lynch
      Edited by Alex Williams
Contents
Sponsor Message from Socialtext                                                               2
Socialtext Connect: Integrating Traditional Apps With Enterprise Social Software              2
Accounting Consultancy Hayes Knight Utilizes Socialtext Connect To Serve Customers Faster     4

Introduction                                                                                  6

The rise of scripting languages, open frameworks and the “view source” culture                9

REST and the Enterprise                                                                      11

The Move to the Cloud and a Web-Oriented Architecture                                        13

Building the Social Layer in the Enterprise Architecture                                     15

Conclusion: Bring the Open Web Behind the Firewall                                           17




                                                                  ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 1
Note from Sponsor
Socialtext is pleased to sponsor this ReadWriteWeb report because it spotlights an emerging IT
trend we can deliver on. The report shows how companies can build an enterprise architecture
that surfaces key events from traditional systems of record inside of social applications, so
that employees across the enterprise can use that information to have open discussions and to
collaborate and take action to improve their core business processes. Enterprise IT can easily
perform this integration by embracing Open Web standards built on open APIs, a trend this paper
covers in detail. Though the paper is not product specific, we do have an offering called Socialtext
Connect that enables this integration.




Socialtext Connect: Integrating Traditional
Apps With Enterprise Social Software
The problem
Traditional systems of record (i.e. CRM, ERP) that businesses have relied on for years to perform
key business processes have created information silos inside companies. Employees who
lack access to a particular line of business system miss out on critical information and events
happening there that could help them execute key business process, support colleagues and give
them greater context and awareness for how they drive new opportunities and projects and serve
customers.

Solution
Socialtext Connect is a technology that enables these integrations in the enterprise by building
a “social layer” in the enterprise architecture using open Web standards. Connect works for
integrating both traditional on-premise as well as cloud-based enterprise applications to social
applications used enterprise-wide. Connect leverages the fast innovation taking place on the
consumer Web by incorporating established and emerging Web standards, including Twitter
Annotations, Google OpenSocial and activitystrea.ms (which Facebook’s News Feed was built on).
Benefits
Elimination of information silos: Employees across the enterprise can have access to relevant
information from systems they either never had access to or had difficulty using , which helps
them make better decisions when managing projects, pursuing new opportunities or serving
customers.
Make business processes more flexible: Traditional systems of record are good at carrying out
a predefined, rigid set of business processes. But when an exception to those business processes
happens — a common, everyday occurrence — people must step in and manage it. With Socialtext
Connect, those exceptions can be surfaced as an event inside an enterprise activity stream. There,
employees can discuss, collaborate, and take action on that event to satisfy business goals,
customer needs and key projects and initiatives.
Better context and awareness: By having real-time access to relevant events being carried out
by key business systems and colleagues across the enterprise, employees make better decisions,
serve customers more efficiently, and stay in sync as they drive new business opportunities.
For a demonstration of Socialtext Connect, contact sales@socialtext.com.
Accounting Consultancy Hayes Knight Utilizes
Socialtext Connect To Serve Customers Faster
By Christopher Lynch

With the recent launch of Socialtext Connect, Socialtext customers have begun surfacing events
from other critical business applications (CRM, ERP, etc.) inside of Socialtext Signals and Activity
Streams. This gives employees the ability to see relevant work their colleagues do in other
systems, engage in conversations around those events, and take action on them.

One great example is Hayes Knight, an Australian accounting and consulting firm. Hayes Knight
uses Socialtext to share knowledge and provide its clients with the best and most up to date
information about tax and accounting issues. Hayes Knight utilized Socialtext Connect to trigger a
microblogging message when critical actions occur inside of Salesforce.com.

Hayes Knight’s knowledge management company, Knowledge Shop, provides a web-based
member service subscribed to by 500 accounting firms and the thousands of accountants who
work for them. It serves as a place for members to ask questions about accounting issues and get
access to all kinds of tax and accounting information that experts at Knowledge Shop deal with
everyday. The questions range from general accounting questions, to more complex tax advice
issues.

The customer service representatives for Knowledge Shop use Salesforce.com to manage
membership information, seminar registrations, and to assign and track questions for Knowledge
Shop advisers. When a rep enters a question into Salesforce.com from a Knowledge Shop
member, the service rep can push that question into Socialtext Signals with the click of a button.
Even though the question is addressed to a specific tax adviser, Hayes Knight finds value in letting
others see the questions being asked.

Then the Knowledge Shop adviser documents answers in Socialtext Workspaces, for current and
future use. Once they’re completed, using a customized button inside Socialtext, they can send
the proper answer back to Salesforce.com for processing.

Hayes Knight CTO Jack Pedzikiewicz used Socialtext Connect to perform the integration. The
ReST API within Socialtext Connect allows Socialtext customers to take events from a variety
of other enterprise systems and surface them inside of Signals. Jack says he wants the advisers
working in Socialtext because the software has deep collaboration features that allow them
to create, share and capture knowledge −− something they wouldn’t get if they worked in
Salesforce.com.
“Signals allows us to respond faster,” Jack told me recently in a video chat. “The speed with which
we’re answering questions has been cut in half, and is a full 7−8 minutes faster on average. The
wonderful thing is, as we capture these great answers inside of Socialtext workspaces, we also
cut back on repetition where questions cover the same issue and build best of breed responses
and knowledge on key issues of importance. It allows us to serve our customers faster and more
consistently.”

We’re always looking for more great uses of Socialtext Connect to share. Please feel free to
send me yours. Customers or business partners interested in joining our Socialtext Developer
community, where practitioners can learn how to get the most from Socialtext Connect and share
best practices, please contact us at socialdev@socialtext.com.



Originally posted on August 30, 2010 at http://www.socialtext.com/blog/2010/08/accounting-consultancy-
hayes-knight-utilizes-socialtext-connect-to-serve-customers-faster/
6 | ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer
Introduction
During what’s become widely known as the Web 2.0 movement,
we saw the emergence of consumer applications and services
like Facebook, Google, Twitter and Wikipedia. These services
made it easier to share information in real time and connect
with friends, family and experts. Large ecosystems of companies
emerged to build services to complement these applications
and websites, generating billions in venture capital, advertising
and subscription revenue.

As these services became a staple of the consumer Web, enterprise software vendors built secure
applications that mirrored the social dynamics of these technologies, making it easier for employees to
share knowledge and expertise, and connect with colleagues. This is giving way to what’s known as a
“social layer” in the enterprise architecture. A social layer enables employees to access information from a
variety of enterprise applications and colleagues across organizational silos. In an open — yet secure —
environment built on microblogging and activity streams, employees discuss, collaborate and take action
on the real-time information being pumped into the social layer to serve customers better and drive new
business opportunities.

Companies’ embracing of social software represents a direct response to the problem enterprises have
grappled with for decades: information silos, caused by both people and systems. Social applications
such as wikis, blogs and microblogging — which make it easy to create and share content — help break
down knowledge silos caused by people and organizational charts. But the issue of system-based silos
remains a big one that must be solved by IT and business leaders together.

Today, employees across the enterprise miss out on valuable information that resides in another system
across their company that could help them do their jobs better. So while your sales department might
have full access to a CRM system, for example, someone in marketing or operations might not be aware
of an important event occurring in that system. The consequence? They spend on average a day a week
(eight working hours) looking for the right people and information to do their job and serve customers.1




1 Business Value Whitepaper at Socialtext: http://www.socialtext.com/products/wp_businessvalue.php




                                                                                      ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 7
This problem of information silos has been exacerbated by complex enterprise architectures. For
   a long time, companies have been hamstrung by clunky, proprietary development languages and
   complex application programming interfaces (APIs). This has stifled innovation, caused costly and
   complex integrations, and slowed IT development cycles.

   As companies build their social layer to break down information silos, IT will have to decide what
   architectural standards to embrace — and it’s here where enterprises should once again take a cue
   from the consumer Web. The success and very existence of Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia has less
   to do with any one application or business model itself; it had everything to do with the “open Web”
   — the standards that allow Web services and applications to talk with each other easily and securely.
   Based on a simple adherence to the HTTP protocol that provides the backbone of the World Wide Web,
   open Web standards have enabled consumer technology to flourish, as evidenced by the rich content
   you see in a Facebook News Feed. This paper will lay out how enterprises can embrace a similar
   architecture to build their social layer.




8 | ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer
The rise of scripting languages, open frameworks
and the “view source” culture
The rise of the open Web has made computing more accessible
to millions of people, and its effects on the enterprise world
have begun to be felt. With a simple click of the mouse, anyone
can see the HTML of a Web page and how the bits and pieces
of it were constructed. They can copy and paste that code into
another Web page or blog and modify it as they see fit. The
“view source” culture is alive and well, turning everyday people
into amateur programmers. Even college students in non-
science concentrations now see basic HTML in their curriculum.

On the development side, the rise of dynamic scripting languages like Javascript have allowed people to
enrich Web pages and applications with less heavy lifting. By 2008, after Facebook and Twitter had surged
in popularity, the rise of these scripting languages had already been firmly established.

•   According to Evans Data’s Global Development Survey in 2008, almost 70% of developers used
    JavaScript in some form, with 15% more planning to adopt it.2 PHP, another dynamic scripting
    language used for Web pages on Facebook, was already being utilized by more than a third of
    developers.

•   By 2009, Ruby, the object-oriented scripting language that the open source Ruby on Rails Web
    framework is written in, found popularity as well (Twitter runs on RoR), with a 40% increase in
    developer usage of Ruby.3

•   The rise of cloud computing also played a role, as developers saw easy ways to host their applications
    and integrate them with others. After the launch of the Google App Engine, for instance, the Python
    scripting language saw a 45% increase in use.4




2 PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, Perl, Python, and Tcl Today: The State of the Scripting Universe http://www.cio.com/article/446829
3 Ruby Use Jumps Forty Percent in North America, New Evans Data Development Survey http://www.evansdata.com/press/viewRelease.
  php?pressID=155
4 New Survey Shows Python Use Has Risen 45% Since Google App Engine Debuted. http://www.evansdata.com/press/viewRelease.
  php?pressID=162




                                                                                            ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 9
Suddenly, in the enterprise, the technologies powering the open Web reminded us that the complexity
   of software development and architectural frameworks that facilitate the integration of disparate
   applications need not be so high. The stack-based development models built on Java and .Net languages
   — which remained a staple in the enterprise architecture — put unnecessary requirements on how
   you could integrate applications, unlike the ease of open Web architectures and dynamic programming
   languages that allowed you to point data at anything with “HTTP” in the address. This phenomenon
   explains why you can see such diverse content from all around the Web seamlessly integrated into
   Facebook and Twitter homepages.

