Connecting Organizational Silos: Taking Knowledge Flow Management to the Next Level with Social Media

TECHNOLOGY: BUILD OR BUY

The fact that this is the last section of the “Getting Started” chapter does not mean that it is not important. In fact, technology is where many people get started and then, unfortunately, never follow through with the initiative’s other aspects—or at least not to the degree that they play an important role. There is no doubt the technology behind your ESN plays an important role; just don’t fall into the trap of thinking that it’s as simple as “if you build it, they will come.”

One significant question about technology is whether you should build your own platform or buy a solution from one of the growing number of vendors. There are a number of factors that play into that discussion:

• In-house know-how and development expertise.
• Need for integration with existing and future systems.
• Cost for the platform and the ongoing support versus the development investments.
• Character of the vendor company (e.g., size, flexibility, cultural fit).
• Speed to market: It is usually faster to install something off the shelf than to start from scratch.
• Functionality: What do you get out of the box versus what are you capable of building.

This list is not necessarily complete, but it shows the importance of doing your homework. Do not jump into the decision just because one of your internal IT teams is keen on building you something or a key stakeholder saw a nicely staged demo and fell in love with it. It comes back to the need to do proper requirements-gathering first, ...