Enterprise 2.0 and Web 2.0 visualizations

Over the last months I noticed a couple of cute visualization takes on the Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 space. Now, as I’m putting together the materials for a presentation I am holding next week I thought I’d share some of them …

Here we go, first up there’s this Web 2.0 in a Chart by the Sunlight Foundation, connecting a lot of trends related with web 2.0 (real big pdf, hence there’s no useful thumbnail).

Then, there’s FirstPartner’s take on the Enterprise 2.0 market. I appreciate how it tries to integrate and employ value-chain thinking, but I am skeptical if it’s really useful. Anyway, it’s a cute effort, found via SocialComputing Magazine:

Welcome to the FirstPartner Enterprise 2.0 Market Map. Enterprise 2.0 is a term which many struggle to define and understand. We have therefore developed this market map to articulate the different attributes of this emerging sector.

and

[This shows] the flow from the end-customer through the complete value-chain – covering blogs, wikis, collaboration tools, social networking and bookmarking through to RSS readers and Open APIs/Mashups.

FirstPartner Enterprise 2.0 Market Map

An Enterprise 2.0-sided take on visualization comes by Stephen Danelutti, who proposed an Enterprise 2.0 meme map (building upon the well known O’Reilly web 2.0 meme map).

enterprise20mememap_klein.JPG

This I must say is my last favourite, as it mingles and mixes terms and concepts and lacks clear structure (but that is true for the O’Reilly meme map and others as well).

And finally, my favourite, is by Ross Dawson of the Future Exploration Network who proposed a Web 2.0 framework, that nicely captures what Web 2.0 is all about and collects the variety of players in the Web 2.0 ecosystem:

web 2.0 framework

This framework provides a concise view of the nature of Web 2.0. While one can debate whether all important issues are collected, this visual approach lends itself to kicking off discussions (where one can elaborate further on). It provides a nice starting and reference point, and this is essential: When advising on the ideas and concepts of Enterprise 2.0 in the corporate world, I’m experiencing that it’s best to explain both instruments (methods and tools, i.e. the “how”) and goals and visions (paradigms and principles, the “why”) intertwined …

IBM bringing Web 2.0 to corporate workers

IBM is set today to make a big push into the Web 2.0 world by unveiling a team collaboration product, social computing software and a suite of tools for building Web mashups, see Computerworld’s article here.

[…] unveiling a team collaboration product, social computing software and a suite of tools for building Web mashups.

As part of a new “Web 2.0 Goes to Work” initiative, the IBM tools will bring popular consumer Web 2.0 technologies like blogs, wikis and social networks to the enterprise, […] The new software should help companies more easily brainstorm and collaborate with partners and customers about business content

[…] Lotus Quickr 8 team collaboration tool helps companies use blogs, wikis and team space templates to share business documents and access libraries through plug-ins […]

[…] IBM today also announced that Lotus Connections is now available.

The Connections tool includes Web 2.0 components like bookmarking and support for social communities

[…] In addition, IBM introduced Info 2.0, a new suite of tools for customizing and linking Web and enterprise data into mashups

While one might argue that this portfolio of tools and suites is too complex and thus distracting, I think that it’s more or less a reflection of the impossibility to design “solutions” with “one true architecture”. What’s needed is a toolbox whose contents can be flexibly combined and adapted. IBM’s efforts are no “out of the box solution” anyway, which is basically good news for consultants in the social software space – remember it’s not about technologies or tools, it’s about organizations and people.

Accenture gets into Intranet 2.0

Via IT Business, an insight into Accenture’s efforts to introduce web 2.0 concepts into their corporate intranet:

[…] borrowing ideas from online services such as Facebook, De.licio.us, YouTube, Wikipedia and Second Life to remake Accenture’s employee intranet.

Just this month, Accenture went live with a new global employee network that looks much like Facebook, the popular web site on which mostly young people share pictures and information about their interests.

Accenture also has visual, context-assisted search capabilities already up and running. […] picked up on the idea of allowing every user to tag content as the De.licio.us web site does, thus creating a co-operative way of classifying material that benefits all users.

[…] And there will be wikis – co-operatively edited Web pages – to allow anyone in the company to publish material for internal use. “If you make it easy for your employees to publish information, they’ll publish information,”

[…] “The younger employees carry it,” he says – they will be the first to publish on wikis, to tag content and so on. Others will follow as they see the value, though Rippert adds that some of the new capabilities, such as improved search functions, will replace the old way of doing things and employees will have little choice about using them.

I wonder what other elements will be introduced next. Social bookmarking would seem to be a logical next step, or perhaps internal blogs?

Web 2.0 Works Better in the Enterprise …

… so why do we feel that there’s a shortage of innovative start-ups (or innovative incumbents for a change), Dan Farber’s got it right, this is no easy sell:

Anything social networking or bookmarking or tagging is not an easy sell in the enterprise, but these two companies are at least attempting to build some awareness and businesses based on the benefits of Web 2.0 applied to large company productivity.

In the meantime Ann All says it ain’t so, partly because some enterprising enterprise (no pun intended) software companies are starting off, e.g. by leveraging new ways of deployment:

Vendors are expanding their definition of innovation beyond new product features to encompass new and Web-enabled methods of development and delivery. They are also turning to their customers more than ever before, as a source of innovative ideas.

These are some interesting business model innovations, and they aren’t fully exploited yet. So if you’re interested in exploring this innovation space, you may be also interested in my BMID blog.

Corporate uses of Web 2.0 technologies

Andrew McAfee provides another short insightful roundup on corporate uses of web 2.0 technologies like blogs, wikis, RSS, tagging, social bookmarking etc. In short, use them e.g. for:

  • collaborative production of documents (and meaning, understanding, commitment as I would add)
  • build a corporate encyclopedia, a “Wikipedia” for corporate data
  • as all-purpose teamware
  • a mega-adaptive ‘war room’ for fast-changing situations
  • spreading knowledge … and searching widely
  • ‘crowdsourcing,’ i.e. leveraging emergence by farming out tasks to a distributed crowd of people who decide individually and flexibly on what they want to work on

Transparent Enterprise

It’s all about lowering transaction costs … more here:

In short, transparency lowers the cost of communication, allowing more communication in return for less effort. And blogs, wikis and social bookmarking etc. are showing themselves as worthy candidates

Well, (implicit) communication in informal organizations drives autonomy – autonomy that capable information workers need, and that drives creativity.

Social Software

Einsatz von Social Software wie bspw. Weblogs, Wikis oder Social Bookmarking im Innovations- und Wissensmanagement.

Mehr zu unseren Ideen und Konzepten rund um Social Software hier.

9. October 2006 | Posted in: | Comments Closed