   As the open Web has thrived, developers’ skills and focus have began to shift toward dynamic languages
   that adhere to these more open standards and Web-based architectural frameworks. Traditional
   enterprise languages and frameworks have been disrupted. In its latest State of the Computer Book
   Market, O’Reilly found that between 2003 and 2008, Java-related books saw a 50% decrease in sales; .Net
   languages also experienced a sharp decline between 2007 and 2008.5

   Experts say that the openness of dynamic languages — and the ease and speed with which developers
   can change and create code within them — is having huge effects on the enterprise space, especially as it
   relates to integration and the pace of innovation. Three year development cycles will give way to weekly
   iterations, benefiting enterprises and their vendors alike. This will be vital as companies look to integrate
   disparate applications into the social layer.

   “The dynamic languages are becoming more accepted,” Jeff Hobbs, director of languages and Tcl tech
   lead at ActiveState Software, told CIO magazine.6 “This is in part through more acceptance of open-source
   software, which all the dominant dynamic languages are (versus Java and .Net, which are questionably
   open in their process and/or sources).”

   Earlier this year, Jeffrey Hammond, a research analyst focusing on software development for Forrester
   Research, wrote that developer skill sets were evolving to mirror the principles of the open Web and
   dynamic languages. He concluded that IT managers at big enterprise shops would need to take notice.7

   “It’s also no surprise to see that dynamic languages such as Ruby, Python, PHP, and JavaScript are proving
   most popular with developers in the 45-and-under cohort,” Hammond wrote. “The implications? As the
   development staff at a shop turns over, the new generation will push to adopt these dynamic languages.
   IT managers must ensure that processes and application life-cycle management tools can handle the
   changes that these new languages bring to the development shop.”




   5 State of the Computer Book Market 2008, part 4 — The Languages http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/02/state-of-the-computer-book-mar-22.html
   6 PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, Perl, Python, and Tcl Today: The State of the Scripting Universe http://www.cio.com/article/446829
   7 What Developers Think http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/222301141




10 | ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer
REST and the Enterprise
The emergence of dynamic scripting languages is only part of
the story of the open Web’s migration into the enterprise; open
APIs have played a critical factor in making it easy to integrate
applications new and old. In particular, Representational State
Transfer (REST) APIs allow you to integrate applications by
a simple adherence to the HTTP protocol. Operating under
some simple constraints that focus on universal commands
(such as “get” or “put” or “delete”), it has dramatically lowered
the barriers to integrating disparate apps, and will play a
critical role in bringing traditional apps into the social layer.

The upside to REST is its statelessness and some basic constraints that encourage simplicity. As World
Wide Web luminary Roy Fielding wrote in his dissertation8, each request from client to server must
contain all of the information necessary to understand the request. The benefit of this constraint, he
wrote, lies in “visibility, reliability, and scalability.”

Fielding expounded on those three ideas:

•   Visibility is improved because a monitoring system does not have to look beyond a single request
    datum in order to determine the full nature of the request.

•   Reliability is improved because it eases the task of recovering from partial failures.

•   Scalability is improved because not having to store state between requests allows the server
    component to quickly free resources, and further simplifies implementation because the server
    doesn’t have to manage resource usage across requests.




8 Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/rest_
  arch_style.htm




                                                                                        ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 11
Fielding wrote that back in 2000. In the following decade, REST came to dominate the world of APIs,
  and in particular took a lot of attention away from the stateful SOAP APIs that had characterized many
  bulky enterprise architectures. According to a survey by Programmable Web, REST comprised 74% of
  the API protocols and styles, while SOAP claimed a meager 15%.9

  The prevalence of REST in the development world has naturally been felt in the enterprise, especially
  as IT departments juggle a variety of applications and databases that have accumulated across their
  company over the course of multiple years. As enterprise architectures become more decentralized to
  meet the long list of vendors serving the enterprise world, most developers view SOAP as too complex
  — or at least too complex as it relates to the effort involved in writing connectors.

  Unlike REST, SOAP requires specific toolkits to form requests, and each request sent to a server must be
  wrapped in its own XML envelope. These request issues soak up developer time, and slow bandwidth
  — literally. DevX, the developer publication, estimated that a four- or five-digit stock quote in a SOAP
  response could require more than 10 times as many bytes as would the same response in REST.10

  In the enterprise, REST is contributing to what Forrester calls “leaner” software development that
  encourages simple integration points and more agile iteration cycles. “The REST approach to Internet
  services is a lightweight approach compared with the galaxy of Web services standards anchored by
  SOAP,” says Forrester’s Hammond.11 “Architects debate when and why to use REST and SOAP, but the
  fact is that REST and the “stateless” application designs it represents are growing in popularity... Part
  of REST’s appeal is that it is simple because it leaves nasty problems like state management for the
  consuming application to sort out.”




  9 Open API Madness: The Party Has Just Begun for Cloud Developers http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2010/05/pen-api-madness-the-
    party-has.php
  10 Giving SOAP a REST http://www.devx.com/DevX/Article/8155
  11 Lean Software Is Agile, Fit-To-Purpose, And Efficient http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/lean_software_is_agile,_fit-to-purpose,_and_
     efficient/q/id/47830/t/2




12 | ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer
The Move to the Cloud and a Web-Oriented
Architecture
During the past decade, free Web-based services like Gmail
have altered people’s expectations for the applications
they like to use for both their consumer and work lives. The
idea of visiting Best Buy to purchase software discs or even
Microsoft’s website for downloads and upgrades became
antiquated, if not inconvenient. People became more selective
about installing an application locally, especially if they could
easily avoid it. This trend is playing a huge role in bringing
the principles of the open Web to the enterprise. The net
result is leading to a shift away from stack-based enterprise
architectures with stateful integration points that for years
made it difficult and expensive to rectify old systems, data and
apps with new applications (like social).

Just how much has the cloud affected IT thinking about architectures and strategy? In June, the
consulting and market research firm IDC estimated that cloud-based services accounted for $16 billion
in global IT spending in 2009 and will rise to $55.5 billion by 2014.12 As shown in ReadWriteWeb’s
recent cloud report, companies that have embraced these cloud services experienced faster
deployment times and shifted their IT priorities to integrating disparate apps via open APIs.13

Meanwhile, these enterprises have taken advantage of fast iteration cycles that happen with cloud-
based software, where updates and upgrades happen in weeks instead of years. The SaaS-based
subscription model has spurred better alignment between vendors and enterprise customers; if a
company is on one-year subscription contracts, vendors are incentivized to deliver faster and more
efficiently in response to customer needs in order to win renewals the following year. This represents a
much different approach to overselling licenses that get shelved over several year contracts.



12 IDC: SaaS Momentum Skyrocketing http://www.cio.com/article/600577/
13 The Future of the Cloud http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2010/07/download-our-latest-report-for-free-the-future-of-the-cloud.php




                                                                                     ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 13
But enterprises that must hold on to on-premises systems won’t be left out in the cold.

   Hybrid “private clouds” and onsite or virtualized appliances will allow them to realize the benefits of
   the cloud and build a Web-oriented architecture for the future. At the same time, these deployment
   methods allow them to meet the security and integration needs of their current legacy systems
   that have lived behind a firewall for many years and will for some time into the future. Appliances in
   particular enable companies to hook new cloud-based software into their existing infrastructure, but
   still receive updates and upgrades remotely from a vendor with little to no effort from IT.

   “Appliances continue to be an important deployment option for tasks associated with application
   integration and infrastructure, Gartner’s L. Frank Kenney wrote in the company’s 2009 report on
   Integration and appliances.14 “Appliances as a deployment option should not be ignored because of
   the positive impact they can have on implementation times, costs, overall return on investment (ROI)
   and total cost of ownership (TCO).”

   The move to SaaS and the cloud — be it in a pure, hosted form or the hybrid appliance — will enable
   companies to embrace a Web-oriented architecture that encourages easy integrations between
   systems old and new.

   It will also allow save IT money. By Gartner’s estimation, 60% of current IT spend is allocated to
   infrastructure costs.15 As that time and money gets freed up, IT and enterprise developers will focus
   more heavily on building a layer in the enterprise architecture that allows employees to access
   information from a variety of systems and share it with colleagues to collaborate around key business
   challenges and solve them faster than competitors.




   14 Key Issues for Integration and Infrastructure Appliances, 2009 (Gartner, password protected). http://www.gartner.com/
      DisplayDocument?id=931824
   15 Shrink Your IT Infrastructure Costs http://www.cio.com/article/603217/Shrink_Your_IT_Infrastructure_Costs




14 | ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer
Building the Social Layer in the Enterprise
Architecture
The open Web has improved our ability to connect us with
relevant people and develop and mash applications by
utilizing dynamic scripting languages. Now it’s begun tackling
another architectural problem we have had for a long time in
the enterprise: It allows us to pull information, rather than be
pushed with stuff we don’t necessarily want to consume.

This “push versus pull” problem was first addressed with the advent of RSS, which emerged as a way to
pull information from disparate data sources, rather than having them pushed to us (most commonly
by e-mail). With news, for example, people could customize what content they wanted. If you only
wanted your politics from The Washington Post and your sports from The Boston Globe, RSS readers
made that possible.

More recently, open Web standards and protocols — most notably activitystrea.ms, OpenSocial, and
WebHooks — created a more holistic approach to pull because they powerfully combine updates from
both people and systems.16 Facebook and its 500 million users who utilize the Facebook News Feed is
the most recognized example to mainstream Web users. When people log on to Facebook, they can
see that their friend John “uploaded his photos from his vacation to Thailand” or that “Natalie is now
friends with Chris.”

The Facebook platform, for instance, allows us to generate updates from actions taken on third-party
sites and applications via its platform technology, Facebook Connect. With the proper permissions in
place, your friends can write a review on Yelp or comment on a ReadWriteWeb story, and you can see
those actions from around the Web flow into your Facebook News Feed, where you can comment on
them.

The consequence of this communications medium is helping spur the social layer in the enterprise to
break down information silos, which remain a very real problem at companies. Citing recent research,
The New York Times recently reported that in 2008, computer users at work change windows or check
e-mail or other programs nearly 37 times an hour.17



16 Bringing Open Web Standards Behind the Enterprise Firewall: http://www.socialtext.com/blog/2010/07/socialtext-connect-bringing-
   open-web-standards-behind-the-enterprise-firewall/
17 Attached to Technology and Paying a Price http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brain.html?_r=1




                                                                                      ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 15
Rather than tab-toggle to various applications all day, employees should be able to select what
   information from colleagues and systems across the enterprise they want pulled to them, even if they
   don’t reside in the same department or a “power user” of a particular enterprise system. Consequently,
   enterprises must embrace a new pull model analogous to Facebook’s News Feed, allowing them to
   see that “John edited the Q2 marketing plan” or that “a new record was created in your Oracle CRM
   system.”18

   With the ability to filter by tags, groups and transaction types, companies know their employees are
   getting the most relevant information. Because these events and updates surface in a microblogging
   or activity stream, employees can view, discuss, and take action on critical information, events and
   processes. The result: Companies can transform core business processes that had previously been
   walled off by information silos across their company. By injecting activity streams with diverse updates,
   content and events spanning the entire company and all its systems, employees can collaborate across
   the enterprise to solve business challenges and tackle new opportunities.

