01/18/08 |
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Enterprise Web 2.0 mainstream or downstream? |
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A recent Gartner, Inc research note 1 informs us that 1) the use of the term “Enterprise 2.0” (E2.0) is on the rise, 2) vendors are starting to package Web 2.0 concepts and technologies for mainstream corporate consumptions and 3) the cultural changes needed to exploit this wave of technology will be as challenging as the arrival of e-commerce. Examples of mainstream vendors packaging Web 2.0 capabilities into their products include Microsoft SharePoint that now includes features such as wikis, blogging and tagging as well as, IBM’s Lotus Connections which is focused on bringing together teams through collaboration. Lotus Connections enables users to create social bookmarks, tags and to build Web dashboards, blogs, and online communities and profiles, similar to those offered on Facebook or LinkedIn. As a CIO, CTO, Senior Developer, or Chief Architect….you may be asking, “is this really going on in my organization and should I care?” My answer is “yes and yes!” Inside the organization, E2.0 will enable the flexibility and adaptation of development group composition with the energy in process flows, from which mashups will meet business processes and service oriented architectures. Unfortunately, end users are sometimes too impatient to wait for IT and their planning processes and initiate the end results on their own. The key to harnessing E2.0 is “governance.” As Dion Hinchcliffe points out in his 12 Predictions for Enterprise Web 2.0 in 2008 2, “next generation governance will be demanded by IT to manage the proliferation of new SOA, E2.0, and mashups.” Governance is about setting the policies, procedures and processes that are needed for efficient and effective decision making throughout the business and IT organization. Solutions that offer SOA and E2.0 users boundaries, but not inhibitors to increased agility and innovation will go a long way to harnessing both SOA and E2.0….keeping both mainstream. So I propose you ask around your user community “what tools” they are using to share information and collaborate with co workers. I am certain you’ll be surprised by the range of answers you receive. You must determine if this is an opportunity, a threat to corporate IT, or both and is this something that should be governed? |
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