Web 2.0 Goes Corporate

ComputerWorld

— Sue Hildreth

June 04, 2007 -- For Jeff Herrmann, co-director of research at investment company Manning & Napier Advisors Inc., the impetus to invest in Web 2.0 came abruptly late last summer. That's when one of Herrmann’s analysts left the company — and much of his recent research vanished as well. It wasn't stolen — just lost somewhere on the former employee's hard drive, Herrmann says. Jeff Herrmann

Herrmann realized that a wiki — a collaborative Web site to which everyone can contribute content — might have prevented the loss.

2.0 Tools & Terms

What are Web 2.0 applications, exactly? Here are the main types:

Blog. Short for "Web log," a blog is a Web journal that lets users post comments or news. Often, they also let readers post feedback.

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Podcast. An audio or video file distributed over the Internet through RSS or another syndication feed.

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RSS. Really Simple Syndication is a technology that lets users subscribe to feeds that deliver wiki or blog updates or even more general information such as traffic alerts.

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Wiki. A collective Web page that allows users to post or link content without having to use HTML.

Herrmann is among the growing wave of executives to recognize the business value of Web 2.0 tools. Innovations such as wikis, blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts and social software are ubiquitous in the consumer market, and many people have quietly downloaded Web 2.0 tools at work to use on their projects. In a survey conducted earlier this year by consulting firm McKinsey & Co., nearly three-fourths of the 2,847 executives polled said they planned to maintain or increase their spending on Web 2.0 collaborative technologies, for use either externally to communicate with customers and partners, or internally to improve collaboration among employees.

CIOs have concerns about security, governance, IT support and integration of Web 2.0 applications with existing systems. "Web 2.0 is decentralized," explains Schmelzer. "There’s no centralized authority to mandate or control." Major vendors of Web 2.0 tools for corporate use are addressing these concerns, however. They are adding management and security features, and some are assembling these tools into suites that can be implemented and administered as a platform. Meanwhile, more businesses are experimenting with Web 2.0 tools for a wide range of activities, from content management to employee recruitment.

The Case for Web 2.0 Information Management. Honolulu-based Hawaiian Airlines Inc. recently grappled with the problem of how to organize and pare down a glut of content built up over time by customer service staff in airports, at the airline’s call center and on its Web site. The airline wanted to consolidate all that content into one repository that could be easily referenced, searched and updated by the service staff. The solution: a single customer service FAQ on a wiki, using the Web 2.0 features in Micro­soft Corp.’s SharePoint Server 2007. Wikis aren’t the only Web 2.0 tools used for information management.

Networking. The use of LinkedIn Corp.’s networking service saved Jeff Hoffman from making a major hiring blunder last December. Hoffman, CEO of Basho Strategies Inc., a sales training firm in Burlington, Mass., was interviewing applicants for a midlevel business development position. As part of the process of collecting references, Hoffmann sent queries to people listed in the Linked­In networks of the most promising candidates.

The feedback he got on one job seeker was particularly revealing. "Two people responded that she was abrasive, didn’t work well with salespeople and had not had much success in her jobs. But what was really interesting was that one of them was from a company not listed on her résumé," says Hoffman. "The feedback was enormously important, because any new hire exposes us to a big risk. It's arguably the most expensive mistake you can make."

Project Management and Collaboration. Web 2.0 technologies are also being leveraged as project management aids, either alone or as part of larger project management applications. RT Logic, a maker of satellite systems in Colorado Springs, relies on the wiki function in Code­Beamer, a configuration management tool from Intland Software, to document the progress of products in development. James Sullivan, configuration manager at RT Logic, says lightweight wikis are ideal for project collaboration because of the ease with which engineers can add comments. "It's a living document that progresses as the development progresses. It's very flexible and easy to use," says Sullivan. "Since we can back up and see what the history was, it gives us a snapshot of where we've been and where we are now."

Content Publishing. The Discovery Channel’s Educator Network offers Web 2.0 technologies to help teachers share ideas. Among them are Six Apart Ltd.'s TypePad service for blogging, StikiPad Inc.'s StikiPad for wikis, iLike Inc.'s GCast for podcasts, Simulat Inc.'s Vyew live conferencing tool and Yahoo Inc.'s Flickr photo-sharing application. Some teachers who recently went to South Africa and New Zealand as part of the Discovery Educator Abroad project used Flickr to post their photos, for example. "They're tools to communicate with other teachers," says Dembo, noting that Web 2.0 technologies are easy to use. "With these kinds of tools, anyone can jump in."

Inherent Limitations Despite the benefits of Web 2.0 tools, smart corporate users realize that they can’t effectively replace face-to-face and phone contact between people.

Security Concerns There are also lingering concerns about Web 2.0 in the corporate setting. Hawaiian Airlines' Osborne worries that uncontrolled use of wikis and blogs could lead to unsuitable content being distributed. "We’re not going to let people just have a free go at everything. There's liability around that," he says.

So the airline will implement an approval process for creating wikis, as well as employ the security features in SharePoint to control who can post content.

David Osborne, CIO, Hawaiian Airlines

Experts note that it isn't that difficult to set up a controlled Web 2.0 environment. But the flip side is that too much security can negate the benefits of Web 2.0. "If you’re trying to create an open, collaborative community and you lock it down, you won't have one," says Jim Murphy, an analyst at AMR Research Inc. in Boston.

Another issue is that many Web 2.0 applications are hosted services. The idea of having a blog, wiki or even a podcast with private company content on someone else’s server can make executives nervous. Hosted service providers offer security measures, of course, such as SSL encryption, passwords, firewalls, backups and archiving, but if those aren't sufficient, it's often possible to buy the software and bring it in-house.

Here Come the Big Boys Until recently, the Web 2.0 market was dominated by smaller vendors. But the major players have begun adding Web 2.0 capabilities to their existing products. As Web 2.0 becomes part of leading business applications, more organizations are likely to adopt them. According to a recent survey by Forrester Research Inc., large organizations prefer to purchase Web 2.0 products from incumbent vendors. Of the 119 CIOs surveyed, 71% said they would like to buy them from a major vendor, and 74% said they would prefer to get Web 2.0 technologies as a suite.

Support and maintenance is another motivation for buying from a single vendor. "It’s much easier to manage one piece of technology that is integrated and runs on one box," Osborne explains.

Whatever you ultimately decide, the time to start considering Web 2.0 is now. "We’re at the stage where it’s so easy to experiment that it's almost a liability," Murphy says. "You don't want people going down the wrong path with a tool that isn't usable in the long run." The best move that a CIO can make, he says, is to start asking department managers what Web 2.0 functionality they need, and find the common denominators that will dictate which products to purchase. Then make a decision before your employees do.

Hildreth is a freelance journalist specializing in enterprise software. Contact her at Sue.Hildreth@comcast.net. For more about next-generation Web tools in the enterprise, see our Web 2.0 Security special report.