Today the business world is undergoing a significant
transformation, thanks to a set of technologies collectively known
as Web 2.0. As ‘Web 2.0 for business,’ Enterprise 2.0
offers new ways for a diverse and distributed workforce to utilize
social networking for knowledge sharing and rapid deployment of
expertise. By leveraging social tools such as wikis, blogs, social
networking and social bookmarking, Enterprise 2.0 can create an
office synergy that leads to increased communication and
productivity.
Drivers of Enterprise 2.0
With organizations going global, consumers are now more evenly
spread out and need localized strategies. Enterprises need people
on the ground and in line to have access to the required
information to make decisions.
Specialization means that expertise is scattered—for
implementing an idea/project, all the expertise needs to come
together.
The current organizations and systems have defined ways for solving
structured problems/issues. The need of the hour is to respond
quickly and collaborate effectively in unstructured situations.
Today’s workforce sees opportunities to leverage Web 2.0
technologies in the workplace since they can be in as much control
of information and decision-making in their workplace as in their
personal life.
Enterprise 2.0: Essentials
Tagging and Bookmarking: The process of tagging and storing
documents can help users describe and categorize the content they
are creating, editing, or viewing. This makes it easier for the
document to be traced by others looking for the same information at
a later date.
Linking: Linking enables a knowledge worker to create a library of
links to content that is of interest to him (similar to DIGG and
deli.co.io.us).
Rating: When users rate content and provide their comments, this
proves to be a useful feedback mechanism for the author.
Signals: Content can be updated at any point of time. It is the
signaling mechanism that alerts the knowledge worker on an update
in content. A more elegant tool for alerting users on content
updates is the RSS (Really Simple Syndication), which contains
links to the content along with some text describing the update
(depending on the author).
Mashups: In the enterprise context, Mashups offer business views
that are personalized for an information worker. The biggest
advantage—this enables the knowledge worker to build the
business application as per his own requirements.
There are multiple ways in which a knowledge worker can contribute
to organizational knowledge:
A Wiki is a classic example of how multiple people can collaborate
to create content, which is actually a piece of organizational
knowledge.
Blogs can be used to keep employees informed of major events
concerning the company or happening within a department. In
essence, blogs can provide that top-to-bottom communication in an
environment where employees can easily ask for clarifications or
make suggestions.
P. V. S. N. Raju is Head - Enterprise Solutions &
Microsoft CoE, Sonata Software. The views expressed in this article
are the personal views of the author.