   For example, Hayes Knight, an accounting consultancy in Australia, manages customer questions for
   accountants in a CRM system. Rather than purchase costly licenses for each accountant, they have
   utilized open, RESTful APIs to surface relevant events from that CRM system inside an enterprise
   activity stream. There, they answer the question and send it back to the CRM system, where a customer
   service representative can respond to the client.19 Another example is a book publisher headquartered
   in New York. When their enterprise inventory systems sees that the stock of a popular book title
   reaches a certain level, a microblogging message is sent from the company’s ERP system to the
   relevant team who can then collaboratively decide how to replenish it.

   Lee Bryant, a consultant at Headshift, argues that a social layer will let IT do what it does best: fuel new
   business objectives with the best technology possible, while empowering business users with flexible
   tools that makes it easier for them to do their jobs better and faster.20

   “At the base of the enterprise IT stack, we have expensive, slow-moving technology such as document
   management systems, ERP systems, databases and so on, which we might change every 3-5 years, if
   at all,” Byrant says. “They are good at the heavy lifting and underlying processes that many businesses
   need, but often very poor at user experience... If IT departments can continue to own and manage
   underlying enterprise IT platforms, but expose APIs and data, then business users can define, provision
   and run their own social applications at the top of the stack without having to defer to IT for every
   decision they make, or work at a slower pace and in a more constrained way than they need... this
   would be a huge win for all concerned.”




   18 Making The Case for Enterprise Activity Streams (And Why It’s Not Just “Another Tool”) http://www.socialtext.com/blog/2010/07/making-
      the-case-for-enterprise-activity-streams-and-why-its-not-just-another-tool/
   19 http://www.socialtext.com/blog/2010/08/accounting-consultancy-hayes-knight-utilizes-socialtext-connect-to-serve-customers-faster/
   20 Social layering can help bring IT and the business together http://www.headshift.com/blog/2010/07/social-layering-can-help-bring.php




16 | ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer
Conclusion: Bring the Open Web Behind the
Firewall
To make the social layer real, enterprise IT must embrace
a Web-oriented architecture that makes use of open REST
APIs, dynamic scripting languages and more cloud-friendly
deployment models. Those who have traditional on-premises
systems can realize the same potential by installing an
appliance behind the firewall to create their social layer in the
enterprise architecture.

Enterprise IT has the opportunity to break down information silos that have prevented employees
from a valuable trove of information that was once reserved for the few people who had access to
complex, department-specific apps. Social technologies represent the opportunity to surface those
in one unified stream, making business processes more flexible, giving the modern employee greater
context and awareness of the key forces driving their business. With real-time access to relevant events
being carried out by these key business systems and colleagues across the enterprise, employees
can pursue new business opportunities faster than their competitors, while serving customers more
efficiently than ever before.




                                                                  ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 17
18 | ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer
If you liked this report, check out our other reports:

                                                                       Guide to Online Community Management
         The

     ReadWriteWeb                                                      Our first premium report for businesses comes in two parts:
                    Guide to Online Community
                           Management
                                                                       a 75 page collection of case studies, advice and discussion concerning
                 Edited By Marshall Kirkpatrick
                                                   May 2009            the most important issues in online community; and a companion online
                                                                       aggregator that delivers the most-discussed articles each day written by
                                                                       experts on community management from around the Web.

                                                                       http://www.readwriteweb.com/reports
  ReadWriteWeb Premium Guide to Online Community Management   page 1




     The Real-Time Web
                                                                       Real-time Web technologies and applications have the potential to change
     and its Future
                                                                       everything—at a real-time pace. If you are a CTO, work in development,
                                                                       marketing or you are planning your next website or mobile application
                                                                       upgrade, you need to know about the real-time Web.
     Edited by Marshall Kirkpatrick

                                                                       http://www.readwriteweb.com/reports




                                                                       Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers:
                                                                       Analysis of the Leaders, the Challenges and the Future
     Augmented Reality for
     Marketers and Developers:                                         AR offers a new paradigm for high impact, high value customer
     Analysis of the Leaders, the
     Challenges and the Future
                                                                       experience.  Decrease your AR development time to market by learning
                                                                       from the first wave of early adopters to this new technology.  In this
     Written by Chris Cameron
                                                                       ReadWriteWeb Premium Report we profile successful companies and their
                                                                       campaigns as well as development lessons learned.

                                                                       http://www.readwriteweb.com/reports




                                                                                                                      ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 19
ReadWriteWeb.com

Contenu connexe

Tendances

True collaboration, or: Why SharePoint is no friend to the CIO
True collaboration, or: Why SharePoint is no friend to the CIOTrue collaboration, or: Why SharePoint is no friend to the CIO
True collaboration, or: Why SharePoint is no friend to the CIOHuddleHQ
 
Community Relationship Management
Community Relationship ManagementCommunity Relationship Management
Community Relationship ManagementChristof Sprenger
 
Five Key Focus Areas for New-Age Collaboration
Five Key Focus Areas for New-Age CollaborationFive Key Focus Areas for New-Age Collaboration
Five Key Focus Areas for New-Age CollaborationCognizant
 
Social Computing In The Enterprise BarCampBuffalo Open Discussion
Social Computing In The Enterprise BarCampBuffalo Open DiscussionSocial Computing In The Enterprise BarCampBuffalo Open Discussion
Social Computing In The Enterprise BarCampBuffalo Open DiscussionЅ. Νavpreet Jatana
 
Assyst E 2 0 Share Point Solution
Assyst E 2 0 Share Point SolutionAssyst E 2 0 Share Point Solution
Assyst E 2 0 Share Point Solutionrahuljamal
 
Microsoft buys enterprise social network vendor yammer for $1.2 b
Microsoft buys enterprise social network vendor yammer for $1.2 bMicrosoft buys enterprise social network vendor yammer for $1.2 b
Microsoft buys enterprise social network vendor yammer for $1.2 bLluis Altes
 
Rock your CIO’s world with a sensational SharePoint strategy
Rock your CIO’s world with a sensational SharePoint strategyRock your CIO’s world with a sensational SharePoint strategy
Rock your CIO’s world with a sensational SharePoint strategyJacobs Australia
 
Supplement For Secrets Of Successful Portals Presentation
Supplement For Secrets Of Successful Portals PresentationSupplement For Secrets Of Successful Portals Presentation
Supplement For Secrets Of Successful Portals PresentationSusan Hanley
 
Leveraging Mashups In The Context Of Critical Business Data, Soa, And Enterpi...
Leveraging Mashups In The Context Of Critical Business Data, Soa, And Enterpi...Leveraging Mashups In The Context Of Critical Business Data, Soa, And Enterpi...
Leveraging Mashups In The Context Of Critical Business Data, Soa, And Enterpi...David Linthicum
 
5 steps to becoming a social enterprise andrew bishop-jacobs
5 steps to becoming a social enterprise andrew bishop-jacobs5 steps to becoming a social enterprise andrew bishop-jacobs
5 steps to becoming a social enterprise andrew bishop-jacobsJacobs Australia
 
Situational applications and their role in enterprise it strategy
Situational applications and their role in enterprise it strategySituational applications and their role in enterprise it strategy
Situational applications and their role in enterprise it strategyNewton Day Uploads
 
Collaboration Software Comparison
Collaboration Software ComparisonCollaboration Software Comparison
Collaboration Software ComparisonKristian Tanninen
 
6 benefits of implementing Enterprise 2.0 collaboration software for businesses
6 benefits of implementing Enterprise 2.0 collaboration software for businesses6 benefits of implementing Enterprise 2.0 collaboration software for businesses
6 benefits of implementing Enterprise 2.0 collaboration software for businessesCynapse
 
Raona - How to implement an effective social media strategy - isc_2012
Raona - How to implement an effective social media strategy - isc_2012Raona - How to implement an effective social media strategy - isc_2012
Raona - How to implement an effective social media strategy - isc_2012Pablo Peris
 
Enterprise 2.0 – adding a social layer to SharePoint
Enterprise 2.0 – adding a social layer to SharePointEnterprise 2.0 – adding a social layer to SharePoint
Enterprise 2.0 – adding a social layer to SharePointJacobs Australia
 
Microsoft Convergence DayOne: Leveraging SharePoint within Your Dynamics GP W...
Microsoft Convergence DayOne: Leveraging SharePoint within Your Dynamics GP W...Microsoft Convergence DayOne: Leveraging SharePoint within Your Dynamics GP W...
Microsoft Convergence DayOne: Leveraging SharePoint within Your Dynamics GP W...Marie-Michelle Strah, PhD
 
Social Business in the Cloud: Achieving Measurable Results
Social Business in the Cloud: Achieving Measurable ResultsSocial Business in the Cloud: Achieving Measurable Results
Social Business in the Cloud: Achieving Measurable ResultsRawn Shah
 

Tendances (20)

True collaboration, or: Why SharePoint is no friend to the CIO
True collaboration, or: Why SharePoint is no friend to the CIOTrue collaboration, or: Why SharePoint is no friend to the CIO
True collaboration, or: Why SharePoint is no friend to the CIO
 
Community Relationship Management
Community Relationship ManagementCommunity Relationship Management
Community Relationship Management
 
Five Key Focus Areas for New-Age Collaboration
Five Key Focus Areas for New-Age CollaborationFive Key Focus Areas for New-Age Collaboration
Five Key Focus Areas for New-Age Collaboration
 
Social Computing In The Enterprise BarCampBuffalo Open Discussion
Social Computing In The Enterprise BarCampBuffalo Open DiscussionSocial Computing In The Enterprise BarCampBuffalo Open Discussion
Social Computing In The Enterprise BarCampBuffalo Open Discussion
 
Assyst E 2 0 Share Point Solution
Assyst E 2 0 Share Point SolutionAssyst E 2 0 Share Point Solution
Assyst E 2 0 Share Point Solution
 
Microsoft buys enterprise social network vendor yammer for $1.2 b
Microsoft buys enterprise social network vendor yammer for $1.2 bMicrosoft buys enterprise social network vendor yammer for $1.2 b
Microsoft buys enterprise social network vendor yammer for $1.2 b
 
Lotus Overview
Lotus OverviewLotus Overview
Lotus Overview
 
Rock your CIO’s world with a sensational SharePoint strategy
Rock your CIO’s world with a sensational SharePoint strategyRock your CIO’s world with a sensational SharePoint strategy
Rock your CIO’s world with a sensational SharePoint strategy
 
Supplement For Secrets Of Successful Portals Presentation
Supplement For Secrets Of Successful Portals PresentationSupplement For Secrets Of Successful Portals Presentation
Supplement For Secrets Of Successful Portals Presentation
 
Leveraging Mashups In The Context Of Critical Business Data, Soa, And Enterpi...
Leveraging Mashups In The Context Of Critical Business Data, Soa, And Enterpi...Leveraging Mashups In The Context Of Critical Business Data, Soa, And Enterpi...
Leveraging Mashups In The Context Of Critical Business Data, Soa, And Enterpi...
 
