Six Lessons for Succeeding in Enterprise 2.0

The mandate has come down from on high that your organization needs some Web 2.0 tools. However, since you are tasked with implementing Web 2.0 technologies internally, what we are really talking about is Enterprise 2.0.

So you figure you will just throw up a wiki or setup a forum and call it a day, right? Wrong. There’s some thinking that needs to go into this implementation if you really want it to be successful, and these six lessons will help you understand how to approach Enterprise 2.0.

In his blog: Trends in the Living Network, Ross Dawson offers us a sneak peak at his opening keynote at the Enterprise 2.0 conference in Sydney by listing six valuable lessons for how to succeed in Enterprise 2.0.

Make Governance an Enabler

Dawson believes that most organizations are slow to adopt Enterprise 2.0 tools because they are uncertain of the implications. Therefore, governance is critical to helping management insure the technologies are implemented, monitored and supported properly.

Furthermore, it’s also important that governance does not stifle the participatory nature of these tools because participation is what creates value for the enterprise.

Start from Business Applications, Not Tools

What’s the sense of implementing a blog, wiki, or social network if they aren’t supporting a business solution? Think in terms of a business problem and it’s solution, and then think about the type of tool to put in place to provide that solution. (CMS Myth, anyone?)

Make Work Easier

The goal of any technology is to make life easier for workers. If the Enterprise 2.0 tool that you propose doesn't make employees more productive and more efficient, no one will use it and you will have some explaining to do.

Build Strategies at the Architecture Level

Implementing technologies like Enterprise 2.0 requires participation and direction at the Enterprise level. The organization should work hard to develop an enterprise business strategy that outlines their needs along with a roadmap to grow their business.

Layered with the business roadmap should be a technology roadmap that outlines when and what type of technology needs to be implemented at each stage. Enterprise 2.0 technologies are no exceptions to this rule.

Allow Users to Experiment

Dawson says “Enterprise 2.0 is founded on end-users being able to adapt the tools, processes, and working to something that suits them.” So letting your users experiment and try different things helps them find ways to make the technology work for them (or not).

The rising generation of knowledge workers are accustomed to web applications like Gmail, Google Docs, Facebook, and MySpace. They are just as comfortable with a cell phone as they are with a laptop.

If your tools don't offer a familiar experience, they will find an organization who gets it.

Create Pilots that Yield Useful Lessons

Pilots enable us to try things to see if they can really work without implementing the entire solution and finding out after the fact. They let us try different things because as Dawson says, no one has got it right yet.

In order to create value, we need to test drive a portion of the solution and tweak as necessary until we get it right.

Now let’s be honest, these six lessons can be applied to more than just Enterprise 2.0 implementations. They’ve been outlined in so many places as key lessons for implementing content management, portals, and lots of other technologies.

The key things to walk away remembering:

• Technology is an enabler
• Governance before the fact is critical
• The Pilot – It’s a good thing
• It’s about the end-user, stupid

Six Lessons for Succeeding in Enterprise 2.0

The mandate has come down from on high that your organization needs some Web 2.0 tools. However, since you are tasked with implementing Web 2.0 technologies internally, what we are really talking about is Enterprise 2.0.\n\nSo you figure you will just throw up a wiki or setup a forum and call it a day, right? Wrong. There’s some thinking that needs to go into this implementation if you really want it to be successful, and these six lessons will help you understand how to approach Enterprise 2.0.

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