Enterprise managers are divided in their thinking about Web 2.0 applications as business tools. But in a recent poll on this site, a sizeable portion of respondents -- nearly 38 percent -- indicated the concept has lots to offer. About 28 percent think it's too soon to tell.
These findings correspond roughly to other input we've gotten from bloggers and moderators on Internet Evolution. Though many Web 2.0 applications have questionable value and are seeing funding dry up, others offer opportunities for marketing and group collaboration.
Many folk have reservations about Web 2.0's future in the enterprise. Over 34 percent of our poll respondents think corporate wikis, blogs, twittering, etc., are an enormous security risk, a sinkhole for time and resources, or just plain faddish.
At least one expert thinks Web 2.0 is an objectionable term. "I despise the label Web 2.0 -- it implies some kind of Internet upgrade rather than a specific set of software tools (which is all it really is)," says Steve Brasen, IT industry analyst at Enterprise Management Associates . He sees a move toward collaborative and/or interactive tools as a general trend in IT. "Many organizations have already embraced these tools for publishing in-house documentation, processes, and discussion forums... Not only do I see these tools as more than a fad, I believe they will continue to evolve over time into even more dynamic and robust solutions."
So what's the verdict? Clearly, when over 60 percent of respondents think that Web 2.0 isn't for enterprise use just yet, it's not. More work needs to be done to adapt Web 2.0 tools and techniques to fit business applications.
The ground is likely to be tilled most rapidly in sales and marketing, where social networking offers results that are more obvious than elsewhere. After all, if you can harvest X number of prospects or buyers from an online forum, that's easier to quantify than the amount of productivity gleaned from a financial services wiki, a blogosphere from HR, or a social network for multiple departments.
Further, it's a mistake to think of Web 2.0 ever taking over most successful business applications. We're more apt to see a gradual adoption of Web 2.0 fundamentals creep into business apps than subsume them anytime soon.
I could be wrong. We'll try the same poll in a few months' time and see what turns up.
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What was the pricetag on sharepoint? Here is a matrix showdown created by Shaun Walker (DotNetNuke Cofounder) in 2006. At the bottom is pricing(a whopping $40k for sharepoint). I'm CERTAIN both DNN and sharepoint have IMPROVED near exponentially since 2006 however...
Let's take an advertising agency for example. What concepts do they pitch? Create a group, let the members submit ideas(again ranging from text to multimedia), the peers can RANK the item which consists of comments, ratings, voting etc and viola! you can have the pitches displayed from TOP DOWN at your fingertips to further tweak. Taking it a step further...select items can now be exposed to focus groups and get the same social fitration process and brought back to the team to further tweak. wait a minute, can they now have data input about production companies, photographers, feedback from EVERYONE involved in the project from storyboard to commercial release?...okay that was available yesterday? well how about EASILY having that data accessible?
Many businesses including retailers can become more in touch with their customers (KNOW YOUR CUSTOMERS) have that transparency between chiefs and subordinates...umm, a heavy thought out response to your previous question will be coming up real soon Mary. Please stay tuned.
"The metrics around collaboration are always difficult in terms of dollars and cents," he says. "I tend to focus more on how it improves particular processes."
Here is a link to a "Back on Topps" 5 minute min-sodes on youtube that promotes Skype/Topps/Michael Eisner and some other company..anyhow, wouldn't it be MUCH easier for topps employees to be able to view that from a webapp versus having to browse or follow links to view, comment and provide feedback?
Okay, the example of the sci-fi group is cool, but it has no bearing on enterprise collaboration. Everything you mention as Web 2.0-specific can be done in-house with Sharepoint, more cheaply and efficiently. I'm still not getting the value of chasing this stuff.
A couple of years back, word on the street was that Second Life was going to take over the publishing world. Never happened. No one can make money dressing up avatars -- and maybe murdering them afterward (one woman reportedly took the axe to her husband's avatar earlier this month and got arrested for it!).
Tell me again why I should give a teeny weeny second thought to the current iteration of Web 2.0 tools for business.
Umm, so rating and comments have been around since a little before Epinions right? rain on my parade? how long have the thumbs up and down been around? maybe YOU should brush up on the social web? Yes, web2.0 DIDN'T reinvent the wheel - took the best from the old and got it ready for EVERYTHING to have data attached to it WITH manipulation of that data being merely being ranked (think Target.com- every item can be rated and ranked THEN think your shopping list on your mobile device).
how was there truly web2.0 with most having DIAL UP in 1999 and unable to support the rich media that we use today? I would think web2.0 might go as far as when you go to buy a used car, you can read the comments left by the previous visitors. A paradigm shift...?
Peel them apples.
I just tried to find out when Mashable.com was born, however whois at Netsol won't tell you. Something tells me that they weren't around before 2002. Ask them about advertising on their home page and what the rates are for 1 week.
There are OTHER sites that cover web2.0 and roadmap for developers but I WILL hoard that info for now. Web2.0 is no longer considered a GENERIC terminology as some might have said as late as last summer(2007).
I was just thinking before I went to bed last night, that it would be great to be able to microblog via a mobile device, yet YOU decide whether it's public, or it gets posted to your profile and/or specific groups(example - CMS solutions we are considering, science educators etc) as well as categorize the microblog on the fly. Ofcourse YOU also get to choose whether comments are enabled or not.