5 steps to becoming a social enterprise andrew bishop-jacobs
5 steps to becoming a social enterprise andrew bishop-jacobs5 steps to becoming a social enterprise andrew bishop-jacobs
5 steps to becoming a social enterprise andrew bishop-jacobs
 
Situational applications and their role in enterprise it strategy
Situational applications and their role in enterprise it strategySituational applications and their role in enterprise it strategy
Situational applications and their role in enterprise it strategy
 
Collaboration Software Comparison
Collaboration Software ComparisonCollaboration Software Comparison
Collaboration Software Comparison
 
6 benefits of implementing Enterprise 2.0 collaboration software for businesses
6 benefits of implementing Enterprise 2.0 collaboration software for businesses6 benefits of implementing Enterprise 2.0 collaboration software for businesses
6 benefits of implementing Enterprise 2.0 collaboration software for businesses
 
International Forum on E 2.0 - Intel
International Forum on E 2.0 - IntelInternational Forum on E 2.0 - Intel
International Forum on E 2.0 - Intel
 
Raona - How to implement an effective social media strategy - isc_2012
Raona - How to implement an effective social media strategy - isc_2012Raona - How to implement an effective social media strategy - isc_2012
Raona - How to implement an effective social media strategy - isc_2012
 
Enterprise 2.0 – adding a social layer to SharePoint
Enterprise 2.0 – adding a social layer to SharePointEnterprise 2.0 – adding a social layer to SharePoint
Enterprise 2.0 – adding a social layer to SharePoint
 
Microsoft Convergence DayOne: Leveraging SharePoint within Your Dynamics GP W...
Microsoft Convergence DayOne: Leveraging SharePoint within Your Dynamics GP W...Microsoft Convergence DayOne: Leveraging SharePoint within Your Dynamics GP W...
Microsoft Convergence DayOne: Leveraging SharePoint within Your Dynamics GP W...
 
Social Business in the Cloud: Achieving Measurable Results
Social Business in the Cloud: Achieving Measurable ResultsSocial Business in the Cloud: Achieving Measurable Results
Social Business in the Cloud: Achieving Measurable Results
 
Classified ventures case study final
Classified ventures case study finalClassified ventures case study final
Classified ventures case study final
 

Similaire à The Social Layer

Business aspects of social software and collaboration
Business aspects of social software and collaboration Business aspects of social software and collaboration
Business aspects of social software and collaboration Ed Brill
 
Make social networking work for you
Make social networking work for youMake social networking work for you
Make social networking work for youNuno Fraga Coelho
 
Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10
Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10
Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10Mauricio Godoy
 
Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10
Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10
Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10Mauricio Godoy
 
Winnovation Network Introduction (3)
Winnovation Network Introduction (3)Winnovation Network Introduction (3)
Winnovation Network Introduction (3)Olof Nordenstam
 
Collaboration Tools, Portals And Intranets
Collaboration Tools, Portals And IntranetsCollaboration Tools, Portals And Intranets
Collaboration Tools, Portals And IntranetsDaniella Matutes
 
Microblogging in Enterprise 2.0 For Tata Steel
Microblogging in Enterprise 2.0 For Tata SteelMicroblogging in Enterprise 2.0 For Tata Steel
Microblogging in Enterprise 2.0 For Tata Steelrakesh620
 
AIIM Info 2011 Increasing mobile worker productivity
AIIM Info 2011 Increasing mobile worker productivityAIIM Info 2011 Increasing mobile worker productivity
AIIM Info 2011 Increasing mobile worker productivityZia Consulting
 
SharePoint Fest Denver
SharePoint Fest DenverSharePoint Fest Denver
SharePoint Fest DenverJeff Willinger
 
Social Software & HR
Social Software & HRSocial Software & HR
Social Software & HRArjan Radder
 
Future enterprises-social-birth
Future enterprises-social-birthFuture enterprises-social-birth
Future enterprises-social-birthJen Fiocca
 
VMworld 2013: Socialcast: Accelerate Innovation, Improve Collaboration, and A...
VMworld 2013: Socialcast: Accelerate Innovation, Improve Collaboration, and A...VMworld 2013: Socialcast: Accelerate Innovation, Improve Collaboration, and A...
VMworld 2013: Socialcast: Accelerate Innovation, Improve Collaboration, and A...VMworld
 
How IT can empower your organization to wlan
How IT can empower your organization to wlanHow IT can empower your organization to wlan
How IT can empower your organization to wlanMicrosoft
 
Inv310 agility-through-standards-socialbiz -2012016a
Inv310  agility-through-standards-socialbiz -2012016aInv310  agility-through-standards-socialbiz -2012016a
Inv310 agility-through-standards-socialbiz -2012016aAngel Diaz
 
Better Business Insight Means Better Business Decisions (11/11/12)
Better Business Insight Means Better Business Decisions (11/11/12)Better Business Insight Means Better Business Decisions (11/11/12)
Better Business Insight Means Better Business Decisions (11/11/12)Davalen LLC
 
Getting Started with Enterprise Social Networking
Getting Started with Enterprise Social NetworkingGetting Started with Enterprise Social Networking
Getting Started with Enterprise Social NetworkingDavid Stephens
 
Term Paper On Enterprise 2 0 The Next Leap For Indian It Services Industry
Term Paper On Enterprise 2 0 The Next Leap For Indian It Services IndustryTerm Paper On Enterprise 2 0 The Next Leap For Indian It Services Industry
Term Paper On Enterprise 2 0 The Next Leap For Indian It Services Industryvyas_harsh86
 
Leveraging the Cloud with Lotus Live
Leveraging the Cloud with Lotus LiveLeveraging the Cloud with Lotus Live
Leveraging the Cloud with Lotus LiveLA_IBM_Cloud_Event
 
2011 ComputerWorld Honors Program - Award Case Study
2011 ComputerWorld Honors Program - Award Case Study2011 ComputerWorld Honors Program - Award Case Study
2011 ComputerWorld Honors Program - Award Case StudyKarthik Chakkarapani
 

Similaire à The Social Layer (20)

Business aspects of social software and collaboration
Business aspects of social software and collaboration Business aspects of social software and collaboration
Business aspects of social software and collaboration
 
Make social networking work for you
Make social networking work for youMake social networking work for you
Make social networking work for you
 
Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10
Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10
Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10
 
Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10
Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10
Cloud forum 2011 s poulley keynote v10
 
Winnovation Network Introduction (3)
Winnovation Network Introduction (3)Winnovation Network Introduction (3)
Winnovation Network Introduction (3)
 
Collaboration Tools, Portals And Intranets
Collaboration Tools, Portals And IntranetsCollaboration Tools, Portals And Intranets
Collaboration Tools, Portals And Intranets
 
Microblogging in Enterprise 2.0 For Tata Steel
Microblogging in Enterprise 2.0 For Tata SteelMicroblogging in Enterprise 2.0 For Tata Steel
Microblogging in Enterprise 2.0 For Tata Steel
 
AIIM Info 2011 Increasing mobile worker productivity
AIIM Info 2011 Increasing mobile worker productivityAIIM Info 2011 Increasing mobile worker productivity
AIIM Info 2011 Increasing mobile worker productivity
 
SharePoint Fest Denver
SharePoint Fest DenverSharePoint Fest Denver
SharePoint Fest Denver
 
Social Software & HR
Social Software & HRSocial Software & HR
Social Software & HR
 
Future enterprises-social-birth
Future enterprises-social-birthFuture enterprises-social-birth
Future enterprises-social-birth
 
VMworld 2013: Socialcast: Accelerate Innovation, Improve Collaboration, and A...
VMworld 2013: Socialcast: Accelerate Innovation, Improve Collaboration, and A...VMworld 2013: Socialcast: Accelerate Innovation, Improve Collaboration, and A...
VMworld 2013: Socialcast: Accelerate Innovation, Improve Collaboration, and A...
 
How IT can empower your organization to wlan
How IT can empower your organization to wlanHow IT can empower your organization to wlan
How IT can empower your organization to wlan
 
Inv310 agility-through-standards-socialbiz -2012016a
Inv310  agility-through-standards-socialbiz -2012016aInv310  agility-through-standards-socialbiz -2012016a
Inv310 agility-through-standards-socialbiz -2012016a
 
Better Business Insight Means Better Business Decisions (11/11/12)
Better Business Insight Means Better Business Decisions (11/11/12)Better Business Insight Means Better Business Decisions (11/11/12)
Better Business Insight Means Better Business Decisions (11/11/12)
 
Getting Started with Enterprise Social Networking
Getting Started with Enterprise Social NetworkingGetting Started with Enterprise Social Networking
Getting Started with Enterprise Social Networking
 
Term Paper On Enterprise 2 0 The Next Leap For Indian It Services Industry
Term Paper On Enterprise 2 0 The Next Leap For Indian It Services IndustryTerm Paper On Enterprise 2 0 The Next Leap For Indian It Services Industry
Term Paper On Enterprise 2 0 The Next Leap For Indian It Services Industry
 
Leveraging the Cloud with Lotus Live
Leveraging the Cloud with Lotus LiveLeveraging the Cloud with Lotus Live
Leveraging the Cloud with Lotus Live
 
What is Digital?
What is Digital?What is Digital?
What is Digital?
 
