Enterprise 2.0 and the Hype Cycle
In 1995, Gartner proposed that the adoption of any new technology follows a hype cycle (Wikipedia: Hype Cycle). See the diagram below.
It seems to me that Enterprise 2.0 has passed the Peak of Inflated Expectations and is now on the trip through the Trough of Disillusionment.
The Hype Cycle can’t be stopped. As Mark Raskino, co-author of Mastering the Hype Cycle, explains in a reply to a TechCrunch blog post, “Bloggers: Let’s Band Together and Stop the Hype Cycle“:
“[The Hype Cycle] can’t be completely stopped because its existence arises from a fundamental mismatch between the speed of social excitement and the slower pace of engineering progress & market penetration.”
I’m looking forward to our immature Enterprise Social Software market climbing the Slope of Enlightenment and reaching the Plateau of Productivity — like countless game-changing technologies that came before it.
In the meantime, here’s some hype: Announcing ThoughtFarmer 3.5 Social Intranet Software with Discussion Capture.
This entry was posted on Monday, May 25th, 2009 at 10:19 am and is filed under Enterprise 2.0, Featured. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Chris: It seems that an additional mismatch is between the speed of social excitement and thoughtfulness of implementation. Folks think the new technology solves problems on its own.
A lot of folks already are gaining great benefits from enterprise 2.0 tools, but its because they implemented like they would any other tools: to support clearly articulated business needs and with clear goals & governance.
Ephraim, we absolutely agree. The hype cycle seems to hold true on a micro level for many companies. Like you said, they buy the technology and then expect it to solve problems on its own — and then end up in the “trough of disillusionment”. A thoughtful implementation of 2.0 technologies is key to reaching the “plateau of productivity”.
Many of our customers assemble a small but skilled in-house team for implementation, including a KM coordinator-type role. You’ve done that at Oxfam. So has Penn State, Hicks Morley, IDEO, and many of our other customers.
Other customers have had great success leveraging our Professional Services partners.
In both cases, implementation hasn’t been left to chance. It’s been carefully managed.
[...] a Comment As Enterprise 2.0 and social business technologies work their way through the Hype Cycle, the resistance to change understandably receives more attentions. A 2.0 Adoption Council study [...]