Better Planning Through a Wiki

According to Osborne Transformer, the use of the Socialtext Workspace has helped achieve the following metrics:

• Increased service-oriented revenues by roughly 400% in the 2005-2006 period, with sustained double-digit growth in 2007 and 2008.
• Trained Osborne team members to be digital media-savvy and skilled in the use of Web-based communication tools.
• Implemented a major redevelopment of OsborneTransformer.com that involved collaborating with a team of designers, information architects and software engineers.
• Expanded the effectiveness of its ISO quality management system by using the workspace as a knowledge base, and as a tool for documenting quality team meetings.
• Designed and implemented a three-step, workspace-based process (gather, share, analyze) that enables Osborne's bookkeepers and accountants to neatly summarize output from Osborne's legacy MRP platform, reconcile those figures with data from its bank, and publish timely reports for Osborne's leadership and management team.

The workspace has become a de facto business planning tool. All plans are current and relevant. All plans draw on the experience of cross-functional teams of employees. The planning process is open to all levels of the organization. As a result, Osborne's plans have become true "living documents."

Internally, Osborne uses three main workspaces: 1) the ROOT, their knowledge base; 2) the COOT, daily communication and announcements; and 3) General Management, a workspace where the leadership team experiments with workspace management techniques.

See Also

• Web 2.0 Tools Transform Osborne's Management Strategies
• Best Practices in BPM
• Plugging The Gaps In U.S. Broadband
• IT Leaders Want More Say in Strategy: By The Numbers