As consumer internet products and services become ubiquitous and are adopted widely by a mainstream audience, the trickle effect of Web 2.0 into enterprises is avalanching into a wave that is becoming stronger by the day. Many organizations had earlier been skeptical about the ROI on using Web 2.0 tools across the enterprise. However, with grass-roots adoption by on-the-ground staff to improve productivity, collaboration and knowledge-sharing, and results that are building over time, enterprises are willing to invest more on Web 2.0 technologies. In fact, a recent report by Forrester Research is predicting that enterprise spending (currently at around $1 billion) on social networking tools, mashups, and RSS is going to increase dramatically to $4.6 billion by the year 2013. Some of the largest ISVs in the enterprise space have been integrating Web 2.0 technologies into their products for some time now. Microsoft’s SharePoint collaboration features, IBM’s Lotus connections, mashup products and upcoming Quickr and SAP’s Business Suite which includes social networking and widgets are some examples. However, many of them are limited in their cross-boundary integration abilities. On the other hand, stand-alone commercial Web 2.0 software companies that cater to Enterprise 2.0 users like Communispace, Newsgator Technologies, Six Apart and Jive software have their own USPs and are holding their own in this emerging enterprise marketplace. At this point it is difficult to tell who will win out – the platform/suite players or the niche pure-play Web 2.0 vendors. One thing is for sure: those who address the problems of interoperability and integration of these new technologies with legacy systems, identity management and security, will be benefited the most. Featured articles Enterprise 2.0 to become a 4.6 billion industryEnterprise 2.0 |
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