There’s a great, short article hereRUSI- Network Centric Operations Today: Between the Promise and the Practice that looks at some of the findings the US military (and others) are making trying to put Network Enabled Operations into practice.

A coupe of things caught my eye. (Emphasis mine) In Afghanistan,

improved headquarters performance was reported (after a period of adjustment and with strong command support for the new system), including a dramatic change in how people spent their time � shifting from briefing preparation to thinking about the substance of their jobs. Field reports from Afghanistan also indicate that coalition forces were able to create non-doctrinal linkages to pass intelligence and control air strikes because they found ways to get on to the same networks. However, despite a great deal of press reporting about the �marvellous� networks and communication systems available, most of this work was accomplished with high levels of human ingenuity with relatively modest amounts of new technology.

… and from the conclusion

NCO is, at its heart, about people sharing information, collaborating, and working synergistically. The human element remains paramount.

Metaphors seem to be going full circle here: if business is war and war is conversation then business is conversation.

[Update: Martin has a great quote about network centric organisations here]

[Update 2: Network Centric - hmm - much prefer Network Enabled :)]