During one of the last club Alliancy meeting in Paris, we talked about the new buzz of IT world : the CSR (Corporate Social Network).

We debated a lot about Enterprise 3.0, sharing information in our businesses and about deployement of collaborative tools.

Despite an important marketing hype, France is lagging on this subject and only large companies in the CAC 40 and some ETI embarked on the adventure. Compared to small companies, the needs are the most significant ...

We are told that the CSR tools are deployed in minutes by getting around CIOs and that they fill alleged gaps or cumbersome of ERPs.

But we forget that the so-called « cumbersomeness » of the ERP depends often of the way it was set up, to meet the demands of top management.

The quality and reliability of data entered are indeed essential for the effective control of a company. Often, too, the ERP is underused due to lack of training, espacially when there is a new version. Finally, ERP is completely and voluntarily restrained by the top management.

Here, we touch upon an issue of corporate culture where leaders have a top-down and hierarchical approach and are stuck in old-fashioned management style,. The one that holds the information has the power, organization of production in silo mode, a paternalistic management giving orders, employees run without question and without being asked their opinion ....

In this context, if you do not cut and / or filter connection to the internet, sub-parts of the business can effectively use cloud collaborative software in « submarine" mode. But with what results?

To put in collaborative mode and therefore the human is the key to success. It must be a business project. From the top executive to the bottom switchboard, all employees must work and breathe "collaborative" and / or "sharing" mode. This requires empowerment, authorisation and trust. Then comes the choice of the tool.

And in this context, a modern ERP can and should be the central support of the collaborative management of the company. Unleash it, set it up properly and train your employees, you will be surprised that you already have everything at hand ...