emerge during the actual development or when implementing the solution. Provide for an emergency plan and a service recovery plan.
51. Social software scouting
To tackle increasingly innovative markets, social software scouting activities are vital Social technology scouting is the activity responsible for systematically investigating the technological panorama of social applications and architectures in order to identify innovative solutions suitable for the organization’s needs. Having scouting networks active both inside (employees) and outside (consumers, business partners, experts) the company allows to more rapidly identify the opportunities to develop and improve business linked to collaborative and social technologies (not only for research of software solutions to problems or critical issues). The research initiatives and activities of social technologies can take various forms: contests, crowdsourcing, partnerships, networks of experts that complement the more traditional R&D activities. Once the business needs and contexts have been preliminarily investigated, a technological research process is divided into distinct phases: • Definition of objectives and areas of research and technological scouting • Choice of information sources and methods to monitor trends and innovation • Gathering of data and selection of technologies based on a set of specific criteria • Assessment process guided on ad hoc KPIs: impact, TCO, complexities, novelties • Final assessment phases and decision-making process. The players in a scouting network (veterans or outsiders)
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can be involved with various reward or gamification initiatives and stimuli: internal scouts (recognition, bonuses), external and sector scouts (business or collaboration opportunities), academic sources (joint research projects, visibility).
52. Software selection
Select the software solution able to satisfy not only technical requirements, but integrate with other systems The selection of a software solution is never a simple process. It is not just about choosing a solution that is technologically in keeping with the technical requirements, in line with the budget constraints and that can be implemented and productive within the envisaged time constraints. It is necessary, in fact, to assess how the introduction of a new platform will affect the architectures and overall information and operational systems. For the software selection of solutions and social platforms it is necessary to assess the technological and transformational impact of the business more generally, and not only the engineering components. The fundamental steps for software selection are as follows: • Establish the model of technological requirements in order to determine the nature and dynamic of the coverage • Explore the platforms and prepare a shortlist of the solutions to assess • Set assessment criteria for the selection test based on the technical and business requirements • Carry out any tests in order to fine-tune priorities and any customisations necessary