I have some fears about enterprise 2.0
by James Robertson
Enterprise 2.0, following behind web 2.0, is certainly getting a lot of visibility at the moment, which in itself is no bad thing.
I have some fears, however, that enterprise 2.0 could easily become yet another fad, bubble or gimmick. It’s certainly being sold pretty hard by quite a few consultants (and
some vendors), and is promising to “change the way the world works”.
Already I’m seeing people get caught up in specific ideas (read-write web, small pieces loosely joined, etc), without really communicating how this is all supposed to work in
practice, particularly within the organisation.
Organisations aren’t going to change overnight. They are the way they are for a reason, and that hasn’t gone away. While new ideas and technologies can provide new solutions, they still need to be fitted into the culture and processes of the organisations we have today.
Few of these challenges are being seriously discussed, and that’s why I’m worried that enterprise 2.0 won’t last beyond another year or so.
Which would be a pity. For the one thing that organisations really need some sustained (and sustainable) innovation around is business processes and information management. The enterprise space has been completely stagnant for at least a decade, and organisations desperately need some change and improvement.
So I hope that what will come out of this is an ongoing focus on innovation (whether radical or incremental), and that we don’t lose sight of that goal in our focus on one particular set of solutions.
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