I just came across an interesting article published by Indian Business Standard on the future of enterprise collaboration. According to the article, Gartner reckons that 80% of enterprise collaboration platforms will primarily be based on browser-based Web 2.0 techniques by 2013. These new platforms will also have secondary support for documents. The research and advisory company states that Web 2.0 approaches will become increasingly important as “wiki-like” collaboration techniques gain more acceptance among users.
Subsequently, Gartner believes that managing users’ transition from file-oriented environments to Web 2.0 approaches will pose a major challenge for organisations. The article does also highlight that there are essential differences in terms of working-styles that are file-oriented and document-based and those that are Web 2.0 and browser-based. Gartner states that “understanding and accommodating these differences will be important factors in determining the success of collaboration platform introductions.”
I think it’s worth adding that a platform such as SharePoint MOSS ’07, which is fundamentally file and document-based, already has basic support for Web 2.0 technologies and tools such as blogs, RSS and wikis. It’s also likely that Sharepoint ’10, which is due to be released later on this year, will have increased support for these types of collaborative technologies. This could potentially make the transition for SharePoint users to a collaboration platform that is primarily Web 2.0 based easier. I also think it’s fair to assume that generational differences in e.g. technological competences and preferences will be an important factor in making this transition happen. Read more about today’s “Internet-obsessed” youth here.
Also, I downloaded the beta of Office ’10 from Microsoft’s Web site earlier this week and Outlook ’10 supports integration with social networks (only SharePoint is supported at this stage), which suggest that online-based social tools are becoming increasingly important to users, even in the corporate world.
Gartner also recognizes that Web 2.0 approaches will not take over completely in the future. There will still be situations where working with documents is more suitable. For example, tasks where the final output will be in a file format, e.g. a Word document, are often easier to get done in a document-based environment with check-in and check-out facilities than in a free-form wiki.
Gartner’s findings provide further evidence to support that the future for Enterprise 2.0 is bright. If you’re interested in learning more about Enterprise 2.0, I suggest that you buy Andrew MacAfee’s new book on the subject. You can find five reviews of it here. I’m also working on my dissertation, which looks at the topic from the perspective of the Millennial generation. I will continue to post a selection of my findings on this site.
Tagged as:
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Enterprise 2.0,
Web 2.0
An important aspect of my dissertation on Enterprise 2.0 and Millennials is understanding the extent to which today’s teens and youth are using the Internet to communicate and collaborate with their peers. For example, if a great majority of today’s teens use social networks such as Facebook on a daily basis, will this have an impact on the kind of collaborative tools and technologies that this demographic cohort request from their future employers? More specifically, will this generation’s technological competences and preferences be an important driver for adopting Enterprise 2.0 tools and technologies within organisations in the future?
In my quest for trying to answer these questions, I came across a recent presentation by Pew Internet, a non-profit organisation based in the US. The presentation (see below) is based on findings from several previous reports and examines how teens create and communicate in school and in their personal lives. Some of the data is a few years old but I think it’s still relevant and it shows how important the Internet has become to Millennials and teens in general. It’s especially interesting to see that as many as 55% of teens between 15-17 who use the Internet could be considered content creators*. This figure is based on a survey that ran three years ago so it’s possible that there’s even more teen content creators now given the importance of the Internet amongst this demographic in today’s society.
Some of the key points from the presentation can be found below:
- 93% of 18 to 29 year olds use the Internet in comparison to only 43% of individuals 65+ (based on a survey from Sept. ’09).
- 94% of teens use the Internet (based on a survey from Sept. – Nov ’07).
- 45% of teens 12-14 and 55% of teens 15-17 are content creators*. The organisation also found that content creators are more likely to be girls (based on a survey from Oct. – Nov. ’06).
* Pew Internet defines content creators as “teens who have done at least one of the following: created or worked on a blog, created or worked on webpages, shared original creative content, or remixed content they have found online”.
Tagged as:
Dissertation,
Enterprise 2.0,
Millennials
Andrew McAfee, who originally coined the term Enterprise 2.0 in 2006, published his new book on the subject in UK about two weeks ago.
Are you still trying to decide whether or not to buy his new book? If so, here’s five reviews from the blogosphere and traditional media that might help you make up your mind.
1. Book Review: Andrew McAfee’s Enterprise 2.0
Written by Eric Brown, a Technology Executive and Consultant.
Will this book give you the recipe for successful use of Enterprise 2.0? No. Will this book make your Enterprise 2.0 project(s) successful? Maybe. Maybe not. What this book will do is give you some ideas on how to introduce Enterprise 2.0 into your organization and give you some tips on make it successful.
Source: www.ericbrown.com
2. Book review – Enterprise 2.0
Written by Information Age (no specific author highlighted).
McAfee’s book presents some much-needed tools with which to discuss and debate the merits, or otherwise, or Enterprise 2.0 adoption. Whatever McAfee’s desired audience of business managers will make of it, it certainly provides some clarity for IT decision-makers wondering what to make of the Web 2.0 tools that are, almost certainly, spreading through their organisation with or without their blessing.
