Enterprise 2.0 on the drive towards social tools in business

Friday, July 10, 2009 | Posted by: Fiona Cullinan
Categories: Business advice, Media sector | Tags: innovation, Twitter, social media, Facebook, podcasts, enterprise, White Paper, blogs, YouTube, wikis, Enterprise2.0

The Enterprise 2.0 Conference spent four days discussing how to put interactive Web 2.0 tools to work in business. But while social tools are an easy proposition for the individual, for companies, they involve a much bigger cultural shift. And while many business leaders realise they need to innovate in corporate social computing, they are either unsure of best practice or finding it tough to get their efforts off the ground.

Hence Enterprise 2.0. The benchmark conference for business and IT professionals looks at problems and solutions for getting connecting in the workplace; how to integrate social tools like wikis, blogs, team spaces and social networks to improve productivity and cut costs within the company.

Question: How is your company faring with bringing in a Web 2.0 toolkit within your intranet?

The answer for many medium to large companies, in particular, is not so well, according to some of the speakers at the conference last week (22-25 June 2009), which took place in Boston, USA. Larger companies tend to operate under traditional ‘top down’ organisational hierarchies, which makes them less agile in adapting to the likes of ‘bottom up’, collaborative behaviours being encouraged by social tools, services and sites, such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, blogs, social bookmarking, podcasts and instant messaging.

It’s true that some companies are innovating towards more collaborative working environments and direct conversation with both consumers and employees, but managing this shift in larger corporate environments can be a difficult business. Even Dell Computers , which is seen as one of the most successful case studies for integrating social media into its business, got off to a rocky start before finding its social media business legs.

Still, while some organisations aren’t convinced of how useful such tools will be, it seems others are trying desperately to implement social tools – or at least dip their toe in the water.

The practical ‘how-to’ of putting social tools to work in business was just one of the many hot potatoes being juggled at Enterprise 2.0. The preparation involved in effecting corporate culture shift was another.

Of course, the wonder of online is that CEOs and business leaders also have virtual access to these discussions. So, if you want to get up to speed with some of the issues, and some of the potential solutions for enterprise, here’s where you can catch up with current thinking:

• Watch the keynote speeches and interviews on the E2 TV channel
• Download the free White Paper: Enterprise 2.0: What, Why and How
• Read the official blog or follow the Enterprise 2.0 Twitter account
• Track the post-conference media coverage
• • Follow the hashtag: #e2conf. You can keep track of the external conversation, thinking and blog posts about Enterprise 2.0, both during and after the conference, by pasting the conference hashtag into search engines, or follow the Twitter monitor here and here
• Follow the hashtags for individual sessions and keynotes – there’s a list of them here. Again paste into search engines to read about case studies and follow thoughts on sessions such as ‘Enterprise 2.0 Reality Check – What’s Working, What’s Not, What’s Next’.