For this week’s blog I chose an architecture endeavour as my
organization from the professional services sector. The major reason that I
chose a blog instead of wiki or twitter use is that blogging in the enterprise
2.0 realm seems to be a perfect marriage with the architecture field. You
design an amazing building and you can see what that building looks like etc.
you save someone a lot of money on their tax return and
well, you will see black writing (hopefully black!) on a white page.
Or an IT firm blogging which fiber optics technology is
better
I know which one to me is more engaging... Ok the fiber optics do look sweet...
The organization that I chose is Westlake Reed Leskosky an
architect firm out of the U.S.A.
that runs the blog recool. According to Westlake Reed Leskosky (2013, para. 2)
their aim is to explore different technology solutions for sustainable
architecture that will allow them to create advancements to the
architectural/engineering/construction (AEC) marketplace.
The value levers from the McKinsey Global Institute (2012)
that I have associated with this blog are; value lever 4 (derive customer
insights), 5 (use social technologies for marketing communication/interaction),
6 (generate and foster leads) which all form part of the marketing and sales
organisational function. But with many of these enterprise 2.0 technologies you
can argue for other value levers and function associations depending on the context
of the argument.
Value lever 4 - Derive Customer Insights
recool uses
comments sections for its blog postings for this value lever to get customer
feedback. Most companies that have any type of feedback option should be
reaping the benefits from this feedback. This is a cornerstone of web 2.0
anything that is posted online, a blog, a tweet, a facebook posting, you want
someone to reply, you want to create a connection, you want that customer
feedback as that is how you derive their insights. The value that I think gives
the company is that it educates prospective customers and potentially a comment
could be used to enhance aspects of their designs. In much the same way that
crowdsourcing is used by foldit. Another way that Westlake Reed Leskosky (2013,
para. 1) taps into this value lever and value lever 5 is that it promotes “open
and candid discussion of design and product applications” on its blog, I think
that by promoting an atmosphere of debate it is inviting people to think how can
it be improved and how to get involved in sustainable AEC.Value Lever 5 - Use Social Technologies for Marketing Communication/Interaction
Westlake Reed Leskosky (2013) state that one
function of the blog is to emphasize their approach to sustainable AEC by
showing what worked and what difficulties were encountered. As I said earlier
blogging in enterprise 2.0 is a type portfolio, it is easy to show off your
company, so it is easy to market the company by enhancing their digital identity
to the world. The value comes with the engagement that is possible through
social technologies, if I want to see green technology in architecture I don’t
have to go to some conference in Scandinavia .
This value lever I think is a by product of the internet as technically having
a website, blog, facebook page, etc. is marketing yourself and interacting with
the community. The value that is derived for recool.com is how it uses blogging
as opposed to wiki (too technical perhaps) or twitter (not enough words) to
promote its digital identity and the engagement and debate it tries to manifest
not only with people that are for sustainable AEC but also those who are on the
fence or against it.
Value Lever 6 - Generate and Foster Sales Leads
There has
been a continued focus on sustainable everything, how to decrease the impact
that everything has on the environment, so it is easy to argue that sustainable
AEC is also a hot topic. By tying in value lever 5 as a portfolio recool.com is
at worse passively generating sales leads, if there is anyone looking at
sustainable architecture the blog can be construed as an extension of the firm
and while it may not form the only reason for choosing the firm it is another
way to enhance sales leads.
I think that using blogs, wikis, twitter etc. for this
sector depends more on what value lever you are trying to achieve than in other
sectors we have explored so far. The two previous sectors we looked at,
depending on the enterprise 2.0 technology that was used could encompass
several value levers and organisational functions. This I think its due to the
niche nature of the services and who the services are primarily aimed at.
References
McKinsey Global Institute - The social economy: Unlocking value and productivity through social technologies.
recool - about
recool - about
