Enterprise 2.0 – the application of Web 2.0 technologies in a corporate context – is still in its infancy in Switzerland. The step from leisure activity to productive tool is off to a sticky start.

Read more at Unic.com Magazin…

Via Emilie Ogez.

Via Emilie Ogez News.

Via le bloc-notes de Bertrand Duperrin:

“… Et pourtant la fracture demeure. Les outils sont accessibles, leur manipulation aisée. Que manque-t-il ? L’usage et le sens.

N’importe qui peut publier sur twitter. Mais si vous faites le test sur une population test, quel pourcentage vous répondra : “d’accord mais…à quoi ça sert ? Je vois bien comment on fait mais je ne vois pas pourquoi je le ferais”.

Autant tout le monde voyait l’intérêt d’un traitement de texte ou d’un tableau mais peinait à s’en servir, autant tout le monde peut se servir d’une application “nouvelle génération” mais peu voient à quoi elles servent. D’accord il y a des millions d’utilisateurs de ces services. Mais quel pourcentage cela représente-t-il aujourd’hui de la cible potentielle ?

La fracture numérique serait donc aujourd’hui une fracture sociale, non dans le sens que lui a donné en son temps un candidat à la présidence, mais dans la mesure où elle concerne la capacité à s’impliquer dans des dynamiques “sociales” au sens anglais du terme, suivant la logique des réseaux du même nom. Plus que la capacité d’ailleurs, il semblerait davantage logique de parler de capacité à se situer dans ce type de dynamiques pour participer.”

Andrew McAfee:

I’ve had for some time now the vague sense that the iPhone, Twitter, Gmail, Googling, Facebook, Wikipedia, Delicious, and other runaway successes are trying to tell us something about how we want to use technology in our lives and in our work, and if we enterprise technologists listen carefully we’ll hear what that something is.

[...]

I started jotting down some comparisons based on what I’ve seen, read, and experienced for myself, then realized that I was identifying patterns [...] And I thought that in best 2.0 fashion I should open up this work early in the process by posting an initial set of patterns, seeing if they resonate with people, and asking for further contributions.

Read more on Andrew McAfee’s Blog…

Despite their relative newness, companies are embracing Web 2.0 technologies such as social networking tools, blogs and webcasts for internal communications and as part of their overall technology mix, according to a new survey by Watson Wyatt, a leading global consulting firm.

Watson Wyatt’s 2009 HR Technology Trends Survey found that since the economic downturn began, 72 percent of employers have increased their use of the intranet and 61 percent have increased their use of e-mail to communicate with employees. Employers are also using newer tools – a third (32 percent) have increased their use of webcasts; 13 percent have increased their use of social networking tools; and 12 percent have increased their use of blogs for communication. Watson Wyatt’s survey was conducted in February and March 2009 and includes responses from 181 large employers.

“Web 2.0 technologies work well, in most instances, for targeting specific employee and manager groups, and companies are using them in appropriate situations. Using tools such as role-based portals, internal blogs and webcasts ensures that both managers and employees can send and receive tailored messages in an engaging format. This is useful for improving productivity and maintaining employee morale and engagement, particularly in this difficult economic time.” Jon Osborne, senior technology consultant at Watson Wyatt

Read more…

Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein have just written The Twitter Book, a 240-page guide to making the most out of Twitter. The hard copy won’t be out for a little while, but you can buy the PDF right now for $15.99.

This colorful guide will teach you everything you need to know to quickly become a Twitter power user, including strategies and tactics for using Twitter’s 140-character messages as a serious–and effective–way to boost your business. Co-written by Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein, widely followed and highly respected Twitterers, the practical information in The Twitter Book is presented in a fun, full-color format that’s packed with helpful examples and clear explanations.

Via Boing Boing.

Technologies known collectively as Web 2.0 have spread widely among consumers over the past five years. Social-networking Web sites, such as Facebook and MySpace, now attract more than 100 million visitors a month. As the popularity of Web 2.0 has grown, companies have noted the intense consumer engagement and creativity surrounding these technologies. Many organizations, keen to harness Web 2.0 internally, are experimenting with the tools or deploying them on a trial basis.

Read more at The McKinsey Quarterly…

In a Garner briefing in Stockholm last week, Mark Raskino, VP and Gartner fellow in the Emerging Trends group of Gartner Research, gave a talk about “Business, IT and the Recession”:

“CEOs need new ways to strengthen culture, values and trust as relationships of all kinds are stress-tested [...] Human decision makers made frail by the speed of the programmed & connected world.”

