Enterprise 2.0 Generational Divide Largely a Myth
Older workers champion Web 2.0 as often as younger counterparts.
However, none of the boomers think Enterprise 2.0 is "imperative" to success, or a must-have, in other words. One out of 10 Gen Xers call Enterprise 2.0 an imperative to having success, and 6 percent of millennials agree.
The biggest differences found by AIIM are based not on age but corporate culture. Organizations are more likely to bring Web 2.0 inside the firewall when they are already devoted to so-called "knowledge management" principles such as information sharing, user empowerment, distributed decision making and open collaboration.
But few organizations are approaching Web 2.0 with any kind of strategy. It's common for an executive to say "I hear a wiki is cool, let's do that," Keldsen notes. "That's not a great approach."
The biggest obstacle is lack of education and understanding, but slow progress among vendors is frustrating early adopters, the AIIM researchers said.
Vendors were eager to demonstrate new and updated products at the show, taking place June 9-12. At least a dozen vendors made announcements, including Microsoft, which is unveiling a podcasting kit for SharePoint; LiquidPlanner, which launched online project management software; and Blogtronix, which is releasing a social media platform called BTX Enterprise.
Socialtext co-founder Ross Mayfield discussed his company's product SocialCalc, a spreadsheet designed for collaboration. But the Web 2.0 conversation has to be elevated beyond the types of tools you use, Mayfield said during his presentation. Wikis, blogs, RSS feeds, social bookmarking and mashups are all well and good, but they need to be used to enable business processes and improve productivity, or users will end up with "a thousand dead wikis," he said.
"There are different ways to apply these tools rather than just deploying them freely as a service, which I do encourage," Mayfield said. "It can't just be about knowledge sharing. It has to be about solving problems. Let's talk about solving problems and creating opportunities for competitive advantage."
