Fears About Adopting Web 2.0

I think we can all agree that Web 2.0 is coming into the Enterprise, whether the organization is ready or not. The power is shifting to the user and Gartner anticipates that "Consumer Technologies Will Drive the Future of Enterprise IT". So, some decisions need to be made by IT - ignore it, try to pull back control, or anticipate user needs and leverage the "user as the employee".

However, we all know it's not that easy. A recent internet posting described the Top 1o Management Fears About Enterprise Web 2.0 and did a great job of capturing both technical and cultural challenges with adoption. To summarize:

Technical Concerns - Security, Access Control, Information Integrity, Proper Tagging, Training

Cultural Concerns -Monitoring, Legal Dangers, Productivity, Information Management, ROI

That's a lot to consider, isn't it? That's why many industry experts believe this is one of the biggest challenges facing the future of IT (as well as a good blogging topic).

Ideally, enterprises should look to incorporate Web 2.o into core IT strategy in such a way that the tools and solutions do four things:

1. Satisfy user demand for collaboration and participation;
   
2. Allow IT to maintain control;
   
3. Remain secure;
   
4. Demonstrate a measurable return on the investment.

Thus, initiating a Web 2.0 strategy with a blog or wiki may not represent the best opportunity for success. Though it addresses item #1 from above, it falls short in other areas.

Next week, we'll dive deeper into how to create a strategy that addresses all four requirements. Here's a hint - remember from a couple of weeks ago we established that Web 2.0 = Collaboration. In order to "harness the collective intelligence" of the enterprise we need to build an architecture of participation. That means looking beyond the basics (social networks, blogs and wiki's) and focusing on the principles and concepts of Web 2.0.