A colleague recently recommended the book Wikinomics. Written by Don Tapscott & Anthony Williams, Wikinomics will open your mind to the new era of business. The sub title (selected through a process of open collaboration on the internet) reads: ‘HOW MASS COLLABORATION CHANGES EVERYTHING’.
The books covers the phenomena that have thrived from thinking differently – more importantly openly. Traditional conventions are challenged & supported by thorough case studies. Delve into the history of how a whole new operating system (Linux) was born from one individual (Linus Torvalds) who opened his work to others & collaborated to what is now an enterpise OS trusted by many. In fact, Linux probably powers your BMW’s onboard computer!
The power of social networking, peer to peer computing, and internet-powered collaboration is explained in detail. At first glance the book may sound like a communist business for dummies guide – but that’s not the case. The authors are very pro profit & provide numerous examples of how firms have created a blend of openess & sharing with a level of private protection of key facets unique to their business.
One of Entelligence’s many interactions with open source includes our fantastic phone system (thanks to Clive!) which runs on Asterisk, an open source VOIP telephony system. Asterisk wasn’t chosen by Entelligence because it was free (though that makes for a great pitch!). In 2004 Entelligence purchased an expensive, state-of-the-art VOIP based PABX. Within 2 months of operating the system (and having undergone huge disruption to our business), we realised our mistake. Enter Asterisk. In desperation we installed an entry-level PC with Asterisk, having purchased some really cheap voice cards, and quickly discovered that our R 15,000 solution was better than our R 340,000 solution. We run Asterisk to this day & with great success. We receive calls from London & New York numbers seamlessly & the system is incredibly stable. Digium, the promoters of Asterisk, offer a high end commercial version at a cost as well as the voice cards which are Asterisk tested. Digium entered a saturated market place & turned it upside down. They were prepared to give away some key intellectual property in return for growing their brand & gaining a following.
Wikinomics doesn’t only cover IT related products. Proctor & Gamble, GoldCorp, and General Motors are a few of the companies beginning to think unconventionally.
What empowers more than anything else? Knowledge. In the new age of collaboration, knowledge is accessible to all. Search any theme on Wikipedia & you’ll be amazed to find how accurate the subject matter is. And if you think it’s not accurate, signup & change it!
Some of the social networking & sharing phenomena available to all now include:
www.facebook.com,www.myspace.com, www.flickr.com, www.youtube.com
Some of the amazing free products out there that have been born from Open Source:
IBM’s OmniFind – Yahoo Edition – install your own personal search engine that only searches websites you specify & any documents within your organization.
Asterisk – setup an enterprise PABX at a minimal cost – includes VOIP, Voice Mail, Call Waiting, Push to Screen Displays, and many options such as integration with the open source CRM system, Sugar.
Open Office – an alternative to Microsoft’s Office… and it’s free.
Order Wikinomics Here
