Slim Chants

Organizations looking to mobilize and motivate their employees by implementing a social network are in uncharted territory when it comes to evaluating the various products available in the marketplace. Social Network Solutions can harness information, organizing it in one place, thereby transforming it into knowledge. Wikis make great documentation systems. Blogs are an excellent way of publishing timely articles and keeping staff informed. Forums give employees a place to discuss issues. Pages can help departments and teams maintain a presence and identity of their own. Search and tagging systems can mine the accumulated information, especially when these components are all integrated into one large application.

But Social Network Solutions are new and very different from other enterprise applications like ERP, MRP and CRM, especially when they are provided “In the Cloud” or in multi-tenant form. Providers are almost exclusively startups, usually fresh out of university and without any of the discipline enforced by corporate IT staff. With those thoughts in mind I’ve put together a list of ten important questions that you should ask any potential vendor, when sourcing a Social Network Solution.

• Who owns my data? This is obviously the first question. If the answer isn’t you then you should move on to the next vendor. Not much point in continuing the conversation.
• Is my data stored in a database separate from other customers? It’s very difficult to prevent a security breach when people who don’t belong anywhere near your data have access to the same database. Isolation is the first step in securing data so it only makes common sense to store it in a separate database. Again, if the answer is no you should move on to the next vendor.
• What is the guaranteed availability or uptime (including scheduled maintenance)? All web service providers publish uptime stats, usually guaranteed. What they don’t all necessarily tell you is how they define uptime. From the client’s perspective it may seem as simple as the percentage of time that the system is available. Social Network Solutions are Web 2.0 applications and many providers of such technologies evolve their product rapidly, meaning frequent updates to the system. If they don’t have controlled roll out plans with redundant servers and instant switchover there will be downtime at every roll out and some providers may not count that as “downtime”. Large corporations insist on service level agreements (SLAs) that specify penalties when they are exceeded.
• How will you integrate with our Change Management Process? Having raised the issue of system updates this is an appropriate time to ask about change management. Many medium to large corporations have rigorous controls over change. This is especially so in any ISO 9000 certified company. ISO mandates that your providers at the very least meet your own strict requirements, if they are not certified in their own right. You should be informed about each change and have input into any decision regarding if and when to deploy. This goes further if you are using the solution as part of your documentation system Wikis and document storage repositories will have to conform to your document control standards.
• What is the disaster recovery plan? While we’re on the standard process track we might as well ask about this. Any business in today’s economy needs to think about business continuity. Advanced catastrophe planning allows staff to react instantly to implement the plan and keep your business going. If you have a business continuity/disaster recovery plan it will have to be modified to include the new system.
• If I decide to change providers in the future, how can I extract my data? Pretty obvious, this one. You don’t want to be tied in to one vendor.The advantage of the customer to walk out the door and deal with someone else or even do it yourself is essential.
• In the event that your business fails, how will I be able to obtain my data? Not meaning to sound ominous but it does happen, to an alarmingly high percentage of startups. This should actually be part of your own disaster recovery plan but it warrants asking a separate question of the vendor. In the old days, IT departments would demand that source code to mainframe applications be held in escrow so that they could continue to operate in the event of a vendor’s demise.
• How closely does the product integrate with existing business systems such as LDAP, Email, Messaging, ERP, MRP and CRM? Don’t get your hopes up too much here but the question still needs to be asked. At the very minimum, companies using Directory Services should demand LDAP for sign in security. Unless you like duplication of data (possibly even duplicate data entry) you should also require LDAP be used for user profile information. In an ideal world all email on behalf of your network would be routed through your own email servers to help you maintain your “email reputation” (critical in a SPAM infested web) and also to keep track of what is sent and received. This can easily be accomplished through forwarding. Some companies already have a private instant messaging network like Lotus SameTime, MSN or an Open Source XMPP implementation. Ideally the Social Network Solution would hook in to this for presence management so other users could know when their contacts are on line. It’s unlikely that ERP, MRP or CRM integrations are available but if there is an extensive web service API you may be able to roll-yer-own extensions.
• Is the solution white-brand? You’ve done a lot to build an identity for your business. Social Network Solutions are web applications. You will want your implementation to look like it is from your company in almost every respect. Beyond “Help – About” annotations all prominent logos and identifiers should be your own. Email should look like any other corporate correspondence.
• What about moderation? Any system which encourages open discussion and publication is subject to abuse. Moderation is essential to maintain decorum and respect and to promote a civil exchange of ideas. Face to face meetings are moderated so why wouldn’t you do the same on line? You need to know who’s responsibility it is to moderate (the vendor or you), how many staff you will have to dedicate, and how to establish standards and train them.

No doubt, there are more questions which pertain to your specific situation. I’m sure the vendor sales folks will provide many answers to questions you might not even care to ask. Hopefully, the ones I’ve provided will prompt a lively discussion and many more questions and answers to your satisfaction. Social Network Solutions can be a powerful tool for your business or organization. As with any new product on the market, it is best to choose wisely.