It seems that the Enterprise 2.0 meme has not gained the momentous heights of Web 2.0.
I’ve got my own thoughts around it… To me, the new wave of innovation in the Enterprise (as what the term Enterprise 2.0 implies) is not only in the realms of Knowledge Management. But reading most of the more influential stuff on Enterprise 2.0 (check Technorati out) implies that it’s only about Wikis, Blogs and collaboration.
That, I think, has and will continue to curse the term. Here’s my version of The New Enterprise Landscape (short of writing an whole essay on it - because I’m not as brilliant as Mr. O’Reilly):
- Rich user interfaces (AJAX and what not) and web-based applications in the Enterprise as the de-facto standard.
- A focus towards usability within the Enterprise, and applications that users will actually enjoy using instead of dread using (overheard in my client’s company - A: “So you have to use SAP?” B: “Yup” A: “Condolences” B: “Thank you! You feel my pain!”.
- The adoption of consumer technologies. Blogs, wikis yes… but so much more than that. IM has been around and gaining ground in the Enterprise. Salesforce.com has led the way in integrating Skype into its CRM. Why can’t Google Maps be mashed up into an Enterprise application for instance? Or creating a social network in place of an Exchange or Notes address book? Or consumer search relevance technology for Enterprise search? Or Peer to Peer?
- A shift from large “enterprise” solutions, to small purpose built applications fulfilling single purposes each.
- Shifting workload (or power) from IT departments and senior management to the common worker on the ground - empowerment of the lower levels through technology! That’s going to happen, and management guru-types are already evangelizing empowerment of staff. And the technologies that are going to make that happen won’t be collossal enterprise suites.
- Price correction. Top dollar is paid for top brands right now (SAP, HP, EMC), but the price differential between big brands and mid-tier solutions are at too much of a disparity right now. In the future, it will be much cheaper. Economics demands it, shrinking budgets demands it, but company politics will hamper that since top brands have a lion’s share as reliability continues to be a main concern - and big boys exude reliability whether its real or imagined.
In fact, the shift has already been happening. And it will gain momentum. However, it will gain momentum slowly. After plowing millions into suites, the transformation is going to be slow. It’s kinda like replacing a city with all new buildings. But surely, the Enterprise is undergoing a sea change slow as it might be.
And I want to be there as that happens.
