I recently posted this blog titled 'BT Workspace - 5 Conversations in Action' and made the following comment:

"The challenge, of course, is that educating customers and employees to act in a certain way takes time, but like any conditioning the effort is worth it."

This got me thinking further on what it really does take to get customers and employees to adopt a 5 Conversations model of interacting on the web.  I dug up an article from Chris Dowse, Founder & CEO of NeoChange, Inc. titled :

3 Things You Must Know In Order To Achieve Effective User Adoption With SaaS

His second insight (and one that is very interesting from the concept of the Conversational Web) is that "Good Software Isn't Enough".  Translated, tools alone cannot satisfy the promise of SaaS or the Conversational Web.  Chris goes on to provide detailed instructions on driving organizational commitment, specifically:

"Managing expectations and concerns accelerates effective user adoption and helps avoid unnecessary adoption risks. Ideally, organizational commitment efforts will position stakeholders as owners of software-enabled process change and less as its victims.

• Market the Value - quantify and repeatedly communicate the value of effective usage to the organization and develop “what’s in it for me” messaging for critical stakeholders
• Proactively Influence Stakeholders - create opportunities for stakeholder involvement, design usage metrics and incentives to align behavior towards buy-in
• Maintain Strong Governance - execute active executive sponsor involvement, define performance outcomes to direct and track success, hold managers accountable for progress"

This means that the success of the Conversational Web, and the context in which it's used, also comes from the organization's beliefs and commitments to the concept.  Tools provide functionality, but the context if how those tools are appreciated and used, the surrounding business processes, and the dedication of the users governs success.