It’s been over a week now since we wrapped up our time with Jive Software as part of their national “Get Social Tour.” The tour launched April 21st in Los Angeles, with scheduled stops in Houston, Toronto, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Washington DC, Chicago, Philadelphia and Boston. We supported Jive’s tour as the Premier Partner in both Chicago (May 25th) and Philadelphia (June 17th). Jive continues to impress us with stellar people, real client case studies, and mini-seminars geared toward beginner, intermediate and advanced thinking on the application and activation of Social Business Software (SBS) both inside and outside the enterprise.
The executive breakfast in Chicago was over-flowing and Tony Zingale (Jive CEO) shared a great perspective on the limiting nature of current technologies (eMail, CRM, ERP) and how SBS can re-invigorate the enterprise. Tony made many great points during “the tour”; however wewere really struck by his position that these generations-old technologies lack the ability to support innovation. This resonates because we are meeting companies every week that are struggling with innovation even when it is a tenant of their core beliefs and strategy toward remaining competitive. The collaborative nature of Social Business Software is breaking down barriers to innovation by combining a user experience that is already accepted in mass (i.e. Web 2.0 effects) with a company’s strongest assets: it’s people. This unleashing of the individual is core to idea generation and we’re not just talking about employees here. SBS fundamentally changes how companies are engaging with employees, partners, customers and prospective customers. And it’s already creating a material competitive advantage for many companies - and we got to meet some of them in Chicago and Philadelphia.
The coolness of Get Social Chicago only got better as the day ended when we had a chance to chat with David Armano of Edelman after he saw some of our work on display at the event. David is a true thought leader in this space and it was great to share thoughts on where all of this is headed.
Paul Stillmank - CEO, 7Summits
