Web 2.0 Dons a Suit

For the corporate world, Web 2.0 is the next step in the progression from the discovery a decade ago of the usefulness of having a corporate intranet to the demand today for a richer and more dynamic knowledge sharing utility. Corporate uptake of Web 2.0 demonstrates the latest trend in using web tools and information for organizational and commercial interests.

“Mash together open source, web services, and enterprise information and voilà! instant applications to help companies innovate.”

Market characterization

Top geeks have always desired tools to help them innovate quickly and cost-effectively. Corporations want the same. Now corporations are using web services, open source technologies and internal and external information sources to create instant applications that energize business ideas and increase team productivity.

Just “mashup” a little open source, some collaboration software, web services, and enterprise information and voilà! instant applications to help companies innovate and grow their businesses. Maps, news feeds, stock market information, banking data, weather updates, earthquake activity information, combined with open source technologies provide powerful building blocks to mix with the organization’s data and create applications customized for any business, corporation or government.

Middleware vendors are already lining up to build these applications with service-oriented architecture (SOA) technologies such as AJAX, RSS, Java, and business process management tools. Web portal and search companies are supplying the compelling data and open interfaces (APIs).

Examples

Web companies, middleware vendors and service providers have all picked up the market potential of Web 2.0.

Web portal and search innovators like Google and Yahoo have been the early leaders in defining Web 2.0. AJAX with its desktop look and feel together with rich information APIs have set the standard for a new generation of corporate web applications. For example, Google Maps Enterprise API allows companies to geographically view customer locations, track shipments, and manage facilities for CRM, workforce management, logistics, marketing and more.

Middleware vendors like JBoss are developing software agents to tie together a wide range of applications. Their goal is to enable plug-and-play information within a framework that consolidates dynamic tools for business process management.

IBM, the ultimate enterprise software and services provider, recently announced a new product called “Enterprise Mashup” based on Web 2.0 open source technologies that’s blended with enterprise content. Such products create innovative channels using wikis and web services to empower information production and management by the enterprise.

On the bleeding edge

Just like the “Semantic Web” before it, Web 2.0 is the latest buzzword for what’s happening next on the Web. Web 2.0 started out as a conference marketing term but now implies anything that seems to be bleeding edge on the Internet. New uses for the Web and innovative technologies all have a role to play. So do democratization of information access and new techniques to facilitate ease-of-use.

While the next generation of web applications are being enjoyed by the über-geek, they are also being put hard to work in the enterprise. Disney uses wikis to enhance creative collaboration. Other companies use Web 2.0 tools to avoid e-mail spam and reduce costs of underutilized intranet facilities. To help victims of Hurricane Katrina, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce quickly developed a job portal that lets people search across multiple job boards for the postings they are interested in and then pinpoints work locations on a Google Map.

Web 2.0 is not just for geeks anymore. In the final analysis, the next generation Web is all about enabling people as well as their organizations and companies to work together, innovate faster, and tame today’s information explosion.