http://money.cnn.com/magazines/business2/business2_archive/2003/11/01/351942/index.htm

Connectors play a great role in bringing people and ideas together. But it’s not always easy to find a reasonable path along a network to another person with the resources or ideas one may be looking for. There are however some ingenious solutions to this problem. The above article mentions a few companies such as Spoke or Visible Path that can determine network connections within a company by analyzing the email traffic, buddy lists, and address books of the employees, creating a valuable network structure. These programs can help in connecting people within a company be it for similar project goals or even criminal reasons.

This representation of the company network can be a powerful tool when used properly. Productivity can be greatly increased when people with similar ideas begin working together and not on their own in the dark. Similarly it is very easy for someone with this knowledge to find an easy path to someone else they may need to talk (the article lists and example where a friend of a consultant was friendly with his boss and could therefore easily arrange a golf date that led to profitable business arrangements). Such tools could provide companies with enough information to bring even the largest of companies into harmony, where everyone can always know what is going on around them.