By 2008, the majority of Global 1000 companies will quickly
adopt several technology-related aspects of Web 2.0, according to the
market analysts. But they will be slow to adopt the aspects of Web
2.0 that have a social dimension, and the result will be a slow
impact on business.
The challenge is that Web 2.0 is not just a set of technologies,
but also has attributes that have a social dimension: new business
models, user-contributed content and user-generated metadata, more
open and transparent business process, simplicity in design and
features and decentralised and participatory products and
processes.
"While it is straightforward to add specific technologies, such
as Ajax or
RSS to
products, platforms and applications, it is more difficult to add a
social dimension," said David Mitchell Smith, vice president and
Gartner Fellow.
"Adding these new aspects requires rethinking the design of the
system and possibly its target audience," he continued. "It is
therefore more challenging than a cosmetic makeover to the
application via Ajax, because it can imply significant changes to
the development process, business model and perhaps even the
mission of the system under construction."
However, missing out on the non-technology aspects of Web 2.0
means that many organisations will also miss out on some of the
positive business benefits, he warned.
Web 2.0 represents a fundamental shift toward a more open,
flexible and participatory model for creating content systems and
business models. Its application can reduce costs, enhance
adaptability and create new business opportunities. However,
success requires a structured evaluation of its impact on people,
business process and technology.
"By enabling decentralised innovation, Web 2.0 catalyses rapid
user/consumer-driven change, which will accelerate market share
growth for companies that exploit it,” Mr. Smith said. “Web
communities provide rich new interactions among employees, business
partners and customers that can either support or threaten the
enterprise, depending on how these interactions are managed. In
addition, web architecture provides an adaptable technology model
and requires significantly less-expensive infrastructure to deliver
these benefits.”
Gartner analysts said the broad impact of Web 2.0 is potentially
compelling and confusing and can be broken down into three key
focal points that deal with technology issues, people issues and
business issues:
Web architecture focuses on the web’s
technology architecture and development model which is a subset of
service-oriented
architecture (SOA) that provides a globally linked,
decentralised model that is network-centric and extensible. It is
currently characterised by technologies such as Ajax and composite
applications delivered as “mashups” — a website or web application
that combines content from one or more sources, such as merging
Google Maps with data from
Fandango.com.
Web community focuses on the fundamental shift
in how people are using technology to interact with one another and
with businesses. Web community is a participatory approach in which
users are not simply service and content consumers, but also act as
content and application creators becoming networked collective
intelligence. Web communities are characterised by the use of
collaborative authoring models (wiki, blogs and podcasts) and social
network community models (MySpace, TopCoder). As the number of
participants and types of collaborative models continues to grow,
power will increasingly shift to the consumer, forcing businesses
to proactively market to and analyze community influencers.
Web business focuses on the web's business
processes and deals with a fundamental shift in how businesses
deliver value. It is distinguished by empowering third parties and
consumers to repurpose content and services in new and unique ways.
It relies on an open and extensible business ecosystem, embracing
greater reliance on and collaboration with externalities. In
addition, it employs new legal structures for intellectual property
such as open software licensing, as well as new economic paradigms
such as advertising, usage and subscription, as well as derivative
revenue models like revenue sharing. Web business models will
enable nimble new competitors to succeed and challenge established
enterprises to adapt to survive.
