Not everyone is spinning out of control with Web 2.0 and the line-up of benefits it deals out. Although Web 2.0 can help companies reduce costs some are unwilling to deploy these technologies. Why? Some consider Web 2.0 as 'experimental'.Experimental? Facebook says it has more than 200 million active users. Of these 200 million users more than 100 million log on to Facebook at least once a day. And in case you were thinking these 100 million users are school or college users, more than two-thirds of Facebook users are outside of college. Not schoolies or tech heads.In fact, Facebook's largest growing demographic is those 35 years old and older. It's a demographic most corporations are continually trying to market to, connect with and have as long term customers.
What can Web 2.0 do? Co-production: Web 2.0 platforms are great for getting customers to develop products using customer-generated content, forums, feedback and discussions.Corporations save on expensive theories and clients get what they want.Lightweight IT: Using open source software and software-as-a-service for new applications reduces costs. Mashups: Rather than build customized IT systems with hard-wired integration, Web 2.0 can enable mashups of existing Web services and data to operate at lower cost and with less people. Crowd sourcing: Another form of co-production, surveying and collecting information and data through social networking reduces research times and costs and transforms customer relations.
Meetings and collaboration: Social-networking, collaboration and sharing platforms can improve communication, cut travel costs and accelerate the innovation cycle, particularly for companies with international operations. Cloud computing: Platforms such as Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure lower costs of building and operating new IT systems. Many companies using Web 2.0 realize its potential but there's no rush towards it as a cost-saving strategy. What's held in the past is still true today. Proof. It seems 200million users on Facebook or 108 million on MySpace aren't convincing enough. The lack of successful enterprise deployments has discouraged businesses to look more seriously at Web 2.0. Read 'it's too hard'.
Corporates are known for moving s-l-o-w-l-y. But what if they're left behind? On one hand they need to cut costs and reduce risks and on the other hand they chase productivity and creativity their new unrelenting masters. So is throwing minimal resources on innovative projects like Web 2.0 smart? Particularly when Web 2.0 can lead to sustainable cost reductions. It's the smaller, inventive and agile companies that are using Web 2.0 to grow quickly and increase productivity way beyond levels achievable using older technologies. Web conferencing alone has helped companies save on travel hours and costs, improving efficiency, customer communications and relations.
And as e-mail and Web chat become more popular for customer interaction, some companies are also considering Web 2.0 video and blogging to create customer communities. Better for customer relations and cheaper than a contact call center. The return on investment of using Web 2.0 may not be easy to calculate especially if the only measure is to reduce costs. But what about intangible returns such as customer experience, customer service or product enhancement? Google, Yahoo and MSN have created billion dollar algorithm's to evaluate and reward those delivering quality customer experiences. Customers listen to their own inbuilt algorithm and running from bad experiences into the arms of friendly easy ones.
While corporations fuss over how to create a body of Web 2.0 best practices other smaller to mid-sized companies already using Web 2.0 are flourishing. Ultimately Web 2.0 success depends on how employee and customers embrace the technologies and how content sharing is secured, protected and handled. That's where Web 2.0 corporate policy should start. Security concerns around these applications must be addressed quickly otherwise no one will want to use them no matter how user-friendly or easy to access they might be. If not, corporate attempts to involve Web 2.0 in operations will be another add-on expense; increasing costs and not reducing them as intended.
|