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
In 2003, CIGI, created a free online research network called IGLOO (International Governance Leaders and Organizations Online) that connected researchers, practitioners and educators around the world.
By 2008 Igloo.org had further evolved into a for profit firm with a focus on creating On Demand Corporate Social Networking software with Web 2.0 tools for content management, collaboration, social networking and administration.
IGlOO offers 3 versions of it’s Corporate Social Networking (CSN) software:
Lite Edition
Pro Edition
Enterprise Edition
IGLOO’s Lite Edition contains IGLOO’s content management platform and social networking tools and is optimized for corporate pilots, or group work spaces for teams. Priced at $4,999 USD annually or 449 USD per month, the Lite edition comes with a basic self service support portal.
IGLOO’s Pro Edition is designed for company-wide networking and knowledge sharing. Pro Edition adds Corporate Social Networking tools, Blogs, Wiki’s and forums. Data Storage and Data Transfer are increased to 50 GB in the Pro Edition. Pro Edition is priced at $9,999 USD annually or $999 USD per month.
Available add on support packages for both the Lite and Pro Editions include a Silver level of Support for $1,000 USD per year and a Gold Level of Support for $2,500 USD per year.
IGLOO’s Enterprise Edition is designed for use outside of the corporate firewall and adds multiple domains, up to ten online communities, multinational deployment support and free silver level support. Data storage and data transfer clock increase to 100 GB in the Enterprise Edition. Pricing for the Enterprise Edition is based on a number of factors and is not disclosed on the IGLOO website.
IGLOO offers a Wizard based Setup for each of its edition’s. The Setup Wizard allows a user to choose what WEB 2.0 features will be used in the CSN, look and feel of the CSN in addition to administrator tasks such as permission setup and reporting.
IGLOO Web 2.0 tools are similar to tools in competing CSN offerings with the IGLOO differentiator being that the tools are a bit more polished than some of the newer entrants in the CSN Space.
IGLOO is utilized by 150,000 end users at customers including Amnesty International, Arizona State University, Deloitte, Motorola and the Royal Bank of Canada. Future updates of IGLOO will include features like social graphing, Microsoft Outlook integration, additional mobile device support and connectors to Enterprise Apps and Microsoft SharePoint.
IGLOO offers a very comprehensive Corporate Social Network solution that can fit any size non-profit or corporate site. Smaller companies and non-profits may have a hard time digesting the pricing of the Lite Edition but the pricing of IGLOO’s offerings is in line with most of its competitors.
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
