Investor's Business Daily, August 20th, 2007
Wells Fargo's 160,000 employees are finding it easier to communicate these days.
They're using blogs and group-written Web pages called wikis to spread the word about products, marketing materials, the latest company news and reports and much more.
"It used to be people had to talk one-on-one to have actual communication," said Danny Peltz, executive vice president, wholesale Internet solutions at Wells Fargo WFC. "Things like wikis, things like blogs, are just another form of communication -- from one to many or many to many."
The bank is an adopter of collaboration tools called Web 2.0.
As businesses and other enterprises use these tools more and more -- initially brought from home by employees -- the term Enterprise 2.0 is starting to take hold.
The trend is pushing tech companies such as IBM IBM, Microsoft MSFT and BEA Systems BEAS to step up efforts to sell Enterprise 2.0 products and services.
"We see an opportunity to bring a next-generation suite of productivity tools (to the market)," said Ajay Gandhi.
The BEA executive's job title alone hints at the extend of the 2.0 trend. He is the director of enterprise social computing.
The companies won't give any sales figures, but they all say demand for their 2.0 products is strong, especially in the tech and financial services industries.
"This is all in the early stages," said James Manyika, an analyst with consultant McKinsey & Co.
The Tools
Part of the Enterprise 2.0 trend is more use of blogs to strengthen communication on intranets, an organization's private network.
The aim is to better distribute information, and to get more employees contributing information.
Enterprise 2.0 communication "is very egalitarian," said Andrew McAfee, an associate professor at Harvard Business School who many credit with coining the term Enterprise 2.0.
"It doesn't (care) about bureaucracy," McAfee said, "and it doesn't care about about any box on the org chart."
But Enterprise 2.0 might not lead to any big revolutions at companies and othe renterprises, says Tom Davenport, who holds the President's Chair in Information Technology at Babson College.
"I don't think technologies ever by themselves lead to that kind of change," Davenport said.
"Even the most ardent devotee can't (point) to any financial benefits," he said.
2.0 Has Big Toolbox
Enterprise 2.0 encompasses several technologies:
Wikis essentially let a group of users update and edit a Web page. Marketing teams are using wikis so that they no longer have to e-mail so many documents back-and-forth.
Then there are RSS, which stands for really simple syndication, feeds.
This lets employees get the company's latest news sent to their e-mails or desktop PCs automatically.
Another tool is the "tagging" of items with keywords.
A tagged word will stand out -- perhaps with larger type or shaded in some bright color -- and thus is easy to find on an intranet.
Other Enterprise 2.0 elements include social networking sites, blogs and podcasts.
The trend is gaining. More than 60% of business technology buyers said they had a "positive" or "strongly positive" view of Web 2.0, according to Forrester Research. The 275 respondents cite efficiency gains.
A report by Nemertes Research in May found that nearly one in five corporations use blogs, 32% use wikis and 23% are starting to use RSS to get out their company news.
"We're beginning to see the enterprise using collaborative technologies," said Nemertes analyst Andreas Antonopoulos.
Tapping the market
IBM, BEA and Microsoft are among the big tech companies most aggressive in promoting products and services for Enterprise 2.0. They're helping companies step up 2.0 features for employees, with the kind of governance and security corporations require that consumers don't.
Companies require some "structure" with these 2.0 tools, says Rachel Happe, an analyst with research firm IDC.
"Enterprise information is being stored who knows where," she said.
The 2.0 products pushed by IBM, BEA, Microsoft and others also look to encourage communication between a company and its suppliers, partners and customers.
In June, IBM unveiled its "Web 2.0 Goes to Work" project. The aim is to sell corporations more collaboration software and social networking tools, along with more data-rich applications.
Lotus Helps With Tags
Its offerings include IBM Lotus Connections, which helps companies incorporate blogs, tags and other 2.0 tools.
It also helps them set up "communities" of employees and partners who share interests or responsibilities.
"If you look at it, there are a lot of ways to collaborate," said Rod Smith, vice president of emerging Internet technologies in IBM's software group. "We definitely have stepped it up."
IBM itself uses 2.0 tools such as blogs, tags and social-networking sites in-house, says David Newbold, chief information officer of technology and innovation at the company.
"I don't think we know the total business impact yet," he said, "but anecdotally, it's been fairly strong."
Microsoft beefed up its Web 2.0 tool offerings in its 2007 Sharepoint 19erver software package, says Rob Curry, director, Office Sharepoint 19erver.
Security is a big focus of the product, he says.
"The response we've seen is pretty good," Curry said.
BEA, which specializes in software used to set up intranet portals, launched a product last month that offers just about every 2.0 tool needed for an enterprise.
The package aims to encourage non-techies to embrace 2.0 tools, and to encourage software developers to build more and better 2.0 applications.
"It's the early days," said BEA's Gandhi. "People are still getting their hands around it."
