What's in a word and is this really a new version of the enterprise?
by
Charlie Bess
In Optimize magazine, there was an article about new media techniques in the enterprise. This month there was a debate about what they are calling Enterprise 2.0 (new media techniques in the enterprise) and if it dumbs-down the organization.
Frankly, I was a bit bewildered by the whole premise that these techniques constitute "Enterprise 2.0." Granted they are all techniques that should improve collaboration across and between organizations. This is an important factor in this more flattened global environment many people work, but to call it Enterprise 2.0 is a bit pretentious. The thought that better communications techniques dumb-down the whole environment was a bit condescending.
I’d say automated workflow, attention management, having a model based enterprise and enabling the enterprise to respond to events rather than having people embedded in “standard” process is a better view of what would be an “Enterprise 2.0.” Wikis, blogs… have more to do with enabling the employees to support the enterprise needs rather than a whole new version of the enterprise. These tools are more about enabling a new social structure and culture than a new enterprise. Maybe I view it that way because I am into automation...
When Andrew McAfee wrote his original entry defining Enterprise 2.0, it seemed to be accepted rapidly by the blogging community. On the other hand, it does make me question how much of our economy’s enterprises base their revenue stream on blogs, wikis and other techniques. It just seems to devalue the word “enterprise” to me.
