Secure Enterprise 2.0 Blog

I just read a(nother) great post on ReadWriteWeb, where Sarah Perez says business adoption of web 2.0 is happening right now. Her conclusion echoes Forrester’s message - any business which has failed to get in line, will lose out.

Interestingly enough she points to a recent 60 Minutes story that focuses on how Millennials are changing the corporate culture –

It’s fascinating to watch, and bit quirky to see how “old media” tries to cover a “new-media” phenomenon. In my opinion, the report slightly exaggerates when describing parents’ involvement in their kids’ professional world. But the underlining message is spot-on – the Millennials are coming!

It’s great to finally see that businesses are coming to the same conclusion – in order to retain and attract the incoming tech savvy workforce, and encourage collaboration and increased productivity, Web 2.0 should be shown through the coveted corporate front doors.

In fact, Gartner has just announced the top ten disruptive technologies to affect business over the next five years, and guess what? Social software and social networking, which are just a couple of elements in Enterprise 2.0 toolbox, are on the list.

Like it or not, it’s primetime for Enterprise 2.0

Gartner is reporting on how enterprise 2.0 solutions and social applications can actually drive business.

“The opportunity for social software in enterprise or “Enterprise 2.0 technologies” lies in capturing informal customer comments about products, said David Cearley, research fellow at Gartner.”

Socialprise, as it has also been called, is a catalyst for both internal and external innovation. Internally, Web 2.0 is lowering the fences between employees, business units, teams and organization branches, allowing some to jump right over to collaborate or seek advice and expertise. And when it comes to reaching consumers, the same corporate fences open up doorways for fruitful dialogue between businesses and customers.

Out of these discussions arise innovative thinking and novel solutions.

One pathway for this change is of course the social network, be it MySpace, Facebook, Hi5, or any other popular services. The appeal for these consumer technologies is growing rapidly, with IDC revealing a 191 percent growth rate for social networks in the US in 2007.

Of course, when such powerful social tools make their way to the enterprise, into the “walled garden”, security and privacy concerns often arise. Some organizations prefer to “lock out and lock down“, but social networks are a force that must be reckoned with inside the organization. People simply find ways around these policies - as Stephen Collins says - “If you want to find out what tools your staff are finding most useful at the moment, just go and see what your IT department is blocking.”

Companies need to establish secure environments for Web 2.0 tools in the workplace, and the industry needs to pull together some good minds to address security challenges. One initiative is already under way - The Secure Enterprise 2.0 Forum.

Just keep in mind that at the end of the day it all adds up -

“Enterprise 2.0/Web 2.0 tools aren’t about the technology,” Collins says. “These tools provide an easy-to-use platform for staff, clients and other stakeholders to engage with each other, to share information and collaborate. Failing to allow staff to do their jobs properly with the best tools can cost a big company millions of dollars.”

Think about it.

Yonni