The Business Future (8/88)
THE BUSINESS FUTURE by Phil Moore [Phil delivered this keynote address at ENA's conference in Philadelphia in May '88.] When my staff heard I'd agreed to talk about the business future of computer conferencing, a few of them got nervous. They know I'm a very open sort of guy ... and they were worried I'd be giving away our "secrets" at NWI. Well, of course I am going to be honest with you about how we see the future! All of us here share a stake in having the medium we care about realize its potential. But first let's...

Sales and Power (2/88)
Sales and Power by Philip Siddons [Editor's note: One of the biggest issues in the field of electronic networking is how to SELL it to the folks who haven't yet discovered its power. Here are some tips on sales from an expert!] He sat across from me and talked. He said he is looking for someone who wants to take over his job. A take charge person. One who wants to live in a better house than most others. Someone who cares about the amount of money *he* carries around. After checking on the neatness of his pocket handkerchief,...

Organization Building & Community Building (8/87)
Organization Building & Community Building by Harry Stevens Initial solutions via Computer Aided Communication (CAC) within corporations are likely to be motivated by specific cost-cutting or revenue-generating purposes, in order to justify costs of introducing such systems. It is equally important, however, that organization building be recognized as at least a secondary purpose, whenever CAC is introduced for some primary purpose such as project coordination, sales management, or customer service to improve productivity and cut costs; or online marketplaces, interactive journalism or distributed education to provide added value and generate revenues. While cost-cutting and revenue-generating solutions motivate the introduction...

Selling Computer Conferencing to Business (8/87)
SELLING COMPUTER CONFERENCING TO BUSINESSES: AN INTERVIEW WITH SUSANNA OPPER by Hank Mishkoff This interview with Susanna Opper, the first independent computer conferencing consultant specializing in business applications of electronic networking and co-founder and president of the Electronic Networking Association, was conducted in Parti on NWI in June and July of 1986. Q: In business settings, computer conferencing seems to take root in some organizations, but not in others. When you go into an organization as a consultant, are you able to predict with any degree of certainty whether or not conferencing might take hold in that organization? What...

EMCA's GEMSERVICE (6/86)
EMCA'S GEMSERVICE A New Approach to Incompatibility and Complexity by Tom Miezejeski (from a discussion in the ENA Business Cluster) To get things started I would like to tell everyone here about a company that I discovered since I made my original comment about the problem of incompatibility and complexity (in sending E-mail and in conferencing on multiple systems). I called on the Southern New England Telephone Co. in an attempt to interest them in offering CC as one of the their Teleconferencing services, since SNET has always been one the most innovative operating companies in the Bell system....

Introduction to Excellence Networks (5/86)
INTRODUCTION TO EXCELLENCE NETWORKS by Jill Herndon Lisa Kimball asked me to write an introduction to Lisa and Frank Burn's new slide series, for their first U.S. publication, here in NETWEAVER. These nine easy pieces were published in Tokyo in April. I have to say that I'm delighted to do so, and here's why. Part of the context out of which these slides have been created is our home computer conference the Meta Network. The purpose of the Meta Network is "To bridge the gap between the human condition and the human potential." From this starting point there is...

Geography, Media, and Group Function (5/86)
GEOGRAPHY, MEDIA, AND GROUP FUNCTION by Darrell Icenogle Let us begin by defining "community" as any group of individuals with a a) a common bond of acquaintance, purpose, and/or interest, and b) channels of communication and transaction which might permit this bond to be strengthened. Communities can be local/regional, or their memberships may be geographically dispersed. In the age of information and telecommunications, what factors impinge on a community's ability to function and thrive? Certainly the strength of the original bond--the raison d'etre of the community--may prove infirm, over time, e.g. a hula hoop club; but our purpose here...

