1.) What is your name?

Craig Hepburn

2.) Who are you and what are you doing?

I am currently Director of Social Media Strategy at Open Text focusing mainly on how some of the worlds largest companies are adopting social media strategies for their business both internally for collaboration but also externally facing for their partners and customers. My role is to develop the business use cases and help these companies implement social media solutions.

3.) How did you get to the E2.0 topic?

I have over 10 years experience in web development and online business where I have helped some of the worlds largest companies such as STA Travel, BAA and Rentokil Initial develop their web business strategies but it was only a few years a go I realised the potential of Web 2.0 while head of Web Strategy at STA Travel. I soon realised that web content when integrated with social networks provided a very powerful communication network, we were lucky enough to develop some of the very first cutting edge 2.0 applications at STA Travel with Facebook, Google, MySpace and Travel Blogs which led me to be featured on the cover of Revolution Marketing magazine in the January 2008 Edition and was voted one of the UK’s rising stars in the digital marketing sector. It was at this point I was approached by Open Text to help develop their 2.0 strategies with customers and it soon became apparent that social business design and Enterprise 2.0 was far more exciting than I had ever realised. We are currently going through a major shift in how people and business come together, we are seeing the start of the human API where companies need to integrate with their employees and customers via social constructs and connected networks.

4.) What is your understanding of the core concept of the Enterprise 2.0 idea?

To me Enterprise 2.0 is much simpler than people realise - How can any company bring together Content, People and Process in a more social application to output a more efficient, innovative or engaging experience that benefits that core companies business.

5.) What are the main potentials of the Enterprise 2.0 idea?

When planned and implemented correctly the benefits of Enterprise 2.0 are massive in my opinion, we will soon see the rise of social customer service solutions where a global company can tap into their connected networks to support themselves, product development can engage with their partners, customers and employees to get realtime feedback on products or services that can be improved and developed at a lower cost more efficiently or simply how a marketing departments can engage with their customers directly through social networks and online widgets.

6.) What are the main challenges, threads and issues of the Enterprise 2.0 idea?

Our biggest challenge is education, understanding and readiness, some companies are still trying to figure out 1.0 but as some of the more innovative companies start to showcase and realise the real ROI of business we will see E2.0 mature and evolve as its an organic principle that will constantly be developed by the thought leaders and community.

7.) Please give us three tags that describe your person and work best?

Innovative, Inquisitive, Passionate

8.) Please give us three links to articles/contributions that describe your views best?

  1. Social Media brings new hope to the Commercial Enterprise
  2. Technology in 2010
  3. Social Business Design: The Enterprise is Dead. Long Live the Enterprise!

9.) Please give us three names of colleagues that you would refer to as brother-in-spirit?

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