Synergise IT

Just an extension of my previous post on What is Enterprise 2.0’s measurable value?

Since my definition of Enterprise 2.0 is Communication, Sharing, Collaboration and Collective Intelligence, I will be looking at the value of each component of the definition. Even though,

“Enterprise 2.0 is the use of emergent social software platforms or between companies and their partners or customers.“ (Andrew McAffee, Harvard)

the application of such tools within organisations is not the same as Web 2.0 and organisations are seeking other benefits other than connecting people.

Now I will discuss how you can derive value from enterprise 2.0 and you can then do your own ROI if you are interested.

Communication - Enhanced communication via social networks or instant messengers or collaboration sotfware can help reduce the time spent on searching for information, perceived increase in the quality of decisions made, decreased cost of cross-geographic location communication, etc.

Sharing - I am viewing this as more of a cultural issue than a technical one. After all, sharing in a ideal world is never a bad thing. However, I can’t think of a way to calculate the value of sharing.

Collaboration - allows teams to work from a unified platform, contribute and discuss via a standard channel instead of emails and also capturing knowledge that has been transacted over the platform at the same time. Collaboration can also increase transparency across the project team or organisation and improve knowledge sharing. Value in this case can be calculate by the increase in productivity (depending on the way you apply the platform), increase contribution to knowledge platform thus withholding corporate identity, perceived improved communications across teams / locations and decreased cost of cross-geographic location communication.

Collective intelligence - this allows the organisation to collect more (not all) of the tacit knowledge stored in employees. The benefits of this is similar to KMS or BI. I must say that even though collective intelligence is NOT the same as KMS or BI, but i believe that the value that you can achieve is rather similar.

From the above perspective, one can actually measure value of Enterprise 2.0. Applying Enterprise 2.0 within an organisation is something that is highly customised to the culture, IT environment and business environment. If you require more details for your company or need help in implementing or reviewing the need for Enterprise 2.0 within your organisation, please feel free to leave a comment.