The ECM industry has reached another milestone – Enterprise 2.0. Now before you get the impression that I am among the many that position Enterprise 2.0 as the next big disruptive technology, one that will redefine business – read on. If we listen to some of the more vocal pundits, such as Andrew McAfee, we are led to believe that collaboration is a whole new concept in business. Or maybe the aspect of Enterprise 2.0 that is "revolutionary" is the proactive approach to building communities online. Well, neither is new. Indeed, I, among others, have been talking about the virtues of collaboration and social network analysis for many years. In my many writings and lectures on Knowledge Management, I have positioned collaboration and networking as one of the four primary applications of Knowledge Management, under the label "Intermediation". (See Chapter 2 of my book, Knowledge Management.)
Now before you get the impression that I am dismissing Enterprise 2.0 – read on. There is real value and promise in Enterprise 2.0. It is not defining or introducing collaboration and networking into our business communities, but it is enabling wider, more flexible and less costly approaches to collaboration. Herein lies the real promise of Enterprise 2.0. A new class of tools have emerged that allow us to build online communities with little to no technical skills, with little to now major investments in integration, customization and time. These web-enabled tools allow us to create and link into and participate in far more communities than ever before. What they provide is flexibility, reach and reduced cost. Organizations that have struggled with the "left hand not knowing what the right is doing", have a serious set of tools with which to combat this problem.
So then, why am I not among the radically positive who are shouting the virtues of Enterprise 2.0 from every blog and podium they can get on? Because Enterprise 2.0 is a new set of tools to enable collaboration and intermediation – not invent them. The basic tenets of business and business models are not changed forever. In fact, if these tools are used blindly, without paying attention to underlying needs for knowledge leadership, the environments they build are destined to pale and wither. All communities, whether face-to-face, in an online chat room, or via a blog or wiki require focus/purpose, trust among its members, and management. ( A topic I promise to post more on in the near future.) Enterprise 2.0 will no more revolutionize business than the internet. Oh sure, web-based commerce has had a serious impact on business – but need I use the "dot-bomb" word to reminds us of the reality of that "revolution"?
A word of realism here – Enterprise 2.0 is innovation sure – but it is a little i not a big I. (I will write more about innovation management and the concept of big and little I in the near future.) All too often analysts and "inventors" want us to think that new technologies are disruptive and revolutionary. These individuals seem to think that innovation must be huge (the Big I), in order to have real value. In reality, many valuable and lasting innovations are incremental changes to existing technologies and practices (the little i). That is the case with Enterprise 2.0. Innovative, yes. Valuable, yes. Lasting, yes. Totally redefining community and business, no. It’s a tool set that enables faster, wider and more flexible communities, a function of knowledge management.
I am not alone in my thinking – thank goodness. There are a handful of analysts and knowledge management "gurus" who see Enterprise 2.0 for what it is - "a little i." I was most encouraged by the debate at the recent Enterprise 2.0 show in Boston, between Tom Davenport and Andrew McAfee. Davenport did a great job, I believe, in positioning Enterprise 2.0 along the lines of this blog posting, and succeeded in getting McAfee, credited with coining the term Enterprise 2.0, with admitting that Enterprise 2.0 will not likely transform most companies.
