Communications - December 2010

wikis and blogs help communication, especially collaboration, but I wonder just how much; we have so much to do, and even though Web 2.0 tools are pretty easy to use, they still require time and effort; we already have KM tools and databases that permit us to organize and search; we have CRM tools we’ve invested a ton of money in; we have contractors, vendors, and partners that assist our innovation efforts; and what about the negative impact on security?; we like the CRM aspects of the technologies, but I need to see empirical cost-benefit data before I declare victory.”

˲ • What is your greatest success with Web 2.0 technologies?

Big pharmaceutical company: “The ability to record knowledge and experiences in a single format and location”;

Global chemicals company: “ Internal buzz; everybody likes the new stuff”;

National real estate and mortgage company: “Wikis are being used for training”;

Global IT company: “Using crowdsourcing internally to solve some tough problems”; and

Large financial services company: “Building some RSS filters to better organize information; also using folksonomies to organize data and content.”

Table 3. Expectations by impact area.

To which areas did you believe that Web 2.0 technologies would contribute to most? (Please select all that apply.) Knowledge management rapid application development Customer relationship management Collaboration and communication Innovation Training other (please specify):

Response
Percent
Response
Total
78.9% 60

22.4%

17

44.7%

34

90.8%

69

46.1% 43.4% 2.6%

35

33

2

Table 4. actual impact data.

To which areas have Web 2.0 technologies contributed the most?

(Please select all that apply.) Knowledge management rapid application development Customer relationship management Collaboration and communication Innovation Training other (please specify):

Response
Percent
Response
Total
53.9% 41

17.1%

13

18.4%

14

81.6%

62

21.1% 7.9% 2.6%

16

6

2

˲ • What has been your company’s greatest disappointment?

Big pharmaceutical company: “ Seeing a lot of what I consider to be sensitive information in wikis, blogs, and podcasts”;

Global chemicals company: “IT’s inability to control this stuff”;

National real estate and mortgage company: “No feedback on what it’s good for”;

Global IT company: “Lack of vendor support”; and

Large financial services company:

“The caution of IT.”

˲ • What excites your company most about Web 2.0 technologies?

Big pharmaceutical company: “How easy it is to deploy new, useful technology”;

Global chemicals company: “How we can displace more expensive technologies for much cheaper and easi-er-to-use technologies;

National real estate and mortgage company: “How easy it is to use the new stuff”;

Global IT company: “How open it is”; and

Large financial services company:

“How it extends existing capabilities.”

˲ • What worries you the most?

Big pharmaceutical company: “ Integration with existing technologies”;

Global chemicals company: “ Integration with business processes”;

National real estate and mortgage company: “Support”;

Global IT company: “Intellectual property and privacy, a lot”; and “Security, privacy, IP, and all of the proprietary data that fills wikis, blogs, crowdsourced solutions, podcasts, and everything else this technology makes transparent.”