Web 2.0 is Not Enterprise 2.0

In the past I have certainly referred to Enterprise 2.0 as Web 2.0 in the Enterprise, however I have really changed my view on this description. Enterprise 2.0 certainly incorporates a number of Web 2.0 properties, however I think the focus of each is different.

Web 2.0 sites, applications and widgets are geared to drive eyeballs and traffic to their sites while most Enterprise Applications do not have this requirement, instead most Enterprise applications have a finite number of users, and most users do not have a choice to use other applications. 

I met Bill Ives who is a regular contributor to the Fastforward Blog at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference  and I referenced a recent post of his called  Enterprise 2.0 is not Web 2.0 nor is it an Oxymoron where he makes this point. 

Enterprise 2.0 is about the Business and is about providing solutions for Business. When I think of Enterprise 2.0 solutions now, I think of tools and solutions usually delivered via Web Services, with much more collaboration built into the tools and solutions. This is similar to many Web 2.0 solutions, however most Enterprise 2.0 solutions require security and authentication which is another complication to deal with.

So what does it mean to deliver Web Services like solutions with more collaboration? I think it is different for every application. Some applications like blogs and wiki's already have collaboration built in, however most do not, so we need to analyze were collaboration and social computing could be beneficial to the solution that we are trying to solve.

And now that I better understand the subtle differences between Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0, I do not want to get caught up in the differences, instead I want to focus on the technologies used in both, and determine were I can incorporate these technologies into my environment.