2011 ComputerWorld Honors Program - Award Case Study
2011 ComputerWorld Honors Program - Award Case Study2011 ComputerWorld Honors Program - Award Case Study
2011 ComputerWorld Honors Program - Award Case Study
 

Plus de ReadWrite

Networks, Networks Everywhere, And Not A Packet To Drink
Networks, Networks Everywhere, And Not A Packet To DrinkNetworks, Networks Everywhere, And Not A Packet To Drink
Networks, Networks Everywhere, And Not A Packet To DrinkReadWrite
 
IoT Standards: The Next Generation
IoT Standards: The Next GenerationIoT Standards: The Next Generation
IoT Standards: The Next GenerationReadWrite
 
Designing For Smarties
Designing For SmartiesDesigning For Smarties
Designing For SmartiesReadWrite
 
Dude, Where's My Product?
Dude, Where's My Product?Dude, Where's My Product?
Dude, Where's My Product?ReadWrite
 
Senator Al Franken's Letter To Uber CEO Travis Kalanick
Senator Al Franken's Letter To Uber CEO Travis KalanickSenator Al Franken's Letter To Uber CEO Travis Kalanick
Senator Al Franken's Letter To Uber CEO Travis KalanickReadWrite
 
Where In The World Is The Fastest Broadband?
Where In The World Is The Fastest Broadband?Where In The World Is The Fastest Broadband?
Where In The World Is The Fastest Broadband?ReadWrite
 
Our Bodies, Disconnected: The Future Of Fitness APIs
Our Bodies, Disconnected: The Future Of Fitness APIsOur Bodies, Disconnected: The Future Of Fitness APIs
Our Bodies, Disconnected: The Future Of Fitness APIsReadWrite
 
White paper why they chose integrated hr outsourcing- a look at three small ...
White paper  why they chose integrated hr outsourcing- a look at three small ...White paper  why they chose integrated hr outsourcing- a look at three small ...
White paper why they chose integrated hr outsourcing- a look at three small ...ReadWrite
 
White paper what is a peo-
White paper  what is a peo-White paper  what is a peo-
White paper what is a peo-ReadWrite
 
White paper options for handling your hr function[1]
White paper  options for handling your hr function[1]White paper  options for handling your hr function[1]
White paper options for handling your hr function[1]ReadWrite
 
Tri net wp_buildsuccess
Tri net wp_buildsuccessTri net wp_buildsuccess
Tri net wp_buildsuccessReadWrite
 
Tri net wp_10_principles_hc_plan
Tri net wp_10_principles_hc_planTri net wp_10_principles_hc_plan
Tri net wp_10_principles_hc_planReadWrite
 
Tri net eguide_hiring_2012
Tri net eguide_hiring_2012Tri net eguide_hiring_2012
Tri net eguide_hiring_2012ReadWrite
 
White paper top 5 hr compliance concerns for small business
White paper  top 5 hr compliance concerns for small businessWhite paper  top 5 hr compliance concerns for small business
White paper top 5 hr compliance concerns for small businessReadWrite
 
Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: Analysis of the Leaders, the ...
Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: Analysis of the Leaders, the ...Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: Analysis of the Leaders, the ...
Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: Analysis of the Leaders, the ...ReadWrite
 
The Real-Time Web and its Future
The Real-Time Web and its FutureThe Real-Time Web and its Future
The Real-Time Web and its FutureReadWrite
 
Guide to Online Community Management
Guide to Online Community ManagementGuide to Online Community Management
Guide to Online Community ManagementReadWrite
 
V mware white paper virtualizing business-critical applications with confidence
V mware white paper  virtualizing business-critical applications with confidenceV mware white paper  virtualizing business-critical applications with confidence
V mware white paper virtualizing business-critical applications with confidenceReadWrite
 
Security for v mware
Security for v mwareSecurity for v mware
Security for v mwareReadWrite
 

Plus de ReadWrite (20)

Networks, Networks Everywhere, And Not A Packet To Drink
Networks, Networks Everywhere, And Not A Packet To DrinkNetworks, Networks Everywhere, And Not A Packet To Drink
Networks, Networks Everywhere, And Not A Packet To Drink
 
IoT Standards: The Next Generation
IoT Standards: The Next GenerationIoT Standards: The Next Generation
IoT Standards: The Next Generation
 
Designing For Smarties
Designing For SmartiesDesigning For Smarties
Designing For Smarties
 
Dude, Where's My Product?
Dude, Where's My Product?Dude, Where's My Product?
Dude, Where's My Product?
 
Senator Al Franken's Letter To Uber CEO Travis Kalanick
Senator Al Franken's Letter To Uber CEO Travis KalanickSenator Al Franken's Letter To Uber CEO Travis Kalanick
Senator Al Franken's Letter To Uber CEO Travis Kalanick
 
Where In The World Is The Fastest Broadband?
Where In The World Is The Fastest Broadband?Where In The World Is The Fastest Broadband?
Where In The World Is The Fastest Broadband?
 
Our Bodies, Disconnected: The Future Of Fitness APIs
Our Bodies, Disconnected: The Future Of Fitness APIsOur Bodies, Disconnected: The Future Of Fitness APIs
Our Bodies, Disconnected: The Future Of Fitness APIs
 
White paper why they chose integrated hr outsourcing- a look at three small ...
White paper  why they chose integrated hr outsourcing- a look at three small ...White paper  why they chose integrated hr outsourcing- a look at three small ...
White paper why they chose integrated hr outsourcing- a look at three small ...
 
White paper what is a peo-
White paper  what is a peo-White paper  what is a peo-
White paper what is a peo-
 
White paper options for handling your hr function[1]
White paper  options for handling your hr function[1]White paper  options for handling your hr function[1]
White paper options for handling your hr function[1]
 
Tri net wp_buildsuccess
Tri net wp_buildsuccessTri net wp_buildsuccess
Tri net wp_buildsuccess
 
Tri net wp_10_principles_hc_plan
Tri net wp_10_principles_hc_planTri net wp_10_principles_hc_plan
Tri net wp_10_principles_hc_plan
 
Tri net eguide_hiring_2012
Tri net eguide_hiring_2012Tri net eguide_hiring_2012
Tri net eguide_hiring_2012
 
Peo study
Peo studyPeo study
Peo study
 
White paper top 5 hr compliance concerns for small business
White paper  top 5 hr compliance concerns for small businessWhite paper  top 5 hr compliance concerns for small business
White paper top 5 hr compliance concerns for small business
 
Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: Analysis of the Leaders, the ...
Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: Analysis of the Leaders, the ...Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: Analysis of the Leaders, the ...
Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: Analysis of the Leaders, the ...
 
The Real-Time Web and its Future
The Real-Time Web and its FutureThe Real-Time Web and its Future
The Real-Time Web and its Future
 
Guide to Online Community Management
Guide to Online Community ManagementGuide to Online Community Management
Guide to Online Community Management
 
V mware white paper virtualizing business-critical applications with confidence
V mware white paper  virtualizing business-critical applications with confidenceV mware white paper  virtualizing business-critical applications with confidence
V mware white paper virtualizing business-critical applications with confidence
 
Security for v mware
Security for v mwareSecurity for v mware
Security for v mware
 

Dernier

A Domino Admins Adventures (Engage 2024)
A Domino Admins Adventures (Engage 2024)A Domino Admins Adventures (Engage 2024)
A Domino Admins Adventures (Engage 2024)Gabriella Davis
 
08448380779 Call Girls In Diplomatic Enclave Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Diplomatic Enclave Women Seeking Men08448380779 Call Girls In Diplomatic Enclave Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Diplomatic Enclave Women Seeking MenDelhi Call girls
 
Top 5 Benefits OF Using Muvi Live Paywall For Live Streams
Top 5 Benefits OF Using Muvi Live Paywall For Live StreamsTop 5 Benefits OF Using Muvi Live Paywall For Live Streams
Top 5 Benefits OF Using Muvi Live Paywall For Live StreamsRoshan Dwivedi
 
Driving Behavioral Change for Information Management through Data-Driven Gree...
Driving Behavioral Change for Information Management through Data-Driven Gree...Driving Behavioral Change for Information Management through Data-Driven Gree...
Driving Behavioral Change for Information Management through Data-Driven Gree...Enterprise Knowledge
 
CNv6 Instructor Chapter 6 Quality of Service
CNv6 Instructor Chapter 6 Quality of ServiceCNv6 Instructor Chapter 6 Quality of Service
CNv6 Instructor Chapter 6 Quality of Servicegiselly40
 
WhatsApp 9892124323 ✓Call Girls In Kalyan ( Mumbai ) secure service
WhatsApp 9892124323 ✓Call Girls In Kalyan ( Mumbai ) secure serviceWhatsApp 9892124323 ✓Call Girls In Kalyan ( Mumbai ) secure service
WhatsApp 9892124323 ✓Call Girls In Kalyan ( Mumbai ) secure servicePooja Nehwal
 
How to Troubleshoot Apps for the Modern Connected Worker
How to Troubleshoot Apps for the Modern Connected WorkerHow to Troubleshoot Apps for the Modern Connected Worker
How to Troubleshoot Apps for the Modern Connected WorkerThousandEyes
 
Breaking the Kubernetes Kill Chain: Host Path Mount
Breaking the Kubernetes Kill Chain: Host Path MountBreaking the Kubernetes Kill Chain: Host Path Mount
Breaking the Kubernetes Kill Chain: Host Path MountPuma Security, LLC
 
Developing An App To Navigate The Roads of Brazil
Developing An App To Navigate The Roads of BrazilDeveloping An App To Navigate The Roads of Brazil
Developing An App To Navigate The Roads of BrazilV3cube
 
08448380779 Call Girls In Greater Kailash - I Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Greater Kailash - I Women Seeking Men08448380779 Call Girls In Greater Kailash - I Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Greater Kailash - I Women Seeking MenDelhi Call girls
 
The Codex of Business Writing Software for Real-World Solutions 2.pptx
The Codex of Business Writing Software for Real-World Solutions 2.pptxThe Codex of Business Writing Software for Real-World Solutions 2.pptx
The Codex of Business Writing Software for Real-World Solutions 2.pptxMalak Abu Hammad
 
The 7 Things I Know About Cyber Security After 25 Years | April 2024
The 7 Things I Know About Cyber Security After 25 Years | April 2024The 7 Things I Know About Cyber Security After 25 Years | April 2024
The 7 Things I Know About Cyber Security After 25 Years | April 2024Rafal Los
 
Workshop - Best of Both Worlds_ Combine KG and Vector search for enhanced R...
Workshop - Best of Both Worlds_ Combine  KG and Vector search for  enhanced R...Workshop - Best of Both Worlds_ Combine  KG and Vector search for  enhanced R...
Workshop - Best of Both Worlds_ Combine KG and Vector search for enhanced R...Neo4j
 
08448380779 Call Girls In Civil Lines Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Civil Lines Women Seeking Men08448380779 Call Girls In Civil Lines Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Civil Lines Women Seeking MenDelhi Call girls
 
