Sam Middler's Enterprise 2.0 Blog

XWiki

n6372937 — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 12:18:29 +0000

There has been a lot of discussion across this subject’s blogs regarding the use of internal wikis for businesses. During my researching (see: Google) I have come across a wiki platform known as XWiki. “XWiki is a young innovative enterprise created in 2004 and was visionary in the use of wikis. Either you are an enterprise or a community, our professional solutions will answer to your every collaboration need. With thousands of enterprises using our products, XWiki is the leader of collaborative Open Source solutions for enterprises.“[1] Essentially XWiki tout themselves as the leaders in collaborative Open-Source solutions for enterprises.

They currently provide software solutions for creating and managing different types of wikis…

There are many benefits when using Open-Source software, and I’m impressed to see people taking the initiative to produce Enterprise class Web 2.0 solutions that are community supported and driven.

[1] CubeTree – Accessed 13/10/09:
http://www.xwiki.com/xwiki/bin/view/About/

~Sam

CubeTree

n6372937 — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 18:36:08 +0000

Throughout my blogs I’ve discussed the use of social networking applications within the scope of Enterprise 2.0. Today I stumbled upon CubeTree. But what is CubeTree?…”CubeTree is a free enterprise collaboration suite that delivers social networking features like profiles and microblogging and built-in collaboration tools“[1]

CubeTree’s hosted collaborations aims to help companies create internal social networks within their company or organisation. Users are able to create profiles, blog, produce comprehensive tag clouds to activity feeds, have discussions and create polls. A company’s CubeTree network is completely private and comes with access to enterprise-ready security and administration features. Overall, the applications aims to help employees collaborate better whilst encouraging and fostering a sense of community.

Have a watch of the video below for an great summary of what CubeTree is and how it can benefit businesses:

[1] CubeTree – Accessed 05/10/09:
http://www.cubetree.com/

:D

n6372937 — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 12:12:36 +0000

For something a bit different, here’s a satirical look on Enterprise 2.0….

~Sam

Issues with an Enterprise 2.0 Adoption?

n6372937 — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 10:52:42 +0000

As with all forms of IT implementations, an Enterprise 2.0 adoption has its inherent benefits and issues. A lot of this subject is based around the potential benefits of Enterprise 2.0, so I thought I’d do a little more reading into issues and problems that may arise during an implementation.

One of the main issues that kept appearing was that of fear of change from the employees of businesses looking to incorporate E2.0 tools into their everyday operations. You may also find that specific personality types will be inclined to reject an E.20 adoption due to the fact that it encourages open knowledge and collaboration. This problem mainly relates to the type of people that are not open to the idea of equal importance of employees across an organisation.

There is large concern regarding privacy (both personal and corporate) issues when using Web 2.0 applications. Most people have become familiar with email and telephone conversations,both of which are private between the parties involved. With Web 2.0 tools like social networking applications, forums and wikis, users openly post their ideas and opinion so that they can be seen by the public. This sharing of knowledge may be intimidating for people who prefer privacy and directness when liaising with other employees.

A Forrester study which has been used earlier in my blog postings reveal that “90% of surveyed IT professionals and security decision makers reported that they are at the least “very concerned” about related threats and may have made the leap into these technologies without thinking about the security consequences“[1]

An excellent article can be found here (http://crmweblog.crmmastery.com/2009/03/5-key-it-issues-for-successful-enterprise-20-implementations/) that discusses the IT implications that must be considered before setting out on an Enterprise 2.0 implementation within a company.

[1] SAAStream, Enterprise 2.0 – Accessed 24/09/09:
http://www.saastream.com/my_weblog/2008/02/enterprise-20-f.html

[2] CRM Mastery, 5 Key IT Issues – Accessed 24/09/09:
http://crmweblog.crmmastery.com/2009/03/5-key-it-issues-for-successful-enterprise-20-implementations/

~Sam

Google Wave

n6372937 — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:52:04 +0000

What is Google Wave I hear you ask? As Google describes it, “Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation
and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.“[1]

Google seem to have summed up the application pretty nicely. Essentially, Google Wave is a free online “cloud-computing” application that allows multiple users to collaborate and communicate through the use multiple mediums all in real-time. I am currently involved in a group assignment for another university subject, and we as a group have decided to try out Google Wave over Google Docs for our collaboration platform. Thus far I’ve been very impressed with how well it works (apart from the occasional time-out or runtime error, but at least Google provide witty and funny error messages!). Because the application update in real-time, it is a very useful tool to use when multiple people are required to work on the same document at the same time. The application itself is currently in beta testing, and I highly encourage anyone that receives and invite to check it out!

[1] Google, Google Wave – Accessed 13/09/09:
http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html

~Sam

What is a wave?

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.

Global Brandings

n6372937 — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 14:10:19 +0000

Through reading other student’s Enterprise blogs I managed to come across a few very interest links this week. One in particular that caught my eye was a ranking of the “best global brands”, a list of which can be found here: http://www.interbrand.com/best_global_brands.aspx?year=2009&langid=1000

Shown below are the top for “best” Brands in 2009 and their estimated value:

The interesting aspect of this data is that through a quick Google search it can be determined that all top 5 companies utilise some form of Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0 applications or practices within the workplace. This is a clear indication that the use of such technologies is become more widely adopting, even by some of the world’s largest companies and organisations.

