Page 195 - How Cloud Computing Is Transforming Business and Why You Cant Afford to Be Left Behind

Y O UR CL OUD STRATEG Y: WHAT KIND O F COMPANY DO Y O U W ANT?

bring out extraordinary effort by skilled programmers, who
suddenly find themselves in their element, unfettered by the
usual requirements of meetings, planning, and coordination.
And they enjoy it. The project to develop the Linux operating
system, the Apache Web server now predominant on the Web,
and Samba translation software between Linux and Windows

are all ongoing examples.
The cloud is not required for social networking or collab-
orative development, but in a business setting, where things
need to happen fast, the cloud style of computing will be a
huge enabler of collaborations of many types, including col-
laborative design and development.
In a more general sense, social networking sites at work

can help segment out attributes in an otherwise undifferen-
tiated workforce. In Social Media at Work, Arthur Jue, Jackie
Marr, and Mary Ellen Kassotakis argue that the underlying
purpose of creating social networking sites is “connecting
people who were previously unaware of each other.” That
seems obvious enough, and yet it is a fundamental change in
the business world, where people usually have to be of equal
status in the business to talk frankly about problems or chal-
lenges.

If a social networking site brings together people who are
interested in the same thing, those people will also exhibit, in
a business context, a key attribute of the consumer site, which
is that social networking sites “are sticky as users keep coming
back to them to check up on friends and acquaintances.”
Everyone saying what she thinks on a wiki or community fo-
rum site may seem chaotic to a traditional manager, but the

175