Amid the emergence of enterprise social networking (ESN) platforms over the past decade, creating a "Facebook-in-the-enterprise" became a kind of short-hand exhortation by vendors and customer aspirants alike: Could we recreate the success of the world's largest social network within the internal confines of an organization?Now that Facebook Workplace (formerly Facebook At Work) has more than a year under its belt, we can begin to answer that question. Some customers have indeed found success with the platform, but Real Story Group's evaluation of Workplace finds that what Facebook brings to enterprise social-collaboration is mostly a recognized brand name (you can download the evaluation here). Familiarity can help with initial adoption, but improving employee effectiveness and engagement over the long run may require more than what Workplace—or any other ESN—can offer.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Amid the emergence of enterprise social networking (ESN) platforms over the past decade, creating a "Facebook-in-the-enterprise" became a kind of short-hand exhortation by vendors and customer aspirants alike: Could we recreate the success of the world's largest social network within the internal confines of an organization?Now that Workplace by Facebook (formerly Facebook At Work) has more than a year under its belt, we can begin to answer that question. Some customers have indeed found success with the platform, but Real Story Group's evaluation of Workplace finds that what Facebook brings to enterprise social-collaboration is mostly a recognized brand name (you can download the evaluation here). Familiarity can help with initial adoption, but improving employee effectiveness and engagement over the long run may require more than what Workplace—or any other ESN—can offer.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
It’s a fact of business life that technology vendors sometimes go out of business or sunset their products. This happens less than most customers fear, but when it does, the results can range from damaging to catastrophic. Therefore, a prudent enterprise will monitor key technologies and suppliers for potential problems.At Real Story Group, a lot of our research goes into reviewing “vendor intangibles” to help guide customer decision making early on. Over the years, we've found a failing vendor or open-source project will exhibit telltale signs. By identifying these signs, you the customer can conduct your own risk mitigation accordingly.10 warning signs a vendor is failing
1. Significant fall-off in new customers
When a vendor fails to attract new customers at historically meaningful levels, it can indicate something is wrong with the offering—usually that it has fallen behind its peers with respect to intrinsic functionality or its core value proposition.To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here
Recently passing my 15th anniversary as a technology industry analyst caused me to reflect on the evolution of our business, and I'm disappointed to share that amid some positive developments, one significant ethical shortcoming still persists.If you had asked me 15 years ago—when the world was reeling from an equities collapse aggravated in part by conflict-of-interest shenanigans on Wall Street—I would have predicted that the tech analyst community would split neatly between sell-side research and buy-side research.But that has not happened, and you the customer are the worse off for it.The financial industry analyst model
In financial research, the industry makes a clear distinction between sell-side analysis and buy-side analysis. A sell-side financial analyst relies on information often spoon-fed from public companies to drive activity to trading desks (i.e., works primarily on behalf of sellers), while a buy-side specialist strives to inform better investor performance (i.e., works primarily on behalf of buyers). The same advisory or investment firm can employ both buy- and sell-side analysts, but they must isolate themselves behind "Chinese Firewalls" designed to prevent buy- and sell-side specialists from even talking to each other without a lawyer present.To read this article in Continue reading
Tony Byrne