Web 2.x Blog

Is Enterpise 2.0 all about blogs and wikis? Well, depending on your understanding, some of you may think this is the case.

As an Enterprise 2.0 consultant, Blogs and WIKIs are always the first items on the plate when someone consults me about Web 2.0, as they are the easiest and simplest to understand among others. I normally refer to Wikipedia, and the various blogs out there.

After that, they would ask you “So what is the value of a Blog and WIKI?”

As much as you like to evangelize your client about the goodness of collective action and collective intelligence, companies will argue that they have been making money without harnessing these business concepts since ages. However, time is changing. According to the great book of Wikinomics, “mass collaboration” will redefine and challenge what traditional businesses deem “the heart and gold” of conducting a business (e.g. IP and trade secrecy). The concept of open and mass collaboration in Wikinomics argue otherwise.

So back to the fundamental question, how does a E2.0 consultant sell the powerful concept of blogs and wikis to the enterprise? I believe the following value proposition must be made to make a successful sale :-

1. Abstraction on the powerful idea of value co-creation through open collaboration (across all value chain and total business) through blogs and wikis.
2. Collective Intelligence that lead to an overall Organizational Memory.
3. Capture of tacit information exchange which can be more useful than structured formal information published within an enterprise.
4. Blogs and Wikis are not all about DEMOCRACY, but security and control of information flow can still be managed at appropriate times (such as Clearspace’s “spaces” concept).
5. Improve customer relationship and satisfaction through point 1, where customers constantly assist enterprises in co-creating the product through a collaborative platform. Customers ARE always RIGHT.
6. Stay ahead of the competition through harnessing all the thoughts and ideas within the business instead of a selected few “specialists”.
7. Stay ahead of the competition by innovating value (value innovation as explained in Blue Ocean Strategy) through mass collaboration with the public to build and give the public what they want.
8. <insert here>

If you are an established E2.0 practitioner, feel free to share all your wonderful experiences here.

Tags: Enterprise 2.0