The Future of the Web: Beyond Enterprise 2.0

These are just some main points I picked out of the HBR article for this week:

"Looking ahead to the next year or two, what do you think are some of the most important ways in which the Web — and in particular so-called Web 2.0 technologies — will continue to change the way business is done?"

I like how they speak about the transformation from what the Internet used to mean to business (cost cutting) and what its new use is (collaboration). They also point out potential risks associated with Web 2.0. They use the example of wikipedia and how people can post information on wikipedia that isn't true or accredited.

"One place where we’ve seen Internetbased collaboration work effectively is
open-source software development. Is that an interesting model for how this type of collaboration might play out in other industries?"

It's interesting to think about how many people post on these under their own free will. Nobody is requiring them to share their opinion, but they just want their opinions to be heard. This shows how useful this technology can be for businesses. Instead of business passing out surveys and making consumers feel that they have to fill it out, now forums are available for consumers to give their thoughtful opinions under their own free will. This may lead to more in depth analysis of products.


"Let’s talk a little bit about the process of how the good material — good content, good ideas — can filter up."

It's also interesting how wiki's can force people to be helpful instead of harmful because of editing. The example is used that a person can spend 6 hours editing a current post that can just be changed back to the original in one click.

"What would your advice be to managers about adopting Web 2.0 tools within their organizations?"

The suggestion that the article gave is to look at the current infrastructure. This makes sense to me because there are so many new tools available that a company can use that may be more efficient than what they are currently using.

" Which technologies, specifically, do you think are the low-hanging fruit for corporate executives to consider?"

The interviewees claimed the low cost and low risk methods such as wikis and blogs to test the waters. This lead to the idea that just because the technology is set up, that people are automatically going to use it. This made me think of oncourse and this class. Oncourse has had the capability to have blogs and wikis for almost a year now, and personally, I haven't used this feature until this class. I haven't had any incentive to because my teams could easily meet outside of class.

"So they’ve essentially viewed their core competency as managing their community."

This question came up as the two interviewees were speaking about how there can be boundaries on who uses the technology and how companies use the suggestions given. This basically spoke about a healthy balance between centralization and decentralization. This makes sense because not every decision needs to be commented on by everyone in the organization and not every choice made by management is a good choice every area of the business.