Web 2.0 and the Workplace : is the Enterprise 2.0 real?

The next logical step of research concerning the potential impact of Web 2.0 on management education is to question whether the new skills acquired through Education 2.0 are useful on the job market. Can organizations benefit from individuals that are equipped to understand and use web 2.0? What is the outreach of web 2.0 in the corporate world? Is learning web 2.0 really important to gain a competitive advantage on the job market today?

The impact of Web 2.0 on organizations is constantly increasing. New models for doing business and managing teams using the opportunities offered by web 2.0 are gaining influence, and transforming the skill set which is necessary for success in the workplace.

What is the “Enterprise 2.0″?

As former Oracle president Ray Lane puts it, “All these things that are thought to be consumer services [web2.0] are coming into the enterprise.” Changes that are taking place on the digital sphere and fuelled by consumer involvement are increasingly affecting the way organizations do business. The emergence of the “Enterprise 2.0″ model expresses this idea, by referring to web 2.0 principles applied to formal organizations.

As defined previously, Web 2.0 refers to a set of changes in format and practices taking place in the digital sphere and directed towards unleashing the potential of collective intelligence and social interaction.

The “Enterprise 2.0″ is a model of corporate organization and practice which aims at maximizing benefits of the Web 2.0 model – i.e. unleashing the potential of collective intelligence and social interaction – in a corporate environment.

The Enterprise 2.0 concept raises a challenge which is to define how best to use tools and behaviors associated with Web 2.0 as a source of value for organizations. The basic concept behind this challenge is to use an online community which can empower the physical community on which the organization relies. This means getting employees, business partners and customers to use social software (or web 2.0 tools) as a means to collaborate more efficiently. The Enterprise 2.0 uses this online community to empower business collaboration and create value for its business.

One illustration of how social software can be used by companies to empower physical communities can be found in a tool specifically designed to help manage online communities, Workbook. This application – developed as support to a very popular social networking platform (Facebook) provides mainline companies with a technology solution that helps them use Facebook as a professional collaboration tool. (read about it here )

What is the significance of this trend?

“Enterprise 2.0” is yet another buzzword coined by “techies”, so it is legitimate to wonder whether it refers to a trend which is really significant. However when looking closely at business trends today, many signals coincide to say that it needs to be taken seriously.

The impact of Web 2.0

The interest raised around the notion of Enterprise 2.0 amongst most of Fortune 500 companies hints that online communities using web 2.0 tools can be extremely valuable to organizations in the form of increased innovation and productivity. (See Businessweek’s CEO guide to harnessing value of web 2.0.)

The best way to attest for the interest businesses have in the opportunities offered by web 2.0 is to look into which companies technology providers sell these solutions to.

One interesting technology provider to study is Socialtext. Socialtext has sold customisable and secure group-editable web-sites (wikis) to over 2000 organizations throughout the world, some of which are mainline global firms (Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, Nokia, Kodac, Ikea, Kraft).

Jackbe “leverages Web 2.0 technologies to deliver enterprise-class solutions that allow workers to Consume any information from any application“. Its broad range of customers includes companies as diverse as the American Defense Intelligence Agency or Tupperware.

“IBM’s Web 2.0 Goes to Work initiative is already helping businesses apply Web 2.0 technologies across the globe to gain a competitive advantage.”

Much larger technology providers have also recently launched ambitious programs to offer broad portfolios of Web 2.0 technologies to their clients. IBM is proud to declare “has developed a set of solutions under the “Web 2.0 goes to work” program, and now offers clients social networking tools and web 2.0 platforms. Oracle has also launched a program to help organizations “embrace web 2.0″ (view “embracing web 2.0″ online presentation ), and is developing specific web 2.0 tools for its customers.

No clear definition of value, but does it matter?

“Web 2.0 approaches can enable organizations to create community value by tapping the collective knowledge of extended teams”

Evan though IBM seems confident in defining The Business Value of Web 2.0 technology and expecting organizations to follow; the economic value of Web 2.0 seems more ambiguous then some technology businesses would want it to be.

Up to this date, there is no formal documentation that can ‘prove’ ROI of Web 2.0 for companies. The metrics to measure ROI are complex and specific. is only possible to find glimpses of answers to this question, many of which formulated by people who have an interest in fostering the general acceptance of web 2.0 technologies for corporate use.

However it is easier to document the increasing number of companies which – despite the lack of formal documentation on ROI – choose to test and adopt web 2.0 tools.

It is this fact – the interest and investment in Web 2.0 made by the majority of large organizations – that helps us attest that web 2.0 clearly holds great potential for businesses, and peril for those that ignore it. Furthermore the transformation which is taking place drives many organizations to invest in finding ways of adapting their business models to harness this potential.

In most organizations, the question is no longer ‘should we got for it’ but rather ‘when and how’. Each organization needs to adapt, at different scales and at a different pace, to the changes that are taking place in the Web 2.0 Era. In order to do so, they need talented individuals who have the skill to help with this change.

How does it affect the skills required in the workplace?

For management education to determine the value of web 2.0 in their institutions, the question shouldn’t be “how many employers use these tools?” but rather “how many employers would want to employ people that will help drive their organizations towards the Enterprise 2.0?”

It is impossible to clearly state that all large organizations will switch to Enterprise 2.0, or even use web 2.0 tools in their workplace. However it is not too early to say that people who know how an Organization can benefit from Web 2.0 are highly valuable for most organizations.

In the Enterprise 2.0, workers must learn how best to use the online community to produce results and fulfill their mission. The workplace in the web 2.0 Era therefore evolves and it is possible to identify a number of key skills which are necessary for success in this environment.

Literacy Individuals should possess the digital literacy necessary to use with confidence tools that will become increasingly important in the workplace like wikis or social networking platforms.

Benefit from collective intelligence They need to know how and in which situation they can use computer-mediated mass collaboration for problem-solving and have better results then if using traditional media.

Understand the use model Individuals should understand how collaboration works in the digital sphere – when to use a wiki, a blog, a social networking service, and how to get involved in discussions or be able to evaluate and make use of information.

Identify value levers for organizations Leaders need to be able to identify what can be done for businesses to benefit from Web 2.0. They need intelligence of the principles and opportunities behind technology so as to be able to help organizations add value with technology.

These skills echo others that were identified previously as necessary for success in learning with web 2.0 or Learning 2.0. This is a strong argument in favor of Education 2.0, in that it is likely to transmit skills which will become assets in the workplace.

What does it imply for management education?

Considering the outreach of web 2.0 in Business and the existence of key skills which are valuable for success in an “Enterprise 2.0” workplace, Management education should consider adapting. Schools should ensure that their students learn how Web 2.0 functions and how to use it effectively in organizations as this becomes essential for future managers and leaders.

A set of new education practices – which we referred to as Education 2.0 – can be developed to harness Learning 2.0 practices, and help learners acquire skills they will find useful in the workplace.

Next post will address what might be done to implement Education 2.0 in management education.