Enterprise 2.0 - The Evolution of the Web
After listening to both EnterpriseRave 2.0 sessions, my first reaction is that there is a lot of hype surrounding Enterprise 2.0 and not a lot of research and success stories. I think the hype is good for us, as it leads to more discussion and better definition and may stir the interests of the fridge Business and IT managers that do not follow industry trends.
Andrew McAfee asked the question: "What is the short term future for Social Software applications in the Enterprise ?" and provided some guidance to the answer by asking if it will have "Broad and Deep Penetration in the market; is it a fad or a Flash in the pan; or is it somewhere in between?"
Many responded with the "somewhere in between" answer and that is exactly where I see it.
Broad penetration would have to start at the top of an organization and work it's way down thru many levels or management and control before reaching the end-users. Also, in large organizations access to outside blogs and wikis are blocked at the proxy or firewall and end-users do not have the required privileges to install wiki or blogging software. which prevents a grassroots effort.
Is it a Fad or a Flash in the Pan ? Not at all. I think the fact that so many in the industry are talking about this shows the interest. I see as many other see this as the evolution of the web and not something that is going away.
I do not think there will be broad penetration however, I do think we will start to see adoption of certain applications that align well and meet certain business needs. No business manager is going to jump on the Enterprise 2.0 band-wagon because there is a lot of hype and discussion, however they will if we can show them how these technologies can help resolve their business problems.
We need to be advocates for these technologies and identify where it will fit into our business, however I would caution you to stay away from buzzwords like Web 2.0, and Enterprise 2.0 when dealing with senior business folks and instead concentrate on the features that these tools bring like collaboration and documentation.
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