Business, Meet Web 2.0

I've been toying with the idea of buying a house lately, but I'm scared. Not of spiralling interest rates, or even global economic meltdown. Though I laugh in the face of impending financial ruin, I scream, inside, at the prospect of filling out inscrutable application forms.

I came across the cartoon above by Eric Burke the other day on ExperienceCurve, which illustrates the problem. I'm spoilt with exquisitely simple, tactile design from Apple, with user-friendly apps on Facebook, with Open ID that lets me use the same ID to log on to hundreds of websites and with at-a-click search from Google (though I look forward to more contextual and visual search, as it develops). But, for the most part, when I encounter a corporate digital interface, it’s arcane, requiring me to perform bizarre rites and baffling repetitions.

Staff are equally bamboozled by their own systems. Too often, internal corporate architectures deter employees from doing their jobs effectively, burying data or making it close to impossible to conduct relevant queries. This drains morale out of the workplace, it makes training tricky and it delivers sucky customer service.

Many systems are old, entrenched and expensive to replace. But, their time is up. They've simply got to be overhauled. It's more urgent now than ever because people are getting used to the user-friendly, rapid interfaces of Web 2.0.

Various studies suggest that businesses are increasingly persuaded of the importance of social networking. A survey conducted in December 2007 by IDC reports that 50% of medium to large businesses across the Asia-Pacific region see Web 2.0 as a business opportunity, while around 8% view it as a threat.

Research skewed to the US and Europe indicates an even greater receptivity to business 2.0. Research by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), covering North America (39% of sample), Europe (26%) and Asia-Pacific (26%), indicated that 79% felt Web 2.0 technologies could add to their companies' bottom lines.

But, their conviction too often lacks mettle, or direction, or any tangible output. EIU research suggests that many executives are rather hazy when it comes to the specifics of just how Web 2.0 can help business. For example, just 39% recognised 'tagging' as a way to leverage group opinions and they found it hard to spot practical applications.

Some businesses really do bite the bullet – ABC has created an island for staff in Second Life and Telstra is also present. In 2007, Westpac trialled the virtual world for staff training, The Australian IT section reported. But, such efforts do little to encourage other companies, as virtual worlds are still seen as rather extreme and pointless by many executives.

I suggest, keep it simple, reflect how staff are already using Web 2.0 in their lives and start with social networks.

New 'Social CRM' companies are helping to bridge the gap between social networking and business data, delivering relevant, usable marketing data to help, not hinder, staff. The name of the game is 'social enterprise', or 'socialprise' (or any other witty juxtaposition or combination that might grab headlines!)

Kintera combines online forms with offline data, although its website is, unfortunately, rather complex, with too many options and no succinct positioning. In other words, I gave up and moved on, rather than navigating through the site.

InsideView seems more straightforward, at least the offer is clear from the website. Its SalesView platform helps sales people access both business data and data that's publicly available online. It meshes the information together in a cohesive way, helping sales people spot opportunities and deliver better customer service.

WorkLight brings social networking to internal communications and aims to put to rest corporate security fears. Its Workbook tool is a secure overlay for Facebook, combining Facebook's look and capabilities with the controls needed in a corporate environment. Employees can use Workbook to communicate with colleagues, publish and receive company-related news, create bookmarks and share material exclusively within the organisation.




In addition, WorkLight provides a range of applications that allow staff to perform tasks like filling out purchase orders, or vacation requests, in familiar environments, either on their desktops, or through interfaces like Netvibes, or iGoogle's personalised homepage, which more people are now using in everyday life.

Not only social networks, but online applications and open source, collaborative techniques can now easily be applied in business.

Too many corporate Firewalls are still raining fire and brimstone down upon digital 'invaders' like Facebook, which, they believe, threaten productivity. More than half of the companies surveyed by IDC said they do not allow employees to access typical Web 2.0 services from work – the like of social networks, Internet video and virtual worlds - because they view such services as a waste of the employee’s and the company’s time. (Yet half said they saw Web 2.0 as a business opportunity.)

But, companies would do well to balance the odd wasted minute against the potential gains of embracing the social Web in enterprise.

So, throw down the ramparts and send a virtual hug to the digital world. Or just poke it. But take a look at what's out there. What you don't know can hurt you.