Jim Benson review “Thoughts on Conversation: Enterprise 2.0 Workshop at Somesso 09″

Jim Benson, CEO of Modus Cooperandi joined us in Zurich on November 2 to moderate the Finance Masterclass. Supported by contributions from Marilyn Pratt, Anu Elmer and David Terrar, the interactive session proved to be a valuable foundation for those attending the conference on the next day.

Following is a brief summary of the outcome of the day:

“Through the course of the afternoon the conversation centered around two main issues: rewards and hosting communities.

Rewards: The group expressed interest in how to attract participation to internal or external E2 communities. Why would people participate? Why would they help manage? We discussed how most communities are gameable systems, and the construction of the community (its rules, attributions, and rewards) would guide how people used the system. In most active communities “super-users” often appear, helping to manage the community and (as it often works out) provide much of the content. Business management software provider SAP refers to these individuals as “ambassadors.” Superusers tend to share copious amounts of information, proving to be invaluable resources subsequently gaining prestige and expanding their network. The larger one’s network, the more opportunities result.

Hosting Communities: During our discussions, the power of communities for business became clear. When other organizations recognized Swiss Re and SAP’s success in hosting their own communities, they wanted to host them too. This led to a lengthy discussion about the financial and opportunity costs of hosting a community, the staff it would necessitate, and the finesse that becomes indispensable when managing an open community.”

Read the full post on Jim’s Blog.