CIA, Pfizer, Wachovia and Sony execs suggest options for adopting Web 2.0

Computerworld - BOSTON -- Conventional wisdom says that the new Generation Y workforce is demanding access to Enterprise 2.0 tools such as wikis, social networks and other collaboration tools at work, while stodgy, baby boomer executives stifle those requests. In fact, said a panel of executives whose organizations already widely use Web 2.0 tools, the biggest challenge is convincing end users of all ages to use the new technology.

To offset end user resistance, the panel at the Enterprise 2.0 Conference here suggested that companies replace systems that users don't like with Web 2.0 tools, let the end-users control Web 2.0 projects and find Enterprise 2.0 champions among rank and file employees and middle management.

Don Burke, doyen of Intellipedia, the Central Intelligence Agency's Wikipedia-like project, noted that middle managers resisted the spy agency's effort to provide Web 2.0 tools to internal employees.

"Middle management is about making the trains run on time," Burke noted. "Their job is to do today's job. Change is extraordinarily disruptive. The incentives in our hierarchy are not designed to leverage these kind of fundamental changes. The incentives are designed to reward the people who are making the trains run on time."

Companies should proceed cautiously down the Web 2.0 path because adoption will be far slower in the enterprise than the lightning-fast consumer adoption in recent years, noted Pete Fields, director of e-business at Wachovia Bank.

The bank has an Enterprise 2.0 project now under way that will provide all 120,000 of its employees with access to wikis, blogs and social profiles by the end of this year.

While the bank turned to organizational psychologists, corporate communications personnel and other employees to identify potential problems and minimize resistance to the project, "we still underestimated the change impact," Fields said.
"Change management is the biggest threat."

Simon Revell, manager of Enterprise 2.0 development at Pfizer Ltd., said that backers of the technology must remember that not all users want the same thing and that one size does not fit all employee needs. He noted that workers in all companies have different functions, such as development, research and manufacturing.

Revell said Pfizer sought out early adopters who can function as "Enterprise 2.0 consultants" for the various lines of business within the drug company. "The trick for us is to provide them the support needed to get this off the ground," he said. "The biggest challenge for me is expectations management. I sense there is a frustration that [the project] is not moving more quickly."

Burke said that to successfully implement Web 2.0 technology, companies must let users control the tools. That can be a daunting task for many companies, he noted. "Give up control, and your employees will do you right," he said. "Fight for all your life against locked-down, closed spaces. For two years, we have fought against that. Every other call was, 'How do I lock a page?' or, 'How do I create a private page?'"