Is Web 2.0 a Solution to the Economic Downturn?

The current business crisis is like a forest fire that is destroying much of what is in its path, but allows renewal of a new ecosystem from the seeds that are still alive after the fire passes. Dion Hinchcliffe of ZDNet advocates “using Web 2.0 to reinvent your business for the economic downturn.”

Dion writes, “The good news is that most enterprises actually have a fair number of compelling options right now if they are willing to think outside the box. While some might look at the social aspects of things like Web 2.0 as marginal subjects when things get tough, nothing could be further from the truth when it comes to the deeper implications of Web 2.0 in the enterprise. Many of the more transformational aspects of the 2.0 era now have extensive groundwork laid for them, are available in genuinely enterprise-ready solutions/pilots, and many have just been waiting for the right situation; the driving need for businesses to change and transform in the face of radically different business conditions.”

This is a long article, but here are the highlights of his main recommendations:

1. Move to lower-cost online versions of enterprise applications.
2. Use Enterprise 2.0 [tools] to capture the knowledge and know-how of employees.
3. Strategically move IT infrastructure into the cloud.
4. Embrace new low-cost models for production such as crowdsourcing.
5. Lower customer service costs by pro-active use of online customer communities.
6. Reduce application development and integration time/expenditures with new platforms and techniques (e.g., use of mashups).
7. Open your supply chain to partners on the Web.
8. Overhaul and reinvent paper and digital workflow.

He concludes, “Web 2.0 models offer one of the most potent ways we presently have to regroup, reorganize, and systematically improve what we’re doing in terms of private enterprise, government, and public service. Right now is a very exciting time indeed to be in business, for better or worse.”

The devil is in the details, of course, but read the article, and see if it fits for your situation. (GW)

Using Web 2.0 to Reinvent Your Business for the Economic Downturn | Enterprise 2.0 Blog | Dion Hinchcliffe | 29 January 2009

Tagged as: Web 2.0