Enterprise 2.0: It’s about time
Enterprise 2.0: It’s about time
June 1, 2007: Ovum has called for more CIOs to pilot enterprise 2.0 application and bring what we know of online social networking at home, into the workplace for information sharing.
According to Steve Hodgkinson research director at Ovum, enterprise 2.0 application will have organisations ‘exploiting’ knowledge management as opposed to simply just doing knowledge management through Web 1.0 technologies.
“While Web 2.0 is a runaway phenomenon, corporate reaction to wikis, blogs and social networking tends to be ‘…what the?” says Hodgkinson. “CIOs remain sceptical about enterprise 2.0 value and concerned about costs and security risks.”
Hodgkinson believes CIOs would be wise to let go of these sceptic attitudes to make way for pilot applications in the Web 2.0 arena.
The ‘Enterprise 2.0’ applications in question include corporate wikis, blogs, technologies for harnessing collective input and opinions and collaborative platforms for project management and working documents. Social tagging and online search can also provide powerful tools through there ability to not only find appropriate information but also use the power of the populace to determine its usefulness.
“Web 2.0 applications also stimulate social networking around this knowledge, acting as a catalyst for both exploiting existing knowledge and creating new knowledge,” says Hodgkinson. “It is the combination of the unprecedented ease of finding information and the more direct interaction with the people who create and discuss it that is at the root of enterprise 2.0’s value.”
Comparing 1.0 to 2.0, Hodgkinson believes it’s the difference in ‘flow’ that’s important. “2.0 offers much richer ways to participate in the flow of ideas and creativity – engaging with interactive repositories of knowledge and real time conversation with people who are both consuming and creating ideas,” he says.
“Where 1.0 was about the content, its container and its owner, ‘2.0’ is about the discourse, the conversation, the ‘buzz,” adds Hodgkinson. “Where '1.0' was about the channel for knowledge creation and publication - web sites and email - '2.0' is about a platform for social interaction and dialogue around knowledge.”
By exploiting knowledge, organisations can drive innovation - meaning business growth and productivity. Overall, Hodgkinson believes knowledge is a ‘social event’ where people naturally share and compare ideas; a novel way forward for harnessing the power of collaborative work in the enterprise.