Great to be spending some time in the Bay Area again, I can now see a real hunger and buzz for Enterprise 2.0 - it is exciting to see the analysts and everyone really pushing the case, there is a real need and hunger for change - and my gut feel is that this "revolution" will be one of the biggest engines to push the world through (and out of) the current global recession.
The big thought in my mind at the moment is brushing through the hype and looking at what it really means for an organisation. Installing a wiki, starting a blog and getting social isn't going to happen over night. Just like business partnerships and even social relationships - these build over time and need to filter through an organisation. A good read from Bertrand Duperrin on how long adoption may take is at his blog.
Being an entrepreneur and running my company on a wiki since 2003 across 4 countries - we have been through many challenges attempting to instill a culture of transparency and openness. In such an environment, where I am CEO and have the leadership and influential role, it can still be extremely challenging to make this happen - the same issues apply as in Bertrands post but there are also many walls, challenges and roadblocks that will appear after the initial novelty wears off, and it comes to quarterly bonus KPI time. We also have a relatively young demographic, which should also remove some barriers for adoption - but it is still challenging! I can imagine what the government folks are going to have to go through to get someone who has been working for many decades in the same job to now work differently. Not my cup of tea.
Bottom line is that Enterprise 2.0 technologies are just a form of communication, they by themselves do not transform a business and increase the velocity of a business. A leader blogging, or using a wiki because they "have to" or because it is fashionable will not blog with their heart and soul. None of us can follow a leader that doesn't lead with vision, heart and passion.
There are many roadblocks that get in the way of business velocity - some of them are technical systems integration problems (right data in the right place at the right time), some of them are collaborative roadblocks (who knows what) and some are social roadblocks (corporate alignment) - you need to handle all of them (and possibly others!) - this is my vision.
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