Blogged down in data
Collective intelligence
Like him or loathe him, there is no denying that Rupert Murdoch has a keen eye for business. News Corporation's purchase of networking site MySpace.com for $580m (£332.85m), as part of the purchase of InterMix Media, put Web 2.0 firmly on the business radar. What was previously regarded by many as a mere frivolity of the youth generation, suddenly, just like SMS and Instant Messenger (IM) before it, garnered interest in a business context.
Tim O'Reilly, the man generally credited with coining the phrase, describes Web 2.0 as 'embracing the power of the web to harness collective intelligence.' Put another way, it is the move away from static information posting websites and personal homepages, to interactive, collaborative information-sharing online, through the use of blogs, RSS feeds, social networking sites and the like. Essentially, it is taking the human instinct to collaborate, share ideas, discuss opinions and seek validation, into an online domain.
Viewed in a business context, the benefits of Web 2.0 quickly become apparent. Tools, such as blogs, offer a cheap and effective way to share tacit information. They are easy to publish, link to, and comment on. Suddenly dialogues are opened, discussions ensue and invariably problems are solved, all in an open, yet secure forum, behind an organisation's firewall. Staff can collaborate, and the long debated dilemma of how to tap into and store the tacit knowledge, built up by individuals over their career, is simultaneously resolved.
Consider, on top of this, the precedent set by software such as IM and email. They were embraced by consumers, just like Web 2.0 applications, long before they became common workplace tools. All the signs suggest another communications revolution is upon us; after all, why else is Mr Murdoch so keen to invest?
The heart of Web 2.0
For organisations looking to harness first mover advantage in the new Web 2.0 world, the old adage, 'imitation is the sincerest form of flattery' may indeed ring true. Model Web 2.0 companies