More evidence for organizational network analysis going mainstream (thanks to
Valdis for the link)

Message #1 (of 4) from Gartner’s annual IT/Expo is: Social network interaction will become the engine for innovation. Master it. The four messages “constitute the cornerstone of IT change and opportunity.” What’s interesting is that there is not much IT required:

Gartner said that Social Network Interaction is where leading-edge companies will make their mark and wield their influence. It advised CIOs and IT leaders to:

• Expose your trickiest business and technology challenges to open forums and learn how to identify real contributors.
• Solicit and respond to customers’ input, feedback and new service ideas through communities of customers.
• Use social network analysis software to map out how information and ideas flow among your people across regions, continents and business entities.
• Pilot interesting new market concepts that encourage consumers, buyers and employees to trade “virtual shares” in promising ideas and innovations — prediction markets, for one.

The above is from a full press release.

I am not surprised by this. I’ve been running into Carol Rozwell, a Gartner VP for health sciences, at knowledge management, SNA/ONA, VNA, and narrative workshops and conferences for over five years now and has included SNA in the “hype cycle” for emerging technologies in 2006.