Forrester: “Good evidence” wikis transforming collaboration
Forrester Research has published a new report on the state of wikis, blogs, social networking, and other new tools in the enterprise: Forrester TechRadar™ For Information & Knowledge Management Pros: Enterprise Web 2.0. Here’s what they said about wikis:
One of the more promising of the Web 2.0 technologies for the enterprise, wikis show good evidence of helping transform collaboration in the enterprise. Users report success with many wiki endeavors when they’re sponsored by business leaders and connected to business processes.
Here’s Forrester’s full summary of the report, which I think captures the state of wikis, blogs, forums, and social networks in the enterprise very succinctly:
No longer new, Web 2.0 technologies solve problems that enterprises have today — but most have not yet used these tools to anywhere near their potential. Waiting for tools to mature seems prudent, but if you wait too long, employees may create their own collaborative environments on the Web. Timing your next move requires you to track the maturity of enterprise Web 2.0 technologies.
In a careful examination of the marketplace and trends for enterprise Web 2.0 tools, we reveal that organizations find wikis valuable, forums stable (though underutilized), and report mixed success with blogs. Enterprise social networking tools stand ready to redefine workplace collaboration, adding new value to your organization’s content by associating it with peers and experts.
For more on this, check out the teleconference Forrester hosted on Monday with two of the report’s authors, analysts Gil Yehuda and Oliver Young.
Matt Hanson says:
Nov 19th, 2008
Good writing. Keep up the good work. I just added your RSS feed my Google News Reader..
Matt Hanson
Steve Boese says:
Nov 19th, 2008
These findings reported by Forrester reflect my experience with wikis. I have been pushing wiki use and their associated benefits in University classes, for internal collaboration for faculty, and as a tool for a technical support organization. In each instance the wiki adds tremendous value. I can’t really imagine a workplace where I would not have the wiki as a resource.
Matt Wiseley says:
Nov 20th, 2008
Glad to see this stuff finally catching on within larger organizations in a measurable way. Though it’s important to keep in mind that many smaller teams within larger enterprises have been navigating around IT to use wikis and related web-based collaboration services for some time now. Take, for example, the recent ReadWriteWeb post about young workers doing just this.
I’d be interested in your take on what enterprises specifically look for in a wiki.
Jordan Frank says:
Nov 24th, 2008
Spot on. In good times or bad, Enterprise 2.0 suites enables enterprises to do more for less money than traditional collaborative workspace solutions. Furthermore, enterprise wiki and blog oriented platforms (that support other features like social tagging, discussion, and so on) focus on the production and leverage of human capital.
I expand on this and review various predictions about the direction of the market here:
http://traction.tractionsoftware.com/traction/permalink/Blog904
Devang says:
Nov 25th, 2008
We at eTouch could not agree more. We are seeing a groundswell increase in interest and appreciation of the utility of Enterprise 2.0 technologies. Corporation are innovating in these troubled times in ways that appreciate and utilize these productivity-enhancing technologies to make mundane collaboration tasks more efficient and enjoyable.
Check out our CEO’s blog posts and customer stories for more insights and information:
http://blogs.etouch.net/
http://www.etouch.net/customers/customer_stories.html