Technology Takes- Web 2.0

Recently I came across a question that I found very interesting. The question was how can Indian technology companies help their clients to derive business potential out of Web 2.0 technology.

You are looking at an example of a Web 2.0 technology right now - yes, a blog is an example of Web 2.0 technology. Orkut, Face Book, Meebo, Wikipedia, Twitter, Flikr, Youtube are other examples. Now what is so interesting about Web 2.0 ? For a minute, think what is common to all of the examples above. Aha, you got it. In all of the above applications, a lot of people do a lot of things. People share stuff, give and take advice, communicate and network. I google for information and probably find what I am looking for in the blog of a guy sitting in Africa.

Web 2.0 has fundamentally changed 2 thing about the web -
1. Huge social communities are being created.
2. People are interacting with each other in newer ways.

I think that Enterprise customers will perceive maximum value from Web 2.0 technology that will enable the following -

1. Reaching out to consumer communities for (a) maintaining credible information channels, maintaining/ expanding competitive position and customer base and selling new services (b) engaging in meaningful two way dialogue to receive feedback and detemine consumer perceptions and new ideas.

2. Effectively engage with business partners and suppliers to improve communication.

3. Capitalize on the inherent potential of social communities to foster information and knowledge exchange, collaboration and networking to drive product design and development within shorter time scales.

We need to articulate propositions that can resonate at highest executive decision making levels of our clients. Such a proposition must alleviate business concerns, must clearly be aligned to the client's business strategy and must also offer economic and competitive advantages over any other non Web 2.0 alternatives.

Technology Takes - Collaboration in a Color Palate

At an online forum at work, one that I regularly checkout, there was a post on lines similar to Technology usability Vs Customer experience". I found it a very pertinent question, especially in the context of the IT industry.

My take on this (I have already blogged about it before) is that -

I think that usability, although very important is only one component of a great customer experience. I strongly believe that a great customer experience is something that must be ingrained in the genetic DNA of Indian technology companies, affecting and consistently displayed in its value propositions and its fundamental thought processes. It is a sad fact that the true concept of a great customer experience is largely misunderstood and is mostly unidirectional in perspective even in the largest technology companies in India.

I think the key enabler to a great customer experience is collaboration. The biggest question in collaboration is who should be collaborating with whom and to what end ? The answer to this that collaboration yields unparalleled results only if it allows for participation and contribution from every entity in the ecosystem. The end is a self sustaining, truly innovative and hugely rewarding win-win result that every entity from the ecosystem can derive value from. And not to mention great customer experience because each entity in the ecosystem is a customer of the other entities.

I have a vision of IT industry evolving from a service provider model to a collaborative consulting model in the years to come.

(PS- My opinions are my own, and in no way reflect the opinions/statements of the company I work for or my clients).