The social computing revolution has proven what every major organisation has known for years; information is an important currency. While the sorts of information that social computing has brought to the enterprise front line have always existed - views, opinions, desires and needs - before now it has been undervalued or difficult to tap. When uniquely harnessed, like the power of the atom, this sort of social information can make the seemingly insignificant artefact a most powerful and valuable asset that collective groups will pay dearly to own and consume. Corporate social computing seeks to harness the power of this new currency, transpose it into organisational culture, and infuse partner networks, and customer groups. The aim - to capture the knowledge of the corporate network and thereby deliver information-based competitive advantage to major companies. In 2007 major information technology vendors such as IBM believe that they have developed the technology tools to split the information atom. Those companies that use it, they say, will devastate competitors where they stand. Best of all, they say we can all own one.

Since John Zachman first published his "framework for Information Systems Architecture" in 1987 enterprise architecture has grown to be an integral approach to continuous transformation in the world's largest organisations. During the '90s and post-Y2K the critical role of architecture was reconfirmed by the industry analyst community and recognised as one of only three functions that must never be outsourced; the other two being strategy and security. Longhaus' second online survey of the Enterprise Architecture Panel reveals a level of current investment and focus that confirms a mature Enterprise Architecture (EA) market across Australia and New Zealand. For most large organisations in the region EA is a mandated internal function. It is also aided by external vendors and suppliers in areas such as expert advice, methods and tools. Unfortunately too few EA groups are measuring their performance or ongoing maturity. Combined with a tendency to rely on dedicated corporate funding this could explain why some CIOs still question its organisational value. As a result it must now be a key activity for every organisational Enterprise Architecture Office (EAO) to increase performance measures.

Michael Tiemann, former Enterprise Architect for the US Department of Energy and key contributor to the US Government's Federal Enterprise Architecture Framework, has suggested the CIO be replaced by the Chief Enterprise Architect. A Q4 2006 survey revealed that the majority of members of Longhaus' Enterprise Architecture Panel already report directly to a CxO position so although a bold suggestion, support already exists for Tiemann's argument based on existing promotional lines. Given the high levels of education and experience also highlighted by our panelists Longhaus believe that today's Enterprise Architect is a true heir apparent for many CxO roles. Unfortunately this may not be a longitudinal trend as tomorrow's architects struggle to achieve the right skill sets, having been let down by overly ICT specialised degrees that have emerged since the early 1990s. For the time being, existing evidence provides insight to support the concept of architects as CxOs in the making.

According to Wikipedia Future Shock is both a book and a term authored by the sociologist and futurologist Alvin Toffler in 1970. It describes a psychological state of individuals and entire societies driven by a personal perception of "too much change in too short a period of time". Move forward almost forty years and the concept of social computing has burst into the world as the 21st century's first technological revolution. One of the great ironies of this revolution is that its underlying technologies, designed to support a core purpose of organically connecting people, has actually driven an accelerated rate of social change which has left people confused and disconnected. It is the perfect example of Toffler's future shock in action. Within the modern enterprise it is the marketing role that will be hugely influential in harnessing the power of social computing over the next 5 years. Their first role being to help tame future-shock before harnessing the underlying technologies to drive competitive cultural change. But they cannot make the journey alone. Social computing will bring with it key changes to customer and staff behaviours, as well as to the current portfolio of traditional corporate information systems. In this new world Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) are no longer sufficient. Forward-looking enterprise marketers will assess the key impacts of social computing and use this to drive the next major wave of corporate information system investment.

Websense has been preparing for significant expansion in the Australia and New Zealand market where SurfControl was a major competitor. The announcement that Websense is to acquire SurfControl changes the dynamic. Australia is a significant operation for SurfControl with US$10.3 million (AUD$12.4 million) worth of onshore development activity. The acquisition allows Websense to fast track its expansion in the region through access to an operational partner network. As the acquisition progresses, economies-of-scale will certainly result in job losses however it remains to be seen if these will reach into SurfControl's local activities. Therefore, the local ICT industry's governing bodies should not view this event as a remote transaction on the FTSE and NASDQ, but instead engage in discussions with both firms to promote Australia's value proposition for ongoing onshore development in the new venture.