A year ago when we started
writing this blog the concept of Web 2.0 tools working within the
enterprise was one we tentatively introduced into our discussions. We
talked about innovation and collaboration, within the context of knowledge management, and the use of social media tools as a platform. We introduced widgets and the mashup principle, and marveled at the possibilities.
Behind it all, even before we used the term Enterprise 2.0,
we were quietly suggesting that the enormous network benefits from the
proving ground of the Web could replicate themselves on the corporate
intranet. Today, the almost seamless fusion of the Web into the daily
work of business and development routine looms everywhere. And during
the second half of this year, vendors have been rolling out many of the
pieces of Enterprise 2.0.
And yet, even as the trend gathers pace, Information Week recently asked the question, Can Web 2.0 Evolve Into An Enterprise Technology?:
“Wikis, mashups, social networking, and even Second
Life can have a place in business, but they need to improve legacy
interoperability—and IT needs to overcome its skepticism.
“Forget outsourcing. the real threat to IT pros could
be Web 2.0. While there’s a lot of hype and hubris surrounding wikis,
mashups, and social networking, there’s also a lot of real
innovation—much of it coming from increasingly tech-savvy business
users, not the IT department.”
The corporate landscape is vast, and legacy
installs go back a long ways in time, and IT has long been burdened
with headaches trying to keep it all running and move forward at the
same time. Small wonder that while the Buzz-2.0 is everywhere, huge
gaps in uniform adoption appear everywhere also.
