Newsletter Sign-Up

Receive the latest technology news and information.

Web 2.0 Goes Corporate

Tools like wikis and podcasts can provide significant advantages to a business. But CIOs have been slow to embrace these lightweight Web technologies.

By Sue Hildreth

June 4, 2007 12:00 PM ET

Computerworld - For Jeff Herrmann, co-director of research at investment company Manning & Napier Advisors Inc., the impetus to invest in Web 2.0 came abruptly late last summer. That's when one of Herrmanns analysts left the company and much of his recent research vanished as well.

It wasn't stolen just lost somewhere on the former employee's hard drive, Herrmann says.

"After he left, his replacement showed me a stock he thought was interesting. I said, 'Wait a minute; we already researched that stock.'" The analyst who had left had researched the stock thoroughly and developed a strategy about when to buy it. "But do you think we could find that work? No way," Herrmann says. "It was nowhere to be found."

Jeff Herrmann

Herrmann realized that a wiki a collaborative Web site to which everyone can contribute content might have prevented the loss.

Now, Manning & Napier analysts use wikis from Socialtext Inc. to share and store research, commentary and meeting notes. The wiki is organized by industry, such as health care, and then by theme, such as the plight of the uninsured. Content can be typed, pasted or linked into the wiki. Some e-mails or e-mail threads can also be sent directly to the wiki. And all of that unstructured content can be searched by keyword, as well as tagged for subject categories.

2.0 Tools & Terms

What are Web 2.0 applications, exactly?
Here are the main types:
Blog. Short for "Web log," a blog is a Web journal that lets users post comments or news. Often, they also let readers post feedback.

Podcast. An audio or video file distributed over the Internet through RSS or another syndication feed.

RSS. Really Simple Syndication is a technology that lets users subscribe to feeds that deliver wiki or blog updates or even more general information such as traffic alerts.

Wiki. A collective Web page that allows users to post or link content without having to use HTML.
Sue Hildreth

"We like it because it's a peer review system, not a hierarchical system. We work in teams, each covering a sector, so this makes it easier to collaborate," says Herrmann. "We also wanted to do a better job of documenting and saving things that don't get saved, as part of our legal obligations."

Herrmann is among the growing wave of executives to recognize the business value of Web 2.0 tools. Innovations such as wikis, blogs, RSS feeds, podcasts and social software are ubiquitous in the consumer market, and many people have quietly downloaded Web 2.0 tools at work to use on their projects. In a survey conducted earlier this year by consulting firm McKinsey & Co., nearly three-fourths of the 2,847 executives polled said they planned to maintain or increase their spending on Web 2.0 collaborative technologies, for use either externally to communicate with customers and partners, or internally to improve collaboration among employees.

Comment Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Jump to comments

networking and internet

Additional Resources

WHITE PAPER

Do You Know the 7 Steps to Successful Data Migration?

Approximately 60 percent of data migration projects overrun time or budget, while some fail completely. Download this white paper, "Enhancing Your Chance for Successful Data Migration," to learn the critical steps you need to take to execute a data migration project with minimum cost and risk to your business.

WHITE PAPER

Total Cost of Ownership of Server Computing Vs. PCs

Read the Gartner research note to learn why the TCO of a server-based computing deployment used to deliver all applications to users is around 50% lower than that of an unmanaged desktop deployment.

WHITE PAPER

IDC White Paper: Linux in a Global Recession

Economic downturns have a tendency to accelerate emerging technologies, boost the adoption of effective solutions, and punish solutions that are not cost competitive or that are out of synch with industry trends. This IDC White Paper presents the results of an IDC survey of 330 companies in Western Europe, Asia/Pacific and the Americas that measures the receptiveness to Linux and takes into consideration changing views driven by the disruptive economic environment that businesses face today.

What People Are Saying

0 comments | Add new

See all comments (0) | Add new

White Papers & Webcasts

Southern Company
Download Now

Aligning IT to Business: The Rising Importance of Application Delivery Networks
Application Delivery Networking (ADN) will play a vital role in helping enterprises incorporate strategic technologies to achieve business initiatives.

Defending Against the Storm
Download Now

Mitigate Risk, Lower Costs and Improve Network Efficiency
Create a stable IP network that not only meets today's challenges, but is flexible enough to also meet future demands.

Share our Strength
Download Now

Preparing Your Business Services for the Future
Would you trust your network monitoring tools enough to know when something is truly halting a business service?

Why Email Fails: Dell MessageOne Survey of Email Outages
Download Now

IPAM: Slashing Network Costs
Slashing Network Costs by Consolidating and Automating Core Network Services

Essential Archive Requirements for E-Discovery
Register Now!

Horror stories: Managing IT Across Multiple Locations
How one extra sharp IT manager eliminates daily agony, hassle and repetition.

All White Papers | All Webcasts