A New Approach to Office Automation - Top Down (5/86)
A NEW APPROACH TO OFFICE AUTOMATION - TOP DOWN by Bennett Landsman PURPOSE ******* OFFICE AUTOMATION APPROACH ========================== This article describes what I believe to be a rational approach in implementing an Office Information System considering what is available today. It also states what is backwards about the usual approach to implementing such systems. The article defines a top down approach to OIS implementation that makes the involement of executives in messaging and conferencing a natural part of the process. It concludes with a projected scenario for implementation of these technologies within New Jersey State Government. WHAT ARE WE...

Digital Equipment Corporation (5/86)
DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION: Profile of a Networked Corporation by Tom Sherman and Barbara Harrison The world-wide business community is focusing more and more on electronic networking as a way to improve production, service and profits. Corporate interest in management creativity and networking makes headlines in the business press. _Business Week_ reports, "the era of information networks promises spectacular gains in the usefulness of computers." The Electronic Networking Association recognizes that it has a role to play in these developments. Susanna Opper, a telecommunications consultant who specializes in implementing electronic networking in organizations, was instrumental in creating the ENA Business...

Think Tank on Marketing Computer Conferencing (2/86)
THINK TANK ON MARKETING COMPUTER CONFERENCING edited by Stefanie Kott The book REINVENTING THE CORPORATION: TRANSFORMING YOUR JOB AND YOUR COMPANY FOR THE NEW INFORMATION SOCIETY, by John Naisbitt and Patricia Aburdene (Warner Books, New York, 1985) became the focal point of an ongoing discussion about the future of computer conferencing and, once again, the marketing of it, in Naisbitt lists ten considerations in re-inventing the corporation. Among them, he suggests that the top employees ("the best and brightest") want personal growth, psychic and literal ownership in a company, and want to work for companies that foster that. Naisbitt...

The Other Side of the Business Culture (2/86)
THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BUSINESS CULTURE by Catharine Vinson Imagine a company whose principals are respected medical researchers, statisticians, and computer scientists. Imagine that this same company has been designing computer-based man- machine systems since the mid-60s and has been using them online since 1968. Imagine that the company provides businesses, industry, health-care providers, government agencies, and other public and private organizations with proprietary, computer- based "human performance assessments" of personnel and patients scattered over the globe. Since the majority of the reports are categorized as expert medical consultations, imagine that broadly-based input into the consultation/diagnosis is needed...

The Business Culture of Computer-Based Communications (2/86)
THE BUSINESS CULTURE OF COMPUTER-BASED COMMUNICATIONS by Harry Stevens Will electronic mail and other forms of computer-based communications change the way that we do business? In substance, yes; in form, even more so--for reasons I'll discuss in this article. Some businesses are already experiencing substantive change. Online organizations are being formed, co-ventures launched, contracts made, projects coordinated, sales managed, customers served, problems solved, employees trained, papers co-authored, etc. Online collaboration sometimes emerges in the complete absence of any face-to-face or voice-to-voice communications. These "meetings of minds" occur in the form of exchanges of textual "notes" (brief, informal, interactive communications)...

Productivity and the Personal Computer (1/86)
PRODUCTIVITY AND THE PERSONAL COMPUTER by Andy Abramson Productivity... the concept intrigues me more and more in relation to how we work with computers. Word processing made it possible to write, rewrite and rewrite again, all without having to key the same words over again. Now a revolution is upon us; word processing is being carried to major extremes. Not only can we modify our text, but now, the computer will check our spelling, provide the correct spelling should a mistake be made, and also provide us with synonyms if we find ourselves using the same word too often....

Organizational Effectiveness: The Grapevine (8/85)
ORGANIZATIONAL EFFECTIVENESS: THE GRAPEVINE by George Por The other day I asked a friend of mine, a telecom executive with a large Bay Area corporation, "What's the single most menacing danger for your organization?" In a speck of time he answered, "Becoming a dinosaur. You know why the dinosaur disappeared? It took too long a time to bring information from the members to the head." As we started discussing which of the available communication technologies, or which combination of them, is the best antidote to dinosaurism, I asked him what his key criteria are for deciding "go/no go" when introducing...