IBM's Web 2.0 Sales Pitch: We're Safer
End users want Web 2.0 apps. IT wants control. IBM says it can satisfy both groups, delivering collaboration tools as good as those in the consumer space—but wrapped in more security. And that combination is striking a chord with customers like the FAA.
CIO — "Under the radar" has taken on a new meaning for Giora Hadar, knowledge architect at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) . That phrase no longer just classifies a low-flying plane; it also describes the grassroots efforts by employees (often younger ones) to bring consumer applications like wikis into work to collaborate on critical projects. These technologies present an unavoidable conundrum for Hadar, and the agency responsible for U.S. air traffic control. "Obviously we need to collaborate," he says. "But security is paramount."
It's a predicament that Hadar shares with many large organizations that are now struggling with how to adopt technologies spawned from Web 2.0—including end-user applications that promote openness, user-friendliness and collaboration. End users gravitate to consumer Web 2.0 tools, commonly available for free online, because they're often the most innovative, thanks to developers who listen to online user feedback and respond quickly. That's one reason that the Web, rather than corporations or incumbent software vendors, has in many ways become people's IT department both at home and in the workplace.
With that in mind, Hadar tackled his Web 2.0 dilemma by turning to what may seem an unlikely candidate: IBM. "They now offer all kinds of collaborative environments like you'd see in the consumer space," he explains. "But they've designed these applications with security built in from the get-go, so that appeals to us."
That's precisely the sentiment that IBM hopes will appeal to thousands of other organizations as the incumbent tech giant competes with Google and myriad startups for Web 2.0 application sales. During the past year, IBM has introduced a slew of collaborative apps to help IT departments meet the demands of rogue users—that is, people who bring in technologies like Web apps that they view as essential to their jobs, but which IT has failed to provide. In February, IBM announced its Connections software, promising to bring some critical Web 2.0 technologies such as blogs and bookmarking into the enterprise. About a month later, it invited analysts, consultants and members of the media to a lab event in Cambridge, Mass., where VPs demonstrated the goods.
To date, IBM's efforts in the Web 2.0 arena may have been overshadowed by the media's obsession with the Google versus Microsoft debate, which has been portrayed as a classic clash of the titans between the "Do No Evil" company of new and the empire of old, analysts say. The excitement around social networking sites like MySpace and Facebook may have also dulled the efforts of the less flashy Big Blue.