Source: http://www.information-age.com
3. Dreams of a techno-utopia for workers
Written by Richard Waters, Financial Times.
Enterprise 2.0, the term Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at MIT’s Center for Digital Business and author of a book of the same name, has used to describe this hoped-for boom, is still a dream. As with the “knowledge management” fad that preceded it, the availability of the technology has yet to unblock the well-springs of collaboration and creativity about which its proponents dreamed. McAfee helps to explain why – though he remains a firm believer in a coming transformative wave of workplace technology, in spite of the evidence to the contrary.
Source: www.ft.com
4. Review for Andrew McAfee’s Enterprise 2.0 book
Written by Gil Yehuda, an Industry Analyst and Enterprise 2.0 Web Strategist.
Enterprise 2.0 is a book about the definition, motivation, challenges, and direction of a movement that many companies are taking to rethink the way information is created and shared within the corporate structure. The change in thinking is inspired by a change in the way we use computers in general. Whereas we once viewed our computers as a terminal connection, a publishing station, or a emailing device – the explosion of social networking behaviors in the personal lives of many are causing many businesses to consider the potential for harnessing analogous social behaviors (of documenting work activities, asking questions publicly, and reaching beyond to people you don’t know well – but can trust by virtue of their reputation of connections to people you do know.) The discussion frequently references Facebook, Wikipedia, Twitter, and Delicious – but the topic of the book is squarely focused on business, not social activities.
Source: www.gilyehuda.com
5. Video Review of Andrew McAfee’s “Enterprise 2.0″
Written by John Caddell, Principle at Caddell Insight Group.
The book is a lot like a recent book, “Groundswell,” that explained to general business people how social tools affected customers and markets and how to use those to communicate and listen. Communicating from inside the business to outside. “Enterprise 2.0″ performs a similar task, focusing on using those tools inside the business, more for collaboration and tapping the collective intelligence of employees. And so it takes this marginal topic and moves it to a general management-type discussion. Which I think is really important, to get it out of the IT discussion into the management discussion.
Source: www.caddellinsightgroup.com
Tagged as:
Dissertation,
Enterprise 2.0,
Web 2.0
I recently wrote about McKinsey Quarterly’s survey on how organisations are using Web 2.0 tools and technologies.
McKinsey has now posted a video interview with Andrew McAfee, who will publish his new book on Enterprise 2.0 in the very beginning of December. Among other things, McAfee discusses how companies can measure the success of Enterprise 2.0 and how the tools and technologies that falls under its umbrella are changing the way we work. The 10-minute video is a must for anyone with an interest in Enterprise 2.0 and gives an indication of the type of content we can expect from McAfee’s upcoming book.
Click here to watch the video, or download a copy of the transcript in PDF format.
Tagged as:
Dissertation,
Enterprise 2.0,
Web 2.0
For the past three years, McKinsey Quarterly has surveyed executives across the globe on how organisations are using Web 2.0 technologies. In their latest report, which was published in September ’09, some 1,700 individuals from a variety of industries and functional areas were surveyed on the value they have gained from their Web 2.0 deployments across three main areas:
- Within their organisations
- Externally, in their relations with customers
- In their dealings with suppliers, partners, and outside experts
The survey showed that 69 per cent of the respondents’ companies had achieved measureable business benefits from using Web 2.0 technologies. The benefits include more innovative products and services, more effective marketing and improved access to knowledge. The results from the survey entitled ‘How companies are benefiting from Web 2.0: McKinsey Global Survey Results’ can be found here*.
McKinsey also created an interactive tool to support the study. The tool combines data from previous surveys and examines the business use of 12 different technologies and tools such as blogs, social networking, tagging and wikis.
Highlights from the surveys relevant to the use of Web 2.0 tools and technologies within organisations:
- In 2007, 53 per cent of the respondents stated that their companies use Web 2.0 tools and technologies for internal purposes. This year, the figure has increased to 65 per cent.
- Wikis are most popular among companies for managing knowledge followed blogs and video sharing (‘09 – no data available for ’07 and ’08)
- Blogs are most popular for fostering collaboration followed by social networking and wikis (‘09 – no data available for ’07 and ’08)
- McKinsey also found that blogs are most popular for enhancing company culture followed by video sharing and social networking (‘09 – no data available for ’07 and ’08)
- Wikis are most popular for developing products and services followed by blogs and social networking (‘09 – no data available for ’07 and ’08)
* You now need premium membership of McKinsey Quarterly to read the article.
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Dissertation,
Enterprise 2.0,
Web 2.0
Previous research*, e.g. by Neil Howe and William Strauss in 2000 and Don Tapscott in 1998, have found that those individuals born since the early 1980s hold unique capabilities centred on Internet communication. Howe and Strauss (2000) refer to the generation born roughly between 1982 and 2002 as Millennials.
