Enterprise 2.0 Governance – Suggested Best Practices

I want share with you some thoughts on governance issues with enterprise 2.0 that I will be offering at the upcoming Enterprise 2.0 – Integrating Web 2.0 Into the Enterprise Conference in Rome. The increased use of social media within organizations and its resulting transparency certainly raises governance issues as I covered in my last post - Six Reasons to Have an Enterprise 2.0 Governance Policy. Enterprise 2.0 offers the kind of easy and effective technologies that business units are clamoring for. However, the potential for exposure of sensitive information or theft of intellectual property runs high, as do concerns about noncompliance with corporate or third-party requirements.

Simply clapping down on social media destroys the possibilities for enhanced performance and innovation it offers. Simply letting things run wild opens up unnecessary risks. IT doesn't want to own the "content" and business doesn't  want to own the "plumbing." Some squabbles around governance tend to happen when new technologies and applications emerge rapidly where neither business nor IT has figured out the strategy jointly.

In this post I will address three issues: participant privacy, participant behavior, and managing personal and professional time. In each case I will start will some options and then offer some best practice alternatives. 

Possible ways to ensure participant privacy: ban social application all together, tightly guard information, and/or create and implement a privacy policy. Best practice alternatives include: conduct a risk/reward assessment, make privacy an integral part of social application implementations, develop and post your privacy policy, educate participants on privacy, implement and manage privacy measures, and plan for responding to privacy policy infringements. There is not need go without the powerful communication that can result from social software. However, like any communication channel some regulations can take out the risks. 

Possible ways to govern participant behavior: forbid social application participation, set extensive rules and controls, and/or allow it and see what happens. Best practice alternatives include:provide both policy and purpose statements, conduct both individual and group human monitoring as well as automated monitoring, Then continue to fine both the rules and the monitoring of these rules. 

Possible ways to manage personal and professional time include: block access to social applications and/or track and manage online behavior. Best practice alternatives include: empower individual managers, guide managers through scenarios, educate them on risks and opportunities, listen to their opinions/insight, leverage their insight to update leadership on best practices, ensure managers are following established rules and guidelines, continue to reassess these guidelines in light of what managers observe. 

The overall theme is to take and educated and balanced approach to reap the rewards of social applications while minimizing the risks. What have been your experiences with establishing governance with the new social applications?