"Until the vendors can really improve on what is already out there, I'm kind of thinking this emperor is often naked."
I couldn't agree with you more, HOWEVER new companies and solutions are popping up incredibly fast..although pricing of some are RIDICULOUS.
It's great that you guys have sharepoint, customized solutions for sharepoint are still needed no?
Example of groups - if someone is covering sci-fi writers and latest releases - a group can be created about that topic with all the data(web) and rss feeds about that topic aggregated and posted (with categories) to that group, members belonging to that group can social bookmark, sms, submit media(articles, rss, audio/video) blogs/vlogs/podcasts etc and obviously the highest ranking item(social) is visible first(top) and if you want feedback from outside of the group or the public, you can open up scenarios(like cafeMSN) and allow for that bubble up questioning/technology thingamajig(Nicole refers to every now and then) for feedback and more collaboration. <-- just a dry example. and of course the overall solution should cover the IM/messaging-email-collaboration-etc.
Great comment -- "Don't we already have Sharepoint, IM, all kinds of enhanced email, and tons of business collaboration programs?"
I'd add to that list: intranets, VPNs... Are they somehow too creaky now, not sexy enough, insufficient for Collaboration & Connectivity 2.0?
Do wikis, twitters, and social nets really convey a greater advantage, more competitiveness, access to new revenue than these creakier counterparts? Doubtful.
Your recent posts here show that you I'm afraid need to quickly get your head out of the "cloud"...
Web 2.0 is the worst piece of "vapor"-speak the Tech & Common Media have ever purported to be the latest great paradigm shift -- it's utter bull-#$@!...
Let's see where should I start??...
"Mashups" -- integrating the information from one or more apps into a new presentation of the information... That's called "integration", we've been integrating data from one app to another or several apps into another view (presenting a "report") for decades and decades on the desktop, not just yesterday... Putting the presentation on a browser or mobile-device is just another delivery method not a whole new paradigm -- 'mashup' indeed.
"Wiki" -- A platform for sharing knowledge about ideas or concepts. Unmm, that would be a "Knowledge Base", those have been available again for decades not just recently. Again the web-based delivery method is just that just another method.
Here's why these are just simply new methods that don't deserve the "paradigm" moniker...
Web 2.0 itself is nothing more than just another way to deliver client-server based distibution of information and solutions. It's networked computing that someone's trying to put a shiny new bow on and say, "hey, look at me I'm Web 2.0!!"
Web 2.0 and "Cloud Computing" as it's being presented by Mass Media and too many Tech Media outlets will never fly because "the Cloud" represents architecture that is beyond the control of the enterprise... Forget it, it's not going to happen that way...
Those who want Web 2.0 to thrive need to think inside the Enterprise where the "cloud" is self-contained and "sharing" is controlled...
You know, the more I hear and read about Web 2.0 enterprise apps, the more I wonder what we're really talking about. Don't we already have Sharepoint, IM, all kinds of enhanced email, and tons of business collaboration programs? Until the vendors can really improve on what is already out there, I'm kind of thinking this emperor is often naked.
I'm not pooh-poohing Web 2.0 for business at all; just askin' whether there's enought "there" there -- yet.
I could have sworn that I've heard whether the internet for business was measurable for ROI..whether all members of an organization should have internet access or would it be a waste of time. of course e-mail went through the same scrutiny before. THIS IS WEB 2.0. Just a transition from the above. EVERYONE is going to adapt to it at one point or another. It is how and when will you best leverage it for your business needs. Most will likely wait until it is a noticeable(sp?) disadvantage NOT to have a web2.0 implementation and will be scrambling to catch the coat tail of the next BIG add on to that framework.
It's interesting to hear what corporate enterprise IT managers think, but it would be even more interesting to cross-tab that data with what their CUSTOMERS think.
Did the enterprise IT manager call it a fad while 75% of his customers are using web 2.0 sites? Are they getting ready to (a la PC and mainframe of the 1980s) stage an overthrow of how technology works?
Likewise for the mangers thinking Web 2.0 is great - what if their CUSTOMERS are thinking "why are our IT resources being wasted on this?"
As IT managers we need to listen to the customers but also lead the customers to systems and approaches that our best. Each of us can only benefit from knowing how our customer base feels about web 2.0.
What companies cannot benefit from web2.0? Perhaps we should work from bottom up rather than top down as MANY SECTORS AND INDUSTRIES can benefit.
It's too early to tell? for followers OR for ahead of the curve folk?
I don't feel like digging up the Information Week 500 article about an agriculture science company deploying web2.0 buzz and what the ROI should be...imagine if that 'digging up the article' was bridged and was avail at my fingertips...IS THERE NO BENEFIT THERE FOR THE ENTERPRISE? time is money eh?
"they are satisfied with what they already have."
Sounds like complacent versus ambitious. If you can't partly see into the future as an IT Exec and are unable to strike a near perfect balance of budgets-upgrades-security etc, then you don't really belong there in my opinion.
no doubt EVERYTHING is going social to some capacity - somewhere in EVERY company's intranet and web presence, will be a NODE for social interaction...where there is e-mail. there will be social activity. SOooo, it's really up to where you're going to enter this phenomina. It's early now yes..but it really isn't for companies that are able to rebrand/reinvent/simplify, rebuild and execute CONTINUOUSLY to drive their competitive advantage to do jumping jacks around deciding to implement.
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