A recent report published by YouthNet of 16 to 24 year olds found that 75 per cent of them feel that they “cannot live without” the Web. The report, which was published in October ’09, also found that four out five young individuals used the Internet to look for advice.
Andrew McAfee, who coined the term Enterprise 2.0 in 2006, has previously stated in a blog post that an Enterprise 2.0 project is more likely to be successful in a culture where “there are lots of young people”.
If 75 per cent of all individuals between 16 to 24 feel that the Web is key to their existence, I think it’s reasonable to assume that at least a proportion of these individuals will demand similar tools and technologies they use online today at their current and future workplaces.
McAfee addressed Millennials technology preferences in a recent blog post (7th October 2009):
I appreciate that Millennials have different technology preferences and often prefer to use emergent social software platforms (ESSPs) instead of email and other channel technologies. But I also appreciate that almost without exception they enter the workforce in junior roles, and so are in no position to dictate terms about digital tools or anything else. Yes, there is a war for talent, including young talent. But there’s also a severe recession on, and plenty of talented people looking for work. With US unemployment around 10% and talk of a jobless recovery in the air, I wonder how many members of Generation Y will actually walk away from a paid gig just because the communication tools in use don’t suit them.
Source: http://andrewmcafee.org
Do you think there’s a positive correlation between Millennials technological capabilities and attitude towards the Internet and the adoption rate of Enterprise 2.0 tools and technologies within companies?
Please leave a comment and let us know.
* Gorman, P., Nelson, T. & Glassman A. (2004) “The Millennial Generation: A Strategic Opportunity”. Organizational Analysis, Vol. 12, No. 3, 2004, p255-270
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Dissertation,
Enterprise 2.0,
Millennials
I just found this interesting slideshow on the Enterprise 2.0 initiatives at Adidas Group by Christian Kuhna. Christian, who’s Head of Internal Communication at Adidas, looks at the shift from Traditional to Social Media (or institutional control to user control) and presents some of company’s new Internal Communications channels.
For example, Rebook is using a Wiki to share static information on the company, its products and campaigns. All employees are able to add a page and/or make modifications to an existing page on the Wiki. The company is also using a blog that acts as an internal news channel. The blog does in similarity to the Wiki support user-participation and all employees are able to comment on all blog articles. Some of the advantages that the company has identified include e-mail reduction and the ability to make knowledge and information available to all employees.
Christian does also address an important future issue: the ability to synchronise Internal and External Networks. This is something I believe is going to be quite important in the next few years, especially for Millennials. This group is more or less living their digital lives on sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and possibility Twitter.
So what are the benefits of using external networks internally? According to Christian, they can be used to e.g. recruit the best talent, include brand fans and to build alumni networks. He doesn’t address any potential problems but I can see governance being one of them. According to a study published by AIIM Market Intelligence in June 2009, only 30% of the companies surveyed have policies on the use and content of blogs, forums and social networking. However, 45% are banning access to social network sites from desktops, usually to prevent time-wasting. What’s going to happen when companies integrate e.g. Facebook with their employee portals? How do you prevent employees for engaging in time-wasting activities? Will the management team filter the content so that it fits with the company’s business objectives? How should the management govern the usage of these networks internally so that employees are not discouraged to make use of them in a business context?
What do you think? Please leave a comment and let us know.
Christian’s slideshow can be found below:
NB: Registration is required to download the AIIM study.
Tagged as:
Dissertation,
Enterprise 2.0,
Web 2.0
McKinsey’s What Matters recently published an essay on how technology can improve collaboration among knowledge workers and make them more productive.
The essay includes an interactive feature that examines twelve different types of collaboration efforts in the workplace and the tools required for these interactions to thrive.
According to the authors, one must understand the details of how collaboration workers get their work done in order to increase their productivity. Collaboration workers have been defined as “those who interact to solve problems, serve customers and conceive new ideas”.
McKinsey first identified twelve segments of these workers. Each segment was characterised by the day-to-day activities required for their respective jobs. The twelve segments were then matched with the technologies and tools that best support their workflows.
Example:
Segment: Manager
- Characteristics: The manager supervises other people and business processes
- Job types: Editors, film directors and line managers
- Well suited tools: Conceptual authoring, shared workspace, wiki, virtual whiteboard, instant messenger, video conferencing and telepresence
- Adequate tools: Fax, podcasts, RSS, surveys, co-authoring, document/file sharing and audio bridge
- Ill suited tools: Authoring, annotations, e-mail, blogs, application/screen sharing, real-time polling and web conferencing
Interestingly, e-mail, which is one of most widely used communication tools today, has been classified as ill suited for the manager.
The interactive feature is based on Adobe Flash and is very well built. I recommend everyone with an interest in Enterprise 2.0, Web 2.0 and collaboration to read the essay and play around with the feature.
Tagged as:
Dissertation,
Enterprise 2.0,
Innovation,
Technology,
Web 2.0