ReadWriteWeb makes some good points about why CIO’s are a little wary of Social Media – to summarise the article over here:

1. Unpredictable scaling issues. Twitter failure is OK when we are just twittering about our cats, but would be totally unacceptable if this was an enterprise app.

2. Security against IP loss. This is a legitimate concern. The impact can be major. The fact is that it is no longer possible to “bolt the stable door” as the horse has already escaped.

3. Integration. This is the big “well what about….” objection. Just touting open Internet standards is not enough. You need to show how to build adapters to internal legacy systems that don’t work to those standards.

4. Loss of productivity. We do this stuff for fun and in our free time. But when that time creeps into the 9-5 workday, it is a legitimate concern for those who pay the salaries.

5. Accidental brand damage. People who grew up with social media know that the brand cannot be be protected other than by great products and services. Anything bad that happens will get out there. However this scares the bejesus out of traditional Enterprise managers. [because they understand the collateral damage - Ed]

These are all second order effects though – the CIO’s primary concern is ROI, or Return On Investment, ie what is the business justification for this project, as measured in hard currency. So far, Social Media’s proven ROI has been somewhat sketchy in this space, which will relegate them in the main to pilots ad small trials. As it gets easier to predict benefits, where they are found, etc it will be easier for CIO’s to justify these projects. And having managed companies using technology, and advised others in the same boat, my challenge back to the aspirant Social Media company complaining that CIO’s are ROI – Redundant Old Imbeciles – is to help Reduce Obvious Impediments by helping structure the ROI cases*.

Totally Irresponsible attitude, of course – every startup thinks ROI should stand for Reward Our Investors

*This is not to say that some companies ROI hurdle rates are set too high, and some are very conservative, but that is a different issue.

Tags: business, Internet, Space, Technology