Web 2.0 Technology

Here’s only some of what the corporate application of Web 2.0 technology may mean:

• Wikis can revolutionize the way companies document policies, processes and procedures. HR policies, sales manuals, and supply chain management processes can be documented in living wikis that evolve over time from input from in-house and external professionals. Why do we need to hire a consultant to tell us how to sell to our customers when we have countless in-house subject matter experts? There are lots of questions like this that can be at least partially answered in wikis – and let’s not forget how wikis could be used for training.

• RSS filters can be used to fine tune information flows of all kinds to employees, customers, suppliers and partners. These custom news feeds can leverage information in almost effortless ways.

• Mashup technology makes it easier to develop applications that solve specific problems – if only temporarily. Put some end-users in a room full of APIs and components and watch what happens. Suddenly it’s possible to combine incompatible pieces into coherent wholes with the complements of companies that understand the value of sharing.

• Blogs can be used to vet ideas, strategies, projects and programs. They can – along with wikis – be used for knowledge management. They can also be used as living suggestion boxes and chat rooms designed to allow employees to vent and contribute in attributable and anonymous ways.

• Crowdsourcing can be used to extend the enterprise via the Web and leverage the expertise of lots of professionals on to corporate problems. If it’s good enough for Procter and Gamble and Dupont it should be good enough for everyone. Got some tough R&D problems? Post them on the Web. The crowdsourcing model could change corporate problem-solving.

• Podcasts can be used for pre-meetings, in-meetings and post-meetings documentation. Repositories of podcasts can contribute to institutional memory and together comprise a rich audit trail of corporate initiatives and decision-making.