At the recently held Conference in Boston from June 9th to 12th 2008, on Enterprise 2.0 most of the speakers agreed to the view that E2.0, as it is popularly known as, is inevitable. Marketing and software pundits believe that this will be the next big thing that will have a major impact on how the business is run today after Internet infiltrated into the business processes. So this time around we won’t be discussing the regular stuff- Internet and Business- instead we will give you an insight into the somewhat new world of Enterprise 2.0 and how it is getting transformed into a major business phenomenon.
Browser based softwares, SaaS, and Web 2.0 have been making fast advancements in the enterprise arena, however the absence of useful pioneer reports is hampering the development process and preventing many organizations from moving on to this next level. The trends have been really amazing with more and more number of user generated content and communication collaboration mushrooming up via blogs and social media websites. Keeping all the above developments in mind a question that often comes to our mind is can the integration of the three- SaaS, Web 2.0 and business- be more meaningful in the enterprise as well.
What is Enterprise 2.0?
The term Enterprise 2.0 was coined by Andrew McAfee, Associate Professor, Harvard Business School. According to him,”Enterprise 2.0 is the use of emergent social software platforms within companies, or between companies and their partners or customers.” Source: Professor Andrew McAfee’s Blog
Social software enables people to rendezvous, connect or collaborate through computer-mediated communication and to form online communities.
Platforms are digital environments in which contributions and interactions are globally visible and persistent over time.
Emergent means that the software is freeform, and that it contains mechanisms to let the patterns and structure inherent in people's interactions become visible over time.
Freeform means that the software is most or all of the following:
-
Optional Free of up-front workflow
-
Egalitarian, or indifferent to formal organizational identities
These examples will help you understand the term better:
-
-
-
MK Taxi's ability to connect mobile phone users in Tokyo directly to the driver of the cab closest to them, bypassing the dispatch center altogether.
To make a long story short, it means using inside an enterprise the successful tools of web 2.0.These new tools may well supplant other communication and knowledge management systems with their superior ability to capture tacit knowledge, best practices and relevant experiences from throughout a company and make them readily available to more users. Enterprise 2.0 liberates the workforce from the constraints of legacy communication and productivity tools like email. It provides business managers with access to the right information at the right time through a web of inter-connected applications, services and devices. It makes accessible the collective intelligence of many, translating to a huge competitive advantage in the form of increased innovation, productivity and agility.
Other than Web 2.0, E2.0 makes extensive use of Office 2.0, the term coined by Ishmael Ghalimi. The term Office 2.0 is a marketing neologism representing the concepts of office productivity applications as published applications rather than stand-alone programs. The term leverages the Web 2.0 concept to conjure imagery of collaborative, community based and centralised effort rather than the more traditional application running on a platform locally. Office 2.0 prevents you from the tedious work of software installation, updates, administration rights, software versions, virus scanning and all like stuff. *
Tools of Enterprise 2.0
Whether created by software vendors, internal IT departments, line-of-business units or service providers, the software of Enterprise 2.0 will be flexible, simple and lightweight. It will be created using an infinite combination of the latest - and possibly, some old-fashioned - ingredients, including the following:
-
Technologies
Open source, SOA/Web services (AJAX, RSS, blogs, wikis, tagging, social networking, and so on) Web 2.0, legacy and proprietary - or some combination
-
Development Models
Relying on in-house, outsourced or offshore resources - or any combination; pursuing a global development strategy; and/or pursuing co-creation with users, partners or both
-
Delivery Methods
Downloading individually; paying for a license; and/or, using on-demand/SaaS or via a service provider
Business Vs Enterprise 2.0
Enterprise 2.0 is the synergy of a new set of technologies, development models and delivery methods that are used to develop business software and deliver it to users.Enterprise 2.0 is more than just Web 2.0 for business. The complexity of enterprise computing is far more than personal computing. Things like legacy environments, innumerable vendors, mismatched data sources, stringent regulations and scattered pattern of users make it further complicated. While Web 2.0 can deliver genuine advantages for both business users and consumers, the real "Enterprise 2.0" will encompass a far broader and more complex vision. But with Web 2.0, all these complexities can be metamorphosed into strength as the organization becomes flat and there is ease of flow of information. Just take a look at the major advantages that E2.0 has in store for you as compared to conventional business methods often called as Enterprise 1.0 or E1.0.
Everything about E2.0 is not perfect and there are limitations like what happens when the server is down or the connection is irregular. These shortcomings may look to deter people/organizations from quickly shifting to E2.0. Despite those limitations its getting all the attention in this world and more and more business firms are embracing these new tools and technologies, either at the top-down level or at the grassroot level, and often both. It’s also an indication that the network is going to become the pre-eminent location for most meaningful business software.