Enterprise 2.0 when Enterprise 1.0 doesn't work
Stephen Arnold has written a lengthy, useful post on conversations with colleagues around defining "Enterprise 2.0". Is it a marketing buzzword? Does it simply mean a specific set of tools, is it just a bunch of new software apps, or is it information management dressed up in fancy new clothes.....?
Don said, “Enterprise 2.0 is a buzzword. We had Web 2.0, which was meaningless. We had Search 2.0 which was silly. Now we have Enterpriser 2.0. This is a marketing play and it suggests that the next version will be better than the present version. Too bad it takes some companies three versions to get something to work the way it is supposed to. I just ignore the term.”
Stuart said, “I think Enterprise 2.0 is shorthand for moving some of the high profile Web functions into a company. I think the young employees and contractors already use these, but now companies want to get control of instant messaging, services like LinkedIn and Facebook, and mashups. I don’t think most of the people using the phrase ‘Enterprise 2.0′ know what it means, but the implication is that the cool Web stuff can help an organization do some things easier is why the terms is being thrown around.”
So, I am uncertain. Don thinks it is marketing baloney. And Stu thinks it is old people trying to tap what young people do without giving the service much thought.....
You might be thinking from this, a couple of other posts and the last newsletter that I'm a little fatigued with talk of social software inside businesses. I'm not, but recent experiences have clarified and tempered my thoughts to a certain degree (always a good thing). There are huge, huge disconnects between the web environment and the enterprise environment and, as Stephen alludes to, the dreams of Enterprise 2.0 and the realities of your typical organisation that's still very much 1.0.
Lots of food for thought in Stephen's full post.
NB: Stephen Arnold also recently published and co-authored an Enterprise Search report with Martin White.
