Readings - Week 7

Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of Emergent Collaboration
Corporate Blogging: Building community through persistent digital talk.

What opportunities/benefit do the authors claim for introducing Enterprise 2.0/Blogging technologies into the enterprise?

Whilst many companies have a lot of corporate software available to enhance the daily work activities of their employees, it is often felt that these software are either underused, utilized incorrectly or even seem daunting to new or uninformed users. Many of the software used today are also a one-way avenue e.g. emails are great for communication, but are only read by a few people who are on the receivers list. Furthermore, company intranet sites, whilst a good idea, is bound by the logic and intuitive design of management, and they decide what content would need to be appropriate for the site. This is where Enterprise 2.0 applications or corporate blogging comes into play.

Whilst these tools have been around for some years, they have not been readily adopted into organizations, since they distract from the centralized information “control” initiative which many companies stand by. These tools, like wiki’s or blogs, allow all users to edit information, add knowledge or even comment on others posts. This is so to say, a platform that encourages a collective authoring of thoughts, ideas and information…quite a leap away from the company view. Yet, it is within this environment that some companies have come to realize that in order for them to collect the vast amount of knowledge circulating in the enterprise and to readily manage and make it available to the employees, they need to open up the gates of control and allow their employees to share and contribute to the Knowledge Management of the enterprise.

The benefits are staggering, since now employees, who are often the individuals with the expertise in their particular area can contribute to the overall process and enhance the everyone’s benefit that they receive by using these tools. As stated, previous intranets where bogged down by manager suggested content and limited to change or discussion since they were also structured in very formal ways. No more though, because the network effect that drives these tools (Enterprise 2.0) becomes apparent when more and more people use it. The system inadvertently becomes better, sexier and smarter when more employees choose to use and contribute to it, making it a growing and modern platform with the most recent and relative information right at the fingertips of the employee. Now more than ever, employees can see what other departments are focusing on, what the status of the project is (important information to them) and what Sally in accounting thinks about the new tax-law and how it should be applied to everyday working activities. Employees also gain informational, personal and social benefits by using these tools and often managers can receive the benefit that they can really find out how their employees see the company or project as a whole. These tools also serve the purpose of building a feeling of “community” within an organization, where people from different backgrounds and social standing come together in the same collaborative environment and communicate or discuss important aspects or ideas.