The debate on Web 2.0 within
the enterprise is moving away from questions such as, what is it? and,
why do we care? to a welcome new question: how do we implement it?
WebEx evangelist Gary Griffiths offers a couple of case histories in an overview at CIO.com. He shows how Sun Microsystems
has managed to homesource over half its global workforce, using Web 2.0
technologies to keep the company in communication with itself.
“With the help of Web 2.0 technology and on demand
collaboration tools Sun was able to create an open work environment,
bridging geographies while enabling employees to work conveniently from
anywhere, any time.” – Finding Real Value with Web 2.0 Technology
Griffiths adds the story of Subaru,
who rolled out an innovative loyalty program across a network of 600
dealers for a fraction of traditional costs using Web 2.0 technologies.
The benefits extended far beyond simple cost savings because the tools
automatically created two knowledge-management assets: training became
universally accessible on demand, and information was retained for
reference.
The point to keep in view – and the essential
point of Gary Griffiths’s article – is that Web 2.0 is a small term
that carries a lot of different meanings to different people. And Web
2.0 tools are a large array of tools. The real questions to ask are
these: which tools do we want? and to achieve which particular ends?
We can count on ITtoolbox
contributors to share real-world, personal IT experiences that we can
all learn from, and Dan Morrill, Security Project Manager with VMC Consulting, gives us a great story about one of the new Web 2.0 tools, how VMC has deployed it, and how it has benefited everyone who has used it. This then is the story of Pligg.
Pligg is a Digg
clone that works in much the same way. Users bookmark webpages that
they find interesting or useful and other members can either vote these
stories up or bury them, using group consensus for ranking the quality
of content, in the same way that Digg users vote on news stories and
blog posts as they get submitted.
“We use Pligg as an externally facing social
bookmarking site that allows a group of people to manage and upload
stories they think are interesting. The site is externally facing as we
have telecommuters and other folks who access and use the site. Its
purpose is two fold, our customers can upload documents that they think
are important, our workers can do the same, and internal/external
trusted people can also upload their stuff.” – Using Pligg at Work as an easy Corporate Web 2.0 site
Because it’s designed to be a working news site, the Pligg install at VMC is constantly changing and being updated. The advantage for VMC
keeping its clients updated on particular stories lies in being able to
send one simple link, and clients can watch the evolving stories
themselves. This is much more elegant than the usual constant barrage
of email that includes links and updates.
So who at VCM uses the tool and who benefits from it? Morrill reports that a broad array of stakeholders are happy.
“Sales has an interesting new tool, one where they can
send links to clients to talk about how other people are solving
problems, without a pile of research, or other information. The
information is deemed “honest” as it is coming from everywhere else, it
is not internally generated.
“Marketing has an interesting new tool, they have
access to a database of information on what is happening, and can share
marketing stories on the system, and trend marketing news over time, as
well as work on some key word functionality that has the database
person all jazzed about full word indexes in MySQL.
“Management has a way of trending things that are
happening based on what is in the database. As well as identifying
bumps and bounces in types of reporting or under reporting (like the
hack at TD Ameritrade was picked up by few, but the hack at TJ Maxx was picked up by many).”
We’ll continue looking at some of the different Web 2.0 tools next week.
