Open Text working on Enterprise 2.0 project

One of the larger ECM vendors conspicuously absent at AIIM 2009 was Open Text. In spite of the fact that they are one of the top ECM companies, they chose to forgo a booth this year, but that doesn't mean they were absent completely. Instead they sent out some folks for more informal meetings. I interviewed Cheryl McKinnon, who is Director of Program Management, Enterprise 2.0 for Open Text.

McKinnon told me that Open Text was in the midst of a new Enterprise 2.0 project, code named "Bloom," which they are testing extensively in house to see first hand the types of issues companies like Open Text face when they implement an Enterprise 2.0 system. McKinnon acts as the internal evangalist for Enterprise 2.0 technology. She says her philosophy is "Let's live it, not lip sync it. By participating you can speak credibly and see first hand the areas of risk."

She says she can also see ways Enterprise 2.0 can help keep geographically dispersed teams of people working together even when the company can't afford to get them all in the same place at the same time, as is the case for many organizations this year. But she says, these tools really do give you a sense of knowing the individuals, and when she has gotten together face to face for the first time, there is no ramping up to get to know people because they have been communicating with one another using social media tools prior to the meeting

McKinnon says Open Text will display these tools at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference in Boston in June and we will be there to cover it when they do.