Boost PC performance: How more available memory can improve productivity
Boost PC performance: How more available memory can improve productivityBoost PC performance: How more available memory can improve productivity
Boost PC performance: How more available memory can improve productivityPrincipled Technologies
 
EIS-Webinar-Prompt-Knowledge-Eng-2024-04-08.pptx
EIS-Webinar-Prompt-Knowledge-Eng-2024-04-08.pptxEIS-Webinar-Prompt-Knowledge-Eng-2024-04-08.pptx
EIS-Webinar-Prompt-Knowledge-Eng-2024-04-08.pptxEarley Information Science
 
The Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdf
The Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdfThe Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdf
The Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdfEnterprise Knowledge
 
Finology Group – Insurtech Innovation Award 2024
Finology Group – Insurtech Innovation Award 2024Finology Group – Insurtech Innovation Award 2024
Finology Group – Insurtech Innovation Award 2024The Digital Insurer
 
Injustice - Developers Among Us (SciFiDevCon 2024)
Injustice - Developers Among Us (SciFiDevCon 2024)Injustice - Developers Among Us (SciFiDevCon 2024)
Injustice - Developers Among Us (SciFiDevCon 2024)Allon Mureinik
 
IAC 2024 - IA Fast Track to Search Focused AI Solutions
IAC 2024 - IA Fast Track to Search Focused AI SolutionsIAC 2024 - IA Fast Track to Search Focused AI Solutions
IAC 2024 - IA Fast Track to Search Focused AI SolutionsEnterprise Knowledge
 

Dernier (20)

A Domino Admins Adventures (Engage 2024)
A Domino Admins Adventures (Engage 2024)A Domino Admins Adventures (Engage 2024)
A Domino Admins Adventures (Engage 2024)
 
08448380779 Call Girls In Diplomatic Enclave Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Diplomatic Enclave Women Seeking Men08448380779 Call Girls In Diplomatic Enclave Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Diplomatic Enclave Women Seeking Men
 
Top 5 Benefits OF Using Muvi Live Paywall For Live Streams
Top 5 Benefits OF Using Muvi Live Paywall For Live StreamsTop 5 Benefits OF Using Muvi Live Paywall For Live Streams
Top 5 Benefits OF Using Muvi Live Paywall For Live Streams
 
Driving Behavioral Change for Information Management through Data-Driven Gree...
Driving Behavioral Change for Information Management through Data-Driven Gree...Driving Behavioral Change for Information Management through Data-Driven Gree...
Driving Behavioral Change for Information Management through Data-Driven Gree...
 
CNv6 Instructor Chapter 6 Quality of Service
CNv6 Instructor Chapter 6 Quality of ServiceCNv6 Instructor Chapter 6 Quality of Service
CNv6 Instructor Chapter 6 Quality of Service
 
WhatsApp 9892124323 ✓Call Girls In Kalyan ( Mumbai ) secure service
WhatsApp 9892124323 ✓Call Girls In Kalyan ( Mumbai ) secure serviceWhatsApp 9892124323 ✓Call Girls In Kalyan ( Mumbai ) secure service
WhatsApp 9892124323 ✓Call Girls In Kalyan ( Mumbai ) secure service
 
How to Troubleshoot Apps for the Modern Connected Worker
How to Troubleshoot Apps for the Modern Connected WorkerHow to Troubleshoot Apps for the Modern Connected Worker
How to Troubleshoot Apps for the Modern Connected Worker
 
Breaking the Kubernetes Kill Chain: Host Path Mount
Breaking the Kubernetes Kill Chain: Host Path MountBreaking the Kubernetes Kill Chain: Host Path Mount
Breaking the Kubernetes Kill Chain: Host Path Mount
 
Developing An App To Navigate The Roads of Brazil
Developing An App To Navigate The Roads of BrazilDeveloping An App To Navigate The Roads of Brazil
Developing An App To Navigate The Roads of Brazil
 
08448380779 Call Girls In Greater Kailash - I Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Greater Kailash - I Women Seeking Men08448380779 Call Girls In Greater Kailash - I Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Greater Kailash - I Women Seeking Men
 
The Codex of Business Writing Software for Real-World Solutions 2.pptx
The Codex of Business Writing Software for Real-World Solutions 2.pptxThe Codex of Business Writing Software for Real-World Solutions 2.pptx
The Codex of Business Writing Software for Real-World Solutions 2.pptx
 
The 7 Things I Know About Cyber Security After 25 Years | April 2024
The 7 Things I Know About Cyber Security After 25 Years | April 2024The 7 Things I Know About Cyber Security After 25 Years | April 2024
The 7 Things I Know About Cyber Security After 25 Years | April 2024
 
Workshop - Best of Both Worlds_ Combine KG and Vector search for enhanced R...
Workshop - Best of Both Worlds_ Combine  KG and Vector search for  enhanced R...Workshop - Best of Both Worlds_ Combine  KG and Vector search for  enhanced R...
Workshop - Best of Both Worlds_ Combine KG and Vector search for enhanced R...
 
08448380779 Call Girls In Civil Lines Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Civil Lines Women Seeking Men08448380779 Call Girls In Civil Lines Women Seeking Men
08448380779 Call Girls In Civil Lines Women Seeking Men
 
Boost PC performance: How more available memory can improve productivity
Boost PC performance: How more available memory can improve productivityBoost PC performance: How more available memory can improve productivity
Boost PC performance: How more available memory can improve productivity
 
EIS-Webinar-Prompt-Knowledge-Eng-2024-04-08.pptx
EIS-Webinar-Prompt-Knowledge-Eng-2024-04-08.pptxEIS-Webinar-Prompt-Knowledge-Eng-2024-04-08.pptx
EIS-Webinar-Prompt-Knowledge-Eng-2024-04-08.pptx
 
The Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdf
The Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdfThe Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdf
The Role of Taxonomy and Ontology in Semantic Layers - Heather Hedden.pdf
 
Finology Group – Insurtech Innovation Award 2024
Finology Group – Insurtech Innovation Award 2024Finology Group – Insurtech Innovation Award 2024
Finology Group – Insurtech Innovation Award 2024
 
Injustice - Developers Among Us (SciFiDevCon 2024)
Injustice - Developers Among Us (SciFiDevCon 2024)Injustice - Developers Among Us (SciFiDevCon 2024)
Injustice - Developers Among Us (SciFiDevCon 2024)
 
IAC 2024 - IA Fast Track to Search Focused AI Solutions
IAC 2024 - IA Fast Track to Search Focused AI SolutionsIAC 2024 - IA Fast Track to Search Focused AI Solutions
IAC 2024 - IA Fast Track to Search Focused AI Solutions
 

