Productivity in IT - Information Technology for SMEs

Enterprise 2.0: wikis, blogs and Co. - the benefits to business

Have you ever blogged? What do you know about Twitter? Refer to information in Wikipedia, but have not yet dealt with entry? The keywords blog, Twitter, Wiki, Web 2.0, are almost daily in the press. It is now even talk of enterprise 2.0, a new kind of information to knowledge workers in businesses with more interaction, faster communication, better knowledge management and of course a significant leap in productivity by using modern Internet technologies. What is up to the promises, and what measures can be easily implemented in midsize companies

First, a definition of Web 2.0, the less is the keywords to the fore much more than the changes in the way people communicate and handle.

That in itself does not sound too spectacular, but we can send for many years, e-mails in seconds around the globe. What, however, change is the presence and diversity of information that can be published by anyone with access to the Internet and writing skills. An example of this is the last election of the president as the election result was published by one Member says via Twitter from a cell phone, before it was officially read out. Also as with online shopping, you can now find out in very different kinds, to recommend what products and where they can be bought cheap. Thanks to Google there are contributions from satisfied or dissatisfied users who have their insights in a personal blog or described in a user forum. Often these statements are more reliable than flowery prospectus or advertising claims of the manufacturers.

The benefits of new technologies in the specific environment is undisputed, but how can we achieve a benefit in the company, and what is meant by the new Schlagort Enterprise 2.0? Again, the attempt at a definition:

Work processes in larger organizations often have a tendency toward complacency. Once defined and well-functioning processes are not often called into question, and an adjustment is usually associated with great effort and the overcoming of obstacles. Exactly here midsize and small businesses have a distinct advantage. Are they not able to create very quickly the conditions for successful exploitation of new technologies. Also, they usually take a pragmatic approach to a new development. It is less a strategic long-term planning with a defined budget and calculated return on investment to leave, but a feeling for trends and successful entrepreneurial courage, familiar terrain. Ideal conditions, to successfully introduce Web 2.0 technologies.

BLOG versus Newsletter

If your marketing department newsletters or circulars uses to inform regular customers, a company-BLOG it be a viable alternative. A newsletter will be sent via e-mail and is now, if often dispatched with a lot of text, rather than a burden and felt "clicked away." A blog is only visited the other hand, if the reader believes the content for relevance and benefit of promises. The acceptability of the content is thus increased considerably.

Also on your side caused the creation of a newsletter, a lot of effort. More content to be gathered and processed editorially, and for the shipping address is often an adaptation of material required. Not so with a blog: The latest information, for example, a product innovation can be immediately put little effort into the net. By specifying categories or keywords (called tags) can the reader find relevant information quickly. And a reader forwarded a link to a blog article, you learn it automatically through so-called pingbacks. You can add items at any time and rework.

WIKI - Use Wikipedia for corporate knowledge

A wiki (Hawaiian: fast) allows the rapid collection and modification of information, similar to know many Internet users of Wikipedia ago. If your business teams collaborate on projects, get next to the phone conversations and e-mail for communication. An additional WIKI provides a very easy way to gather information on project topics and use as a team. Moreover, the information available to users outside the project team available and can easily be used for future projects related species. WIKI basically all users have the option of text and information was very easy to set or change to the. Due to the simplicity of the barrier decreases, contributing relevant information. Finally, a wiki works as a knowledge base but only if it is already established a culture of information exchange and the proactive disclosure within the company.

Some advantages of a corporate WIKI

• Automatic versioning
• Author and date of creation / modification automatically stored
• Linking of related information very easily through links
• Benefit increases with the number of active users and messages ( "All for All" instead of "One for All")
• Processing in the Web browser very simple, immediate release

At this point, may be of some managers to ask whether indeed there can be really good if everyone can write and distribute all content. This makes it possible, at least in theory, that will be gathered nonsensical or incorrect content. Most of WIKI-systems allow the creation of a permitting process, allowing editors set out to check the content before publication and release. From a release process, however, we recommend in most cases. The success of Wikipedia lies in the fact that the entries can be handled as easily and by anyone. Incorrect data are simply eliminated by the mass of the agent again, and usually stay only a few minutes running. Also, most users are glad to pass your knowledge and want to set reasonable and appropriate content, so it makes sense to build any publication hurdles. If it is generally encouraged in the company's active Wissenweitergabe and as many employees in building the WIKI are involved, increases the quality of contributions and hence the value of a company-WIKI rapidly. In addition, an automatic version control is always impossible to know who has what information when stopped or changed. This also helps if there are any questions on specific content.

Twitter - "talkin 'on the Internet

Twitter is also known as "microblogging" means service and allows the sending of short messages on the Internet, similar to an SMS via a mobile phone. However, they usually send a text message to exactly one person, while a Twitter message (a so-called "Tweet") can theoretically be read by any number of readers. Here, only those who receive their message, have themselves decided to compare them as so-called "follower" (with subscribers) to follow. So you do not decide who is reading something, but your readers. This crucial difference leads to the interesting content is often read and forwarded, and can spread as possibly a breeze. The best example was the air crash in Manhattan. Getting information from the accident were circulated not by journalists, but through Twitter.

Thus Twitter is almost constitute a kind of real-time information and is suitable whenever highly topical information must be provided. For example there is a service that will be broadcast on the delays Deutsche Bahn trains on Twitter (http://twitter.com/db_info) or various Traffic Report for highways (eg http://www.freiefahrt.info/staumeldungen-twitter) . Unlike other information services must provide at Twitter, but everyone has an opportunity to provide information online. Twitter was originally conceived as a "social network". You share with his friends and acquaintances, what we are doing, similar to Smalltalk. In this form it is also used by many. Very often, however, develop hybrid forms: it communicates what it just makes ( "just wait for my flight to Hamburg), sends interesting information from the Internet as a link (" Interesting blog on knowledge management at http / / .... " ) or "goes on to say what others have said - getwittert respectively.

Monetizing Twitter?

What opportunities are here for a meaningful use in companies, can now only imagine. One company - Dell - already making money with Twitter. Through its Dell Outlet Dell sells exclusive promotions, which are only available via Twitter () http://mashable.com/2009/06/11/delloutlet-two-million/. Our advice: a taste pure, and set himself an account of having http://www.twitter.com. Looking for interesting twitterers and follow you. Find out for yourself the opportunities offered and what the business models now. Through our Twitter presence (http://twitter.com/dirkloehn) we could at least have the number of visitors at our company blog to increase significantly. Rely on your common sense and do not let the self-appointed online marketing experts and social network specialists confuse success with your promises. Here, it is sometimes difficult to separate the chaff from the wheat. A big mistake would be not to deal with Twitter to communicate but a growing portion of their future audience via Twitter.

The next steps

The coming years will be characterized by innovative developments in the Internet. Sun is already talk of Web 3.0. This does not mean less than the capacity of computers, the content in a semantic web to understand and correctly assign each other. The provision and dissemination of knowledge becomes more and more easier. Future capabilities of computers to interpret such knowledge, can only be guessed at.

More information

Wikipedia provides a good entry on the page http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semantisches_Web. These approaches range well beyond the current practical applications in business also. Nevertheless, they can guess where you are heading. If you have questions about the topics covered in this article and want to introduce knowledge management practice and result in your company, we look forward to your comments or contact.

Tags: Twitter, Enterprise 2.0, Web 2.0, Web 3.0, WIKI, Knowledge Management