The What and Why of Enterprise 2.0
10 December 2009 Tweet In the Financial Times article, Enterprise 2.0 is vital for business, Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business at MIT, defines E2.0, identifies key properties of E2.0 tools, and outlines potential benefits and risks of E2.0.
E2.0 is something actually new, says McAfee. It is enabled by technologies that were not widely available ten years or even five years ago. He defines E2.0 as companies deploying Web 2.0 technologies such as wikis and blogs, and adopting approaches for team interaction that have emerged from such popular sites as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
E2.0 tools have three properties:
- Easy to learn and use
- Free form, with no pre-defined workflow or central coordination
- Continuously changing patterns and structure emerge rather than imposed
The article does not address security and compliance, which many companies fear. According to McAfee, risks of E2.0 are quite small, because:
- Contributors are identifiable, without a cloak of anonymity
- People are inclined to behave at work, and most do
Recently published annual survey by McKinsey & Co. on what an organization can expect to achieve from E2.0 showed a 20% gain in innovation and 35% increase in access to experts.
E2.0 makes it easier to access knowledge and experts. It brings more resources to bear on an issue than those assigned by “proper” authorities. In essences, access to information and networking effect of E2.0 make solutions superior to those generated by “stand alone” teams.
Lokesh Datta
See Related Posts:
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- What Empowerment? Enterprise 2.0 Meets Taylorism!
- Empowerment: Owning problems, and NOT merely tasks!
- Collaboration isn’t what it used to be! Or, is it?
- Mind the “Collaboration Trap”
- Effective Collaboration Is More than Deliverables
- A Taxonomy of Collaboration Tools
Reader Comments (1)
First of all let's define what McAfee calls E 2.0. It is Web 2.0 but only for internal use.
Ok, so now I have access to individual experts outside the area of responsibility and they are contributing. Great so I get to improve my productivity 20%+, but what about the expert who has helped me. What about their productivity? It is not their job assist me, they have taken time out of their potentially productive schedule (unplanned resource usage) and used it for something other than their task.
Let's add another layer of complexity. I go outside my area to ask for assistance. That exposes my department and my boss to our issues. Not sure many supervisors would be interested in hanging out their dirty laundry for all the company to see. Not that we have to be secretive, but if you expose you boss (etc.) to this type of publicity then you might be in for some interesting workdays.
I just don't buy it.