September 18, 2008
Written by Thomas Christel
There are a number of great insights about Web 2.0 tools and technologies in the enterprise space that are provided by the top analyst firms and dedicated to executives & IT professionals. Since my day-to-day experience at Yooplus is working with the Italian and European markets, I may be able to add some additional insights on Enterprise 2.0 adoption across Europe.
IDC’s View:
“The adoption rate for Enterprise 2.0 will nearly double in Europe in the next 18 months, and nearly half will use Web 2.0 to enhance internal collaboration,” according to a survey conducted by IDC that has been presented in September 2007 at the European ICT Forum in Berlin. “Surprisingly, Spain, Denmark, and Italy are the early-adopting nations of Europe and will continue to show the highest adoption rates over the next 18 months, even ahead of the UK and Germany,” said Pim Bilderbeek, vice president of European telecommunications and networking consulting for IDC.
McKinsey’s View:
“July 2008. This year’s worldwide survey reveals continuing investments in Web 2.0. Companies that are deriving business value from these tools are now shifting from using them experimentally to adopting them as part of a broader business practice. Fundamental changes are beginning to take place among the satisfied companies as a result of their ambitious use of Web 2.0. These companies are not only using more technologies but also leveraging them to change management practices and organizational structures. Some are taking steps to open their corporate “ecosystems” by encouraging customers to join them in developing products and by using new tools to tap distributed knowledge. Overall satisfaction of Web 2.0 adoption, in Europe, was split with 22% reporting the lowest dissatisfaction and 20% reporting highest satisfaction, leaving 58% somewhere in the middle.”
What I See:
- Managers and professionals don’t want to wait for IT or consultants to get around to implementing their social enterprise solutions: they are looking for rapid adoption and deployment. They want to test and determine the value, benefits and competitive advantages quickly
- They want to pick, choose and customize their social enterprise environments, they want the flexibility of all the tools (blogs, wikis, rss, tags, search, im, voip, etc) integrated in one social platform
- They want to empower their teams to collaborate and share information, ideas, knowledge, communications and productivity not just internally, but also externally with partners, vendors and customers
- The social enterprise paradigm is not just for the big corporations but for all sizes and industries, from start-ups to non-profits, from waste managements to financial services as it is for every department within companies, from marketing to human resources.
Adoption of Enterprise 2.0 or the “social enterprise” is happening across Europe, some countries more aggressively than others, but now I am beginning to see return on the investment and real business benefits for all sizes of companies. There are also a volume of tools and technologies available from high-end consultant assisted solutions to rapid adoption and deployment of social enterprise platforms. Because after all “sharing is better!”
Thomas Christel is co-founder and VP of marketing at Yooplus srl, a social enterprise company, providing the we+ workspace, a team collaboration and social software platform with all the Web 2.0 tools built-in (blogs, wiki, rss and tags). The we+ workspace provides the ability to capture and share knowledge, provide project/activity transparency and improve team communications, collaboration and productivity. To learn more visit, www.yooplus.com or contact Thomas at t.christel {at} yooplus(.)com
July 11, 2008
Written by Sam Charrington
Nestled between the the high-gloss conferences that were Structure 08 and Velocity 2008 In San Francisco last month; was the “little unconference that could,” CloudCamp!
When I say that CloudCamp was my favorite event of the three, it’s not just because I helped organize it. What made CloudCamp so cool was that it was totally participant driven, and boy did the 300+ participants “bring the funk.” CloudCamp was pure grassroots energy — the enthusiasm about the topic was palpable.
Unlike the other events with their set agendas, at CloudCamp the participants both created and facilitated the sessions. After some opening remarks, attendees were invited to volunteer to present or facilitate a discussion on a topic. We had 27 volunteers step up to run a session (without any prodding!) and easily filled the 30 available slots (10 rooms, compliments Microsoft x 3 one-hour-long sessions).
The list of presentation/discussion topics ran the gamut. A few were:
- What is Cloud Computing?
- 1 Billion Page Views: Hacks to Scale Big on the Cloud
- Cloud Storage; Unifying Cloud Storage APIs
- SQL Database Clusters in the Cloud
- Simple DB or SQL: Which Will Dominate the Cloud?
- Connect the Clouds: Integration Between Clouds and Local Applications
- No Cure for Cancer: Managing the Expectations of Cloud Computing Today and Tomorrow
Here’s the entire session board:
I held a session entitled “How Cloud Impacts Enterprise Computing.” I was joined by about 20 other CloudCampers to explore a range of topics including the emergence of Private Clouds, standardization of Cloud Computing environments, Cloud security issues, and more. One of the most interesting quotes of the evening came from Geoffrey Routledge in my session when he asked “After all, what is the difference between a really well run virtualized environment and a Cloud?”
CloudCamp managed to attract its share of Cloud heavy hitters; many of the folks that attended also presented at both Velocity 2008 and Structure 08. After the sessions, folks hung around networking, chatting and catching up for quite some time.
What the Future Holds
The energy level was extremely high at each of these events, and I was left with the distinct impression that we as attendees were witnessing a decisive turning point for Cloud Computing as a market — a coming-out party of sorts.
I expect each of these first-time events will continue long into the future., and I’ve already learned about three new Cloud-focused events just since June! For our part, we certainly hope to make CloudCamp an ongoing tradition. The next CloudCamp, CloudCamp London, will take place on July 16th, and additional dates/locations are in the works. If you’re interested in bringing CloudCamp to your area, please do get in touch.
Sam Charrington is VP of Product Management & Marketing at Appistry. Sam is responsible for Appistry’s overall marketing efforts, including marketing & brand strategy, product marketing and product management. Appistry is the pioneer and leading provider of application fabric software. Sam blog’s about Cloud and Grid Computing at In The Loop
