Enterprise 2.0: Do Companies Need It to Survive?
Minor Web 2.0/3.0 & Knowledge Sharing
Essay 2: Enterprise 2.0. Do companies need it to survive?
Z22-D Project Management Business English
Smilena Spasova
Lecturer: M. Adams
09-03-2012
Surviving as a company, no matter being small, middle-sized or large, in today’s unstable economy beset by a severe recession, instability and uncertainty resembles fighting for your life in a battle field. Only those who are more prepared, move faster and more efficient and have strategic advantage over their enemies are the ones who get to keep their lives. Enterprise 2.0 is what is needed for companies to gain and master those skills. It helps them structure and preserve corporate knowledge, cut costs, increase efficiency, enlarge employees and customers’ satisfaction and tap into new sources of innovation and expertise. Combined together, therefore the benefits of using Enterprise 2.0 are exactly what companies need not only to survive, but also to have a lasting advantage over their competitors. Enterprise 2.0 is a term that was first defined by Andrew McAfee 1 in 2006 as a description of how companies use the existing Web 2.0 technologies within their internal and external set of techniques to conduct their business. In other words, it is a combination between the integration of Web 2.0 tools and architecture within enterprises’ structures and processes with a careful consideration of the human element – the culture. Examples for such tools are Blogs, Wikis, Intranet, Discussion Boards, Social Media Platforms, RSS feeds and many more which main goal is to provide users with open space for communication, collaboration, asset sharing, personalization and aggregation. One of the main advantages that Enterprise 2.0 gives to companies is in relation to Knowledge Management. In 1991 Ikujiro Nonaka 2 said: “In an economy where the only certainty is uncertainty, the only sure source of lasting competitive advantage is knowledge.”Companies acknowledge that statement
Essay 2: Enterprise 2.0. Do companies need it to survive?
Z22-D Project Management Business English
Smilena Spasova
Lecturer: M. Adams
09-03-2012
Surviving as a company, no matter being small, middle-sized or large, in today’s unstable economy beset by a severe recession, instability and uncertainty resembles fighting for your life in a battle field. Only those who are more prepared, move faster and more efficient and have strategic advantage over their enemies are the ones who get to keep their lives. Enterprise 2.0 is what is needed for companies to gain and master those skills. It helps them structure and preserve corporate knowledge, cut costs, increase efficiency, enlarge employees and customers’ satisfaction and tap into new sources of innovation and expertise. Combined together, therefore the benefits of using Enterprise 2.0 are exactly what companies need not only to survive, but also to have a lasting advantage over their competitors. Enterprise 2.0 is a term that was first defined by Andrew McAfee 1 in 2006 as a description of how companies use the existing Web 2.0 technologies within their internal and external set of techniques to conduct their business. In other words, it is a combination between the integration of Web 2.0 tools and architecture within enterprises’ structures and processes with a careful consideration of the human element – the culture. Examples for such tools are Blogs, Wikis, Intranet, Discussion Boards, Social Media Platforms, RSS feeds and many more which main goal is to provide users with open space for communication, collaboration, asset sharing, personalization and aggregation. One of the main advantages that Enterprise 2.0 gives to companies is in relation to Knowledge Management. In 1991 Ikujiro Nonaka 2 said: “In an economy where the only certainty is uncertainty, the only sure source of lasting competitive advantage is knowledge.”Companies acknowledge that statement
References: Wiki Service (Spring 2006). Enterprise 2.0: The Dawn of Emergent Collaboration. Referenced on 8 March 2012, at: http://www.wikiservice.at/upload/ChristopheDucamp/McAfeeEntrepriseDeux.pdf Slide Share (12 March 2010). Enterprise 2.0: Knowledge Management – People at the Center. Referenced on 8 March 2012, at: http://www.slideshare.net/TSystemsMMS/enterprise-20-knowledgemanagement-people-at-the-center Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (13 June 2011). Video - enterprise 2.0: where does the value lie? Referenced on 8 March 2012, at: http://www.cimaglobal.com/Events-and-cpdcourses/Events/Enterprise-Web-20-event/Videos-1/ Spigit (unknown). Maslow’s Hierarchy of Enterprise 2.0 ROI. Referenced at 8 March 2012, at: http://www.spigit.com/spigit-blog/maslow%E2%80%99s-hierarchy-of-enterprise-2-0-roi Investopedia (unknown).Power-Distance Index – PDI. Referenced on 8 March 2012, at: http://www.investopedia.com/terms/p/power-distance-index-pdi.asp#axzz1oXVBCP5S Andrew McAfee (2012). About Andrew McAfee. Referenced on 8 March 2012, at: http://nonwork.andrewmcafee.org/ The Economist (16 April 2009). Ikujiro Nonaka. Referenced on 8 March 2012, at: http://www.economist.com/node/13517582 Get Satisfaction (unknown). Customer support. Referenced on 8 March 2012, at: http://getsatisfaction.com/explore/customer-support