Enterprise 2.0 Perspectives on Innovation

Organizations world-wide are striving to evolve their workplaces, and take advantage of new social networking tools dubbed Web 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0 (if applied internally in an organization). Different organizations define E2.0 differently.

A sample of definitions are summarized below:

1.) AIIM - "Enterprise 2.0 is a system of web based technologies that provide rapid, and agile collaboration, information sharing, emergence and integrative capabilities in the extended enterprise."

2.)Andrew McAfee - defines Enterprise 2.0 as the use of emergent social software platforms within companies, or between companies and their partners or customers.

Social software enables people to rendezvous, connect or collaborate through computer-mediated communication and to form online communities. (Wikipedia’s definition).

Platforms are digital environments in which contributions and interactions are globally visible and persistent over time.

Emergent means that the software is freeform, and that it contains mechanisms to let the patterns and structure inherent in people’s interactions become visible over time.

Freeform means that the software is most or all of the following:

*Optional
*Free of up-front workflow
*Egalitarian, or indifferent to formal organizational identities
*Accepting of many types of data

3.) Wiki Encyclopedia defines Enterprise 2.0 as Enterprise social software (also known as or regarded as a major component of Enterprise 2.0), comprises social software as used in "enterprise" (business/commercial) contexts. It includes social and networked modifications to corporate intranets and other classic software platforms used by large companies to organize their communication. In contrast to traditional enterprise software, which imposes structure prior to use, enterprise social software tends to encourage use prior to providing structure.

4.)My definition (aka Dr. Cindy Gordon) is very simple. Enterprise 2.0 is simply bringing Web 2.0 ideas into the enterprise. The Web 2.0 premises are: user feedback and architecture supporting collaboration, harnessing collective intelligence, and enabling rapid agility (flexibility to change dynamically). Underlying these premises there needs to be trust making, reciprocity and knowledge sharing with a clear sense of purpose/value to ensure sustainability of the knowledge flows.

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Enterprise 2.0 perspectives on some of the behaviors one can expect are summarized below and are taken from a variety of sources:

1.All ideas compete on equal footing
2.Contribution counts for more than credentials
3.Hierarchies are natural, not prescribed
4.Leaders serve rather than preside
5.Tasks are chosen, not assigned
6.Groups are self-defining and -organizing
7.Resources get attracted, not allocated
8.Power comes from sharing information, not hoarding it
9.Opinions compound and decisions are peer-reviewed
10.Users can veto most policy decisions
11.Intrinsic rewards matter most
12.Hackers are heroes

Some of the other key aspects of Enterprise 2.0 needs to be understanding the shift in Software delivery models which are characterized as: flexible, simple and lightweight. E2.0 will be created using an infinite combination of the latest - and possibly, some old-fashioned - ingredients, including the following:

•Technologies - Open source, SOA/Web services (AJAX, RSS, blogs, wikis, tagging, social networking, and so on) Web 2.0, legacy and proprietary - or some combination
•Development Models - Relying on in-house, outsourced or offshore resources - or any combination; pursuing a global development strategy; and/or pursuing co-creation with users, partners or both
•Delivery Methods -Downloading individually; paying for a license; and/or, using on-demand/SaaS or via a service provider.

The next post will describe some of the more interesting Enterprise or Web 2.0 Frameworks used to communicate these constructs.