As a consequence of this business trust issue, Gartner sees real possibility of business taking the social web / Web 2.0 seriously.

Via The Content Economy.

Gartner’s Mark McDonald said in a recent interview that the coming year will be a rocky one for CIOs, with a lot of pressure to demonstrate that technology projects are delivering lots and lots of ROI. If ROI is non-existent or too low, the technology is out — along with the CIO that approved it.

However, Web 2.0 technologies and methlodologies will remain above this carnage — because they often cost little to implement, and because they foster new means of collaboration at a time when it’s greatly needed.

Read more at The FASTForward Blog…

The Economist Intelligence Unit reported that Web 2.0 has moved from buzzword to reality in many of the world’s largest corporations. They conducted a survey of 406 senior executives worldwide and found that 79% of respondents see the collaborative web as a way to boost revenues and cut costs. They said that, perhaps the most interesting finding is that a full 85% of C-suite executives see the sharing and collaboration aspects of Web 2.0 as an opportunity to increase revenue and/or margins, versus 75% of middle management. Nothing like having top down sponsorship delivered to a largely already convinced group of middle managers. This top down effect also extend to the view that Web 2.0 is transformative, affecting all parts of the business (35% versus 28%) and is making a significant impact on the company’s business model (41% versus 22%).

Read more at The FASTForward Blog…

Forrester Research has published a new report on the state of wikis, blogs, social networking, and other new tools in the enterprise: Forrester TechRadar™ For Information & Knowledge Management Pros: Enterprise Web 2.0.

No longer new, Web 2.0 technologies solve problems that enterprises have today - but most have not yet used these tools to anywhere near their potential. Waiting for tools to mature seems prudent, but if you wait too long, employees may create their own collaborative environments on the Web. Timing your next move requires you to track the maturity of enterprise Web 2.0 technologies. In a careful examination of the marketplace and trends for enterprise Web 2.0 tools, we reveal that organizations find wikis valuable, forums stable (though underutilized), and report mixed success with blogs. Enterprise social networking tools stand ready to redefine workplace collaboration, adding new value to your organization’s content by associating it with peers and experts.

For more on this, check out the teleconference Forrester hosted on Monday with two of the report’s authors, analysts Gil Yehuda and Oliver Young.

Via Grow Your Wiki.

Cone just released its 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study showing that almost 60 percent of Americans interact with companies on a social media web site, and one in four interact more than once per week.

According to the survey, 93 percent of Americans believe a company should have a presence in social media, while an overwhelming 85 percent believe a company should not only be present but also interact with its consumers via social media. In fact, 56 percent of American consumers feel both a stronger connection with and better served by companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.

When asked about specific types of interactions, Americans believe:

• - Companies should use social networks to solve my problems (43%)
• - Companies should solicit feedback on their products and services (41%)
• - Companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand (37%)
• - Companies should market to consumers (25%)

Read more…

“The most common problem with top-down efforts is that businesses simply roll out the technology and assume everything else will take care of itself. Usually what happens in these cases is an email goes out to workers announcing the new corporate Wiki, traffic to the Wiki spikes in the hours after the email, and then you see an immediate dive off a cliff. The technology might be great, but it isn’t solving a problem by itself.

A corporate Wiki won’t work unless it contains information that helps people, which could be as simple as a list of restaurants near the office. That’s the key to the grass-roots projects - at least the ones that succeed. They become a source of information that people didn’t have or no where to find. And usually it’s the person with the pain that can best imagine the cure.”

Via The Wall Street Journal.

A new report from Forrester Research, a company that has been closely following the adoption of web 2.0 and social technologies by businesses, now says that their earlier predications about Web 2.0 in the enterprise may have been too timid. Last year, they said that in 2008 I.T. shops would start to take a leadership role in Web 2.0 adoption by business, but this latest report is now debunking the conventional wisdom that I.T. is as skeptical as once thought.

Read more at Read Write Web…

Simply blocking applications means disgruntled staff and missed opportunities. Businesses need to change tack.

Young people entering the workplace see email as slow and have grown up with P2P applications and Web 2.0 technology - yet most businesses are still living in a Web 1.0 world, with security policies to match.

The web landscape has changed dramatically in the past five years. Users have evolved from passive consumers of information to active contributors of content. Blogs, podcasts and RSS (really simple syndication) are being used within the enterprise. Wikis, tagging and web-enabled social networking can improve collaboration among workers.

Read more at SC Magazine…

Pour en savoir plus sur l’adoption du Web 2.0 dans les entreprises, Les Echos ont publié un dossier sur ce sujet.