The Social Layer

  • 1. The Social Layer HOW THE RISE OF WEB-ORIENTED ARCHITECTURE IS CHANGING ENTERPRISE IT Written by Christopher Lynch Edited by Alex Williams
  • 2.
  • 3. Contents Sponsor Message from Socialtext 2 Socialtext Connect: Integrating Traditional Apps With Enterprise Social Software 2 Accounting Consultancy Hayes Knight Utilizes Socialtext Connect To Serve Customers Faster 4 Introduction 6 The rise of scripting languages, open frameworks and the “view source” culture 9 REST and the Enterprise 11 The Move to the Cloud and a Web-Oriented Architecture 13 Building the Social Layer in the Enterprise Architecture 15 Conclusion: Bring the Open Web Behind the Firewall 17 ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 1
  • 4. Note from Sponsor Socialtext is pleased to sponsor this ReadWriteWeb report because it spotlights an emerging IT trend we can deliver on. The report shows how companies can build an enterprise architecture that surfaces key events from traditional systems of record inside of social applications, so that employees across the enterprise can use that information to have open discussions and to collaborate and take action to improve their core business processes. Enterprise IT can easily perform this integration by embracing Open Web standards built on open APIs, a trend this paper covers in detail. Though the paper is not product specific, we do have an offering called Socialtext Connect that enables this integration. Socialtext Connect: Integrating Traditional Apps With Enterprise Social Software The problem Traditional systems of record (i.e. CRM, ERP) that businesses have relied on for years to perform key business processes have created information silos inside companies. Employees who lack access to a particular line of business system miss out on critical information and events happening there that could help them execute key business process, support colleagues and give them greater context and awareness for how they drive new opportunities and projects and serve customers. Solution Socialtext Connect is a technology that enables these integrations in the enterprise by building a “social layer” in the enterprise architecture using open Web standards. Connect works for integrating both traditional on-premise as well as cloud-based enterprise applications to social applications used enterprise-wide. Connect leverages the fast innovation taking place on the consumer Web by incorporating established and emerging Web standards, including Twitter Annotations, Google OpenSocial and activitystrea.ms (which Facebook’s News Feed was built on).
  • 5. Benefits Elimination of information silos: Employees across the enterprise can have access to relevant information from systems they either never had access to or had difficulty using , which helps them make better decisions when managing projects, pursuing new opportunities or serving customers. Make business processes more flexible: Traditional systems of record are good at carrying out a predefined, rigid set of business processes. But when an exception to those business processes happens — a common, everyday occurrence — people must step in and manage it. With Socialtext Connect, those exceptions can be surfaced as an event inside an enterprise activity stream. There, employees can discuss, collaborate, and take action on that event to satisfy business goals, customer needs and key projects and initiatives. Better context and awareness: By having real-time access to relevant events being carried out by key business systems and colleagues across the enterprise, employees make better decisions, serve customers more efficiently, and stay in sync as they drive new business opportunities. For a demonstration of Socialtext Connect, contact sales@socialtext.com.
  • 6. Accounting Consultancy Hayes Knight Utilizes Socialtext Connect To Serve Customers Faster By Christopher Lynch With the recent launch of Socialtext Connect, Socialtext customers have begun surfacing events from other critical business applications (CRM, ERP, etc.) inside of Socialtext Signals and Activity Streams. This gives employees the ability to see relevant work their colleagues do in other systems, engage in conversations around those events, and take action on them. One great example is Hayes Knight, an Australian accounting and consulting firm. Hayes Knight uses Socialtext to share knowledge and provide its clients with the best and most up to date information about tax and accounting issues. Hayes Knight utilized Socialtext Connect to trigger a microblogging message when critical actions occur inside of Salesforce.com. Hayes Knight’s knowledge management company, Knowledge Shop, provides a web-based member service subscribed to by 500 accounting firms and the thousands of accountants who work for them. It serves as a place for members to ask questions about accounting issues and get access to all kinds of tax and accounting information that experts at Knowledge Shop deal with everyday. The questions range from general accounting questions, to more complex tax advice issues. The customer service representatives for Knowledge Shop use Salesforce.com to manage membership information, seminar registrations, and to assign and track questions for Knowledge Shop advisers. When a rep enters a question into Salesforce.com from a Knowledge Shop member, the service rep can push that question into Socialtext Signals with the click of a button. Even though the question is addressed to a specific tax adviser, Hayes Knight finds value in letting others see the questions being asked. Then the Knowledge Shop adviser documents answers in Socialtext Workspaces, for current and future use. Once they’re completed, using a customized button inside Socialtext, they can send the proper answer back to Salesforce.com for processing. Hayes Knight CTO Jack Pedzikiewicz used Socialtext Connect to perform the integration. The ReST API within Socialtext Connect allows Socialtext customers to take events from a variety of other enterprise systems and surface them inside of Signals. Jack says he wants the advisers working in Socialtext because the software has deep collaboration features that allow them to create, share and capture knowledge −− something they wouldn’t get if they worked in Salesforce.com.
  • 7. “Signals allows us to respond faster,” Jack told me recently in a video chat. “The speed with which we’re answering questions has been cut in half, and is a full 7−8 minutes faster on average. The wonderful thing is, as we capture these great answers inside of Socialtext workspaces, we also cut back on repetition where questions cover the same issue and build best of breed responses and knowledge on key issues of importance. It allows us to serve our customers faster and more consistently.” We’re always looking for more great uses of Socialtext Connect to share. Please feel free to send me yours. Customers or business partners interested in joining our Socialtext Developer community, where practitioners can learn how to get the most from Socialtext Connect and share best practices, please contact us at socialdev@socialtext.com. Originally posted on August 30, 2010 at http://www.socialtext.com/blog/2010/08/accounting-consultancy- hayes-knight-utilizes-socialtext-connect-to-serve-customers-faster/
  • 8. 6 | ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer
  • 9. Introduction During what’s become widely known as the Web 2.0 movement, we saw the emergence of consumer applications and services like Facebook, Google, Twitter and Wikipedia. These services made it easier to share information in real time and connect with friends, family and experts. Large ecosystems of companies emerged to build services to complement these applications and websites, generating billions in venture capital, advertising and subscription revenue. As these services became a staple of the consumer Web, enterprise software vendors built secure applications that mirrored the social dynamics of these technologies, making it easier for employees to share knowledge and expertise, and connect with colleagues. This is giving way to what’s known as a “social layer” in the enterprise architecture. A social layer enables employees to access information from a variety of enterprise applications and colleagues across organizational silos. In an open — yet secure — environment built on microblogging and activity streams, employees discuss, collaborate and take action on the real-time information being pumped into the social layer to serve customers better and drive new business opportunities. Companies’ embracing of social software represents a direct response to the problem enterprises have grappled with for decades: information silos, caused by both people and systems. Social applications such as wikis, blogs and microblogging — which make it easy to create and share content — help break down knowledge silos caused by people and organizational charts. But the issue of system-based silos remains a big one that must be solved by IT and business leaders together. Today, employees across the enterprise miss out on valuable information that resides in another system across their company that could help them do their jobs better. So while your sales department might have full access to a CRM system, for example, someone in marketing or operations might not be aware of an important event occurring in that system. The consequence? They spend on average a day a week (eight working hours) looking for the right people and information to do their job and serve customers.1 1 Business Value Whitepaper at Socialtext: http://www.socialtext.com/products/wp_businessvalue.php ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 7
  • 10. This problem of information silos has been exacerbated by complex enterprise architectures. For a long time, companies have been hamstrung by clunky, proprietary development languages and complex application programming interfaces (APIs). This has stifled innovation, caused costly and complex integrations, and slowed IT development cycles. As companies build their social layer to break down information silos, IT will have to decide what architectural standards to embrace — and it’s here where enterprises should once again take a cue from the consumer Web. The success and very existence of Twitter, Facebook and Wikipedia has less to do with any one application or business model itself; it had everything to do with the “open Web” — the standards that allow Web services and applications to talk with each other easily and securely. Based on a simple adherence to the HTTP protocol that provides the backbone of the World Wide Web, open Web standards have enabled consumer technology to flourish, as evidenced by the rich content you see in a Facebook News Feed. This paper will lay out how enterprises can embrace a similar architecture to build their social layer. 8 | ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer
  • 11. The rise of scripting languages, open frameworks and the “view source” culture The rise of the open Web has made computing more accessible to millions of people, and its effects on the enterprise world have begun to be felt. With a simple click of the mouse, anyone can see the HTML of a Web page and how the bits and pieces of it were constructed. They can copy and paste that code into another Web page or blog and modify it as they see fit. The “view source” culture is alive and well, turning everyday people into amateur programmers. Even college students in non- science concentrations now see basic HTML in their curriculum. On the development side, the rise of dynamic scripting languages like Javascript have allowed people to enrich Web pages and applications with less heavy lifting. By 2008, after Facebook and Twitter had surged in popularity, the rise of these scripting languages had already been firmly established. • According to Evans Data’s Global Development Survey in 2008, almost 70% of developers used JavaScript in some form, with 15% more planning to adopt it.2 PHP, another dynamic scripting language used for Web pages on Facebook, was already being utilized by more than a third of developers. • By 2009, Ruby, the object-oriented scripting language that the open source Ruby on Rails Web framework is written in, found popularity as well (Twitter runs on RoR), with a 40% increase in developer usage of Ruby.3 • The rise of cloud computing also played a role, as developers saw easy ways to host their applications and integrate them with others. After the launch of the Google App Engine, for instance, the Python scripting language saw a 45% increase in use.4 2 PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, Perl, Python, and Tcl Today: The State of the Scripting Universe http://www.cio.com/article/446829 3 Ruby Use Jumps Forty Percent in North America, New Evans Data Development Survey http://www.evansdata.com/press/viewRelease. php?pressID=155 4 New Survey Shows Python Use Has Risen 45% Since Google App Engine Debuted. http://www.evansdata.com/press/viewRelease. php?pressID=162 ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 9
  • 12. Suddenly, in the enterprise, the technologies powering the open Web reminded us that the complexity of software development and architectural frameworks that facilitate the integration of disparate applications need not be so high. The stack-based development models built on Java and .Net languages — which remained a staple in the enterprise architecture — put unnecessary requirements on how you could integrate applications, unlike the ease of open Web architectures and dynamic programming languages that allowed you to point data at anything with “HTTP” in the address. This phenomenon explains why you can see such diverse content from all around the Web seamlessly integrated into Facebook and Twitter homepages. As the open Web has thrived, developers’ skills and focus have began to shift toward dynamic languages that adhere to these more open standards and Web-based architectural frameworks. Traditional enterprise languages and frameworks have been disrupted. In its latest State of the Computer Book Market, O’Reilly found that between 2003 and 2008, Java-related books saw a 50% decrease in sales; .Net languages also experienced a sharp decline between 2007 and 2008.5 Experts say that the openness of dynamic languages — and the ease and speed with which developers can change and create code within them — is having huge effects on the enterprise space, especially as it relates to integration and the pace of innovation. Three year development cycles will give way to weekly iterations, benefiting enterprises and their vendors alike. This will be vital as companies look to integrate disparate applications into the social layer. “The dynamic languages are becoming more accepted,” Jeff Hobbs, director of languages and Tcl tech lead at ActiveState Software, told CIO magazine.6 “This is in part through more acceptance of open-source software, which all the dominant dynamic languages are (versus Java and .Net, which are questionably open in their process and/or sources).” Earlier this year, Jeffrey Hammond, a research analyst focusing on software development for Forrester Research, wrote that developer skill sets were evolving to mirror the principles of the open Web and dynamic languages. He concluded that IT managers at big enterprise shops would need to take notice.7 “It’s also no surprise to see that dynamic languages such as Ruby, Python, PHP, and JavaScript are proving most popular with developers in the 45-and-under cohort,” Hammond wrote. “The implications? As the development staff at a shop turns over, the new generation will push to adopt these dynamic languages. IT managers must ensure that processes and application life-cycle management tools can handle the changes that these new languages bring to the development shop.” 5 State of the Computer Book Market 2008, part 4 — The Languages http://radar.oreilly.com/2009/02/state-of-the-computer-book-mar-22.html 6 PHP, JavaScript, Ruby, Perl, Python, and Tcl Today: The State of the Scripting Universe http://www.cio.com/article/446829 7 What Developers Think http://www.drdobbs.com/architecture-and-design/222301141 10 | ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer
  • 13. REST and the Enterprise The emergence of dynamic scripting languages is only part of the story of the open Web’s migration into the enterprise; open APIs have played a critical factor in making it easy to integrate applications new and old. In particular, Representational State Transfer (REST) APIs allow you to integrate applications by a simple adherence to the HTTP protocol. Operating under some simple constraints that focus on universal commands (such as “get” or “put” or “delete”), it has dramatically lowered the barriers to integrating disparate apps, and will play a critical role in bringing traditional apps into the social layer. The upside to REST is its statelessness and some basic constraints that encourage simplicity. As World Wide Web luminary Roy Fielding wrote in his dissertation8, each request from client to server must contain all of the information necessary to understand the request. The benefit of this constraint, he wrote, lies in “visibility, reliability, and scalability.” Fielding expounded on those three ideas: • Visibility is improved because a monitoring system does not have to look beyond a single request datum in order to determine the full nature of the request. • Reliability is improved because it eases the task of recovering from partial failures. • Scalability is improved because not having to store state between requests allows the server component to quickly free resources, and further simplifies implementation because the server doesn’t have to manage resource usage across requests. 8 Architectural Styles and the Design of Network-based Software Architectures http://www.ics.uci.edu/~fielding/pubs/dissertation/rest_ arch_style.htm ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 11
  • 14. Fielding wrote that back in 2000. In the following decade, REST came to dominate the world of APIs, and in particular took a lot of attention away from the stateful SOAP APIs that had characterized many bulky enterprise architectures. According to a survey by Programmable Web, REST comprised 74% of the API protocols and styles, while SOAP claimed a meager 15%.9 The prevalence of REST in the development world has naturally been felt in the enterprise, especially as IT departments juggle a variety of applications and databases that have accumulated across their company over the course of multiple years. As enterprise architectures become more decentralized to meet the long list of vendors serving the enterprise world, most developers view SOAP as too complex — or at least too complex as it relates to the effort involved in writing connectors. Unlike REST, SOAP requires specific toolkits to form requests, and each request sent to a server must be wrapped in its own XML envelope. These request issues soak up developer time, and slow bandwidth — literally. DevX, the developer publication, estimated that a four- or five-digit stock quote in a SOAP response could require more than 10 times as many bytes as would the same response in REST.10 In the enterprise, REST is contributing to what Forrester calls “leaner” software development that encourages simple integration points and more agile iteration cycles. “The REST approach to Internet services is a lightweight approach compared with the galaxy of Web services standards anchored by SOAP,” says Forrester’s Hammond.11 “Architects debate when and why to use REST and SOAP, but the fact is that REST and the “stateless” application designs it represents are growing in popularity... Part of REST’s appeal is that it is simple because it leaves nasty problems like state management for the consuming application to sort out.” 9 Open API Madness: The Party Has Just Begun for Cloud Developers http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2010/05/pen-api-madness-the- party-has.php 10 Giving SOAP a REST http://www.devx.com/DevX/Article/8155 11 Lean Software Is Agile, Fit-To-Purpose, And Efficient http://www.forrester.com/rb/Research/lean_software_is_agile,_fit-to-purpose,_and_ efficient/q/id/47830/t/2 12 | ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer
  • 15. The Move to the Cloud and a Web-Oriented Architecture During the past decade, free Web-based services like Gmail have altered people’s expectations for the applications they like to use for both their consumer and work lives. The idea of visiting Best Buy to purchase software discs or even Microsoft’s website for downloads and upgrades became antiquated, if not inconvenient. People became more selective about installing an application locally, especially if they could easily avoid it. This trend is playing a huge role in bringing the principles of the open Web to the enterprise. The net result is leading to a shift away from stack-based enterprise architectures with stateful integration points that for years made it difficult and expensive to rectify old systems, data and apps with new applications (like social). Just how much has the cloud affected IT thinking about architectures and strategy? In June, the consulting and market research firm IDC estimated that cloud-based services accounted for $16 billion in global IT spending in 2009 and will rise to $55.5 billion by 2014.12 As shown in ReadWriteWeb’s recent cloud report, companies that have embraced these cloud services experienced faster deployment times and shifted their IT priorities to integrating disparate apps via open APIs.13 Meanwhile, these enterprises have taken advantage of fast iteration cycles that happen with cloud- based software, where updates and upgrades happen in weeks instead of years. The SaaS-based subscription model has spurred better alignment between vendors and enterprise customers; if a company is on one-year subscription contracts, vendors are incentivized to deliver faster and more efficiently in response to customer needs in order to win renewals the following year. This represents a much different approach to overselling licenses that get shelved over several year contracts. 12 IDC: SaaS Momentum Skyrocketing http://www.cio.com/article/600577/ 13 The Future of the Cloud http://www.readwriteweb.com/cloud/2010/07/download-our-latest-report-for-free-the-future-of-the-cloud.php ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 13
  • 16. But enterprises that must hold on to on-premises systems won’t be left out in the cold. Hybrid “private clouds” and onsite or virtualized appliances will allow them to realize the benefits of the cloud and build a Web-oriented architecture for the future. At the same time, these deployment methods allow them to meet the security and integration needs of their current legacy systems that have lived behind a firewall for many years and will for some time into the future. Appliances in particular enable companies to hook new cloud-based software into their existing infrastructure, but still receive updates and upgrades remotely from a vendor with little to no effort from IT. “Appliances continue to be an important deployment option for tasks associated with application integration and infrastructure, Gartner’s L. Frank Kenney wrote in the company’s 2009 report on Integration and appliances.14 “Appliances as a deployment option should not be ignored because of the positive impact they can have on implementation times, costs, overall return on investment (ROI) and total cost of ownership (TCO).” The move to SaaS and the cloud — be it in a pure, hosted form or the hybrid appliance — will enable companies to embrace a Web-oriented architecture that encourages easy integrations between systems old and new. It will also allow save IT money. By Gartner’s estimation, 60% of current IT spend is allocated to infrastructure costs.15 As that time and money gets freed up, IT and enterprise developers will focus more heavily on building a layer in the enterprise architecture that allows employees to access information from a variety of systems and share it with colleagues to collaborate around key business challenges and solve them faster than competitors. 14 Key Issues for Integration and Infrastructure Appliances, 2009 (Gartner, password protected). http://www.gartner.com/ DisplayDocument?id=931824 15 Shrink Your IT Infrastructure Costs http://www.cio.com/article/603217/Shrink_Your_IT_Infrastructure_Costs 14 | ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer
  • 17. Building the Social Layer in the Enterprise Architecture The open Web has improved our ability to connect us with relevant people and develop and mash applications by utilizing dynamic scripting languages. Now it’s begun tackling another architectural problem we have had for a long time in the enterprise: It allows us to pull information, rather than be pushed with stuff we don’t necessarily want to consume. This “push versus pull” problem was first addressed with the advent of RSS, which emerged as a way to pull information from disparate data sources, rather than having them pushed to us (most commonly by e-mail). With news, for example, people could customize what content they wanted. If you only wanted your politics from The Washington Post and your sports from The Boston Globe, RSS readers made that possible. More recently, open Web standards and protocols — most notably activitystrea.ms, OpenSocial, and WebHooks — created a more holistic approach to pull because they powerfully combine updates from both people and systems.16 Facebook and its 500 million users who utilize the Facebook News Feed is the most recognized example to mainstream Web users. When people log on to Facebook, they can see that their friend John “uploaded his photos from his vacation to Thailand” or that “Natalie is now friends with Chris.” The Facebook platform, for instance, allows us to generate updates from actions taken on third-party sites and applications via its platform technology, Facebook Connect. With the proper permissions in place, your friends can write a review on Yelp or comment on a ReadWriteWeb story, and you can see those actions from around the Web flow into your Facebook News Feed, where you can comment on them. The consequence of this communications medium is helping spur the social layer in the enterprise to break down information silos, which remain a very real problem at companies. Citing recent research, The New York Times recently reported that in 2008, computer users at work change windows or check e-mail or other programs nearly 37 times an hour.17 16 Bringing Open Web Standards Behind the Enterprise Firewall: http://www.socialtext.com/blog/2010/07/socialtext-connect-bringing- open-web-standards-behind-the-enterprise-firewall/ 17 Attached to Technology and Paying a Price http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/07/technology/07brain.html?_r=1 ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 15
  • 18. Rather than tab-toggle to various applications all day, employees should be able to select what information from colleagues and systems across the enterprise they want pulled to them, even if they don’t reside in the same department or a “power user” of a particular enterprise system. Consequently, enterprises must embrace a new pull model analogous to Facebook’s News Feed, allowing them to see that “John edited the Q2 marketing plan” or that “a new record was created in your Oracle CRM system.”18 With the ability to filter by tags, groups and transaction types, companies know their employees are getting the most relevant information. Because these events and updates surface in a microblogging or activity stream, employees can view, discuss, and take action on critical information, events and processes. The result: Companies can transform core business processes that had previously been walled off by information silos across their company. By injecting activity streams with diverse updates, content and events spanning the entire company and all its systems, employees can collaborate across the enterprise to solve business challenges and tackle new opportunities. For example, Hayes Knight, an accounting consultancy in Australia, manages customer questions for accountants in a CRM system. Rather than purchase costly licenses for each accountant, they have utilized open, RESTful APIs to surface relevant events from that CRM system inside an enterprise activity stream. There, they answer the question and send it back to the CRM system, where a customer service representative can respond to the client.19 Another example is a book publisher headquartered in New York. When their enterprise inventory systems sees that the stock of a popular book title reaches a certain level, a microblogging message is sent from the company’s ERP system to the relevant team who can then collaboratively decide how to replenish it. Lee Bryant, a consultant at Headshift, argues that a social layer will let IT do what it does best: fuel new business objectives with the best technology possible, while empowering business users with flexible tools that makes it easier for them to do their jobs better and faster.20 “At the base of the enterprise IT stack, we have expensive, slow-moving technology such as document management systems, ERP systems, databases and so on, which we might change every 3-5 years, if at all,” Byrant says. “They are good at the heavy lifting and underlying processes that many businesses need, but often very poor at user experience... If IT departments can continue to own and manage underlying enterprise IT platforms, but expose APIs and data, then business users can define, provision and run their own social applications at the top of the stack without having to defer to IT for every decision they make, or work at a slower pace and in a more constrained way than they need... this would be a huge win for all concerned.” 18 Making The Case for Enterprise Activity Streams (And Why It’s Not Just “Another Tool”) http://www.socialtext.com/blog/2010/07/making- the-case-for-enterprise-activity-streams-and-why-its-not-just-another-tool/ 19 http://www.socialtext.com/blog/2010/08/accounting-consultancy-hayes-knight-utilizes-socialtext-connect-to-serve-customers-faster/ 20 Social layering can help bring IT and the business together http://www.headshift.com/blog/2010/07/social-layering-can-help-bring.php 16 | ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer
  • 19. Conclusion: Bring the Open Web Behind the Firewall To make the social layer real, enterprise IT must embrace a Web-oriented architecture that makes use of open REST APIs, dynamic scripting languages and more cloud-friendly deployment models. Those who have traditional on-premises systems can realize the same potential by installing an appliance behind the firewall to create their social layer in the enterprise architecture. Enterprise IT has the opportunity to break down information silos that have prevented employees from a valuable trove of information that was once reserved for the few people who had access to complex, department-specific apps. Social technologies represent the opportunity to surface those in one unified stream, making business processes more flexible, giving the modern employee greater context and awareness of the key forces driving their business. With real-time access to relevant events being carried out by these key business systems and colleagues across the enterprise, employees can pursue new business opportunities faster than their competitors, while serving customers more efficiently than ever before. ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 17
  • 20. 18 | ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer
  • 21. If you liked this report, check out our other reports: Guide to Online Community Management The ReadWriteWeb Our first premium report for businesses comes in two parts: Guide to Online Community Management a 75 page collection of case studies, advice and discussion concerning Edited By Marshall Kirkpatrick May 2009 the most important issues in online community; and a companion online aggregator that delivers the most-discussed articles each day written by experts on community management from around the Web. http://www.readwriteweb.com/reports ReadWriteWeb Premium Guide to Online Community Management page 1 The Real-Time Web Real-time Web technologies and applications have the potential to change and its Future everything—at a real-time pace. If you are a CTO, work in development, marketing or you are planning your next website or mobile application upgrade, you need to know about the real-time Web. Edited by Marshall Kirkpatrick http://www.readwriteweb.com/reports Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: Analysis of the Leaders, the Challenges and the Future Augmented Reality for Marketers and Developers: AR offers a new paradigm for high impact, high value customer Analysis of the Leaders, the Challenges and the Future experience.  Decrease your AR development time to market by learning from the first wave of early adopters to this new technology.  In this Written by Chris Cameron ReadWriteWeb Premium Report we profile successful companies and their campaigns as well as development lessons learned. http://www.readwriteweb.com/reports ReadWriteWeb | The Social Layer | 19