[1] Interbrand, Best Global Brands – Accessed 07/09/09:
http://www.interbrand.com/best_global_brands.aspx?year=2009&langid=1000

[2] Information Age, Coco Cola Web 2.0 – Accessed 08/09/09:
http://www.information-age.com/research/650226/coca-cola.thtml

[3] IBM, Leader in Web 2.0 – Accessed 08/09/09:
http://www-01.ibm.com/software/au/web20/

[4] IBM, Implementing Enterprise 2.0 – Accessed 08/09/09:
http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/web/library/wa-enterprise20/

[5] Innovation Creators, Inside Microsoft’s Enterprise 2.0 Battle Plan – Accessed 08/09/09:
http://innovationcreators.com/wp/?p=203

[6] Duperrin, GE, enterprise 2.0 since….1989 – Accessed 08/09/09:
http://www.duperrin.com/english/2009/10/13/ge-enterprise-2-0-since-1989/

~Sam

2009 – The Rise Of Enterprise 2.0

n6372937 — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 09:56:11 +0000

Data collected for the first third of the 2009 has shown that a 1/3 to 1/2 of businesses are currently [or plan to] utilising Enterprise 2.0 tools and practices in the workplace. As we’ve come to learn over the Semester, some of these tools may include wikis, blogs, communication applications and social networking platforms. According to a recent Forrester report, “In 2009, nearly one in two businesses will make use of enterprise 2.0 software…“[2]

Another interesting statistic is that “at least 50 percent of organizations will use wikis as important work collaboration toos in 2009“[1]. As this units aims to teach us, its become more and more evident that Enterprise 2.0 implementations are become more popular and widely accepted. These staggering statistics reflect the increasing spread of an Enterprise 2.0 adoption.

[1] ZDNet, The Year of E2.0 – Accessed 04/09/09:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Hinchcliffe/?p=382

[2] Forrester – Accessed 04/09/09:
http://www.forrester.com/Research/Document/Excerpt/0,7211,54277,00.html

~Sam

Web 2.0 as a CRM Tool

n6372937 — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 09:42:07 +0000

I stumble upon an interesting article that discussed the implications of using Web 2.0 applications, in particular that of social networking sites, as a tool for Customer Relationship Management (CRM). CRM are essentially methods that companies use to interact with their customer base. An entire blog with posts detailing information about Social CRM can be found here: http://blogs.zdnet.com/crm/

Social CRM can be used to encourage an active community amongst your customers whilst maintaining a platform to communicate with and server them. At the very least, Social CRM software should be a social environment that provides means for customer participation. Businesses will be able to harness collective intelligence by capitalising on the ideas and opinions shared by their clients.

[1] ZDNet, Using social software to reinvent the customer relationship – Accessed 01/09/09:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Hinchcliffe/index.php?cat=48&submit=view

~Sam

Companies Using Web 2.0? (again)

n6372937 — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:58:16 +0000

In a previous post (http://leethacker.com/blog/?p=32) I discussed how three companies were using Web 2.0 applications to gain a competitive edge. During research I stumble across another fairly interesting examples of how a businesses is using Web 2.0 to their advantage.

New Look is an international fashion retailer with a chain of stores across Britain, Belgium, France, Ireland and the UAE. Through the use of a web-based paper-to-data (P2D) application they have been able to save £700,000 per year. The P2D system automates all of their manual invoice authorisation and processing procedures at a significantly lesser cost than conventional means. The P2D system itself is actually very interesting – basically what happens is invoices/physical documents are scanned and sent to the system as raw images. Data and characters are then extracted from the images and converted into usable information. The company uses this system to automate the processing of new orders from their suppliers and has been extremely efficient and effective.

Web 2.0 Patterns

n6372937 — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 12:13:15 +0000

Tim O’Reilly states that there are eight clear patterns that identify the best principles Practices of Web 2.0. I’ve previously mentioned what the eight patterns are but not what they actually are.

Pattern One – Harnessing Collective Intelligence
This is the most fundamental pattern that basically dictates that applications/system become better the more that people use them. This is achieved by creating an architecture that encourages users to participate either implicitly or explicitly.

Pattern Two – Data is the Next “Intel Inside”
The concept that “data is the next Intel Inside” is very similar to the idea of harnessing collective intelligence in that the more data (opposed to users) the application possesses the more potential exists for success.

Pattern Three – Innovation in Assembly
Web sites are now becoming platforms and platform components in addition to just pure applications. This is an evolution from static to dynamic content and allows platforms to provide data and services.

Pattern Four – Rich User Experiences
Web 2.0 applications are able to provide a rich user experience which engages users by including “desktop-esque” elements in their design. The most common way to achieve this is by implementing an attractive and highly functional Graphic User Interface (GUI) that works similarly to a desktop counterpart.

Pattern Five – Software above the Level of a Single Device
In today’s mobile and wireless age it is important to develop software with cross-platform compatibility to suit different people’s lifestyles. Users want to be able to have a flawless transition between different devices (home pc, mobile phone, wireless internet, internet servers etc.) in order to access their favourite applications and programs.

Pattern Six – Perpetual Beta
The very definition of perpetual beta states that there is no final version. The services on offer is always there, but each component is constantly being improved and upgraded to better suit the needs of the application’s user-base.

Pattern Seven – Leveraging the Long Tail
The basic concept of the Long Tail is that of niche marketing. Traditionally, businesses could only afford to carry the most popular products because of physical factors such as limited shelving space and cost distribution. However, the Internet and the era of Web 2.0 changed that, allowing online businesses to reach the narrow niches which make up the bulk of the Internet’s possible applications.

Pattern Eight – Lightweight Models and Cost Effective Scalability
The era of Web 2.0 has also seen it adopt the notion of applications leveraging the strategy of cost-effective scalability by encompassing lightweight business and development models. In doing this, products can be delivered to the market cheaper and more quickly without interrupting future growth.

Harnessing Collective Intelligence:
Sometimes described as the core pattern of Web 2.0, this describes architectures of participation that embraces the effective use of network effects and feedback loops to create systems that get better the more that people use them.

~Sam