Mash-Up Idea – Wolfram Alpha in the Enterprise

I was sitting in a meeting today and the terms “social media” and “collaboration” were thrown around quite a bit. I’m a strong supporter of both social media and collaboration. Plus I realize that there is a definite need to break down “silos” across organizational lines. But I’ve also worked in large organizations for the past nine years, and I realize that businesses have been talking about breaking down the silos for a really long time with minimal results.

Is there any hope?

The Problem Is People

The first step to any recovery process is admitting you have a problem. In this case, we’re the problem.

People make things difficult when they don’t cooperate. They make things difficult when they save things on their hard drive, or in their E-mail folders. They make things difficult by being both secretive and insecure. In short, I think that we’re all to blame for the problems we face on a daily basis at work.

So how do we take people out of the equation, to solve the problem?

A Different Approach

What if, instead of fruitlessly trying to get human beings to play nice together, the organization mandated one simple behavior change: All data goes into one repository and is entered, tagged and cataloged by a specific standard, no matter what. That’s it.

Why is that it, you ask?

Because that’s the system, coupled with their computational knowledge engine of course, that powers Wolfram Alpha. I was really impressed with Wolfram Alpha this spring and can’t stop thinking about this mash-up idea.

Once all organizational data is unlocked and accessible, the proverbial silo walls come down. The artificial barriers that we create for ourselves, on company time, simply won’t be there anymore. A truly level playing field will be set, and talent will rise to the top. I no longer have to ask Jenny in accounting or Bobby in Customer Care for the latest data I need. I can just search for it… and instead of a document coming back, that I have to dig through to find what I care about, the answers just come back.

Talk about leveraging corporate synergies…

What Do You Think?

I think this would revolutionize the way that we work in the best of ways. But I’m interested to read what you think. Why don’t you hear about this when people talk about enterprise search? Why can’t Wolfram Alpha work in the enterprise? Please let me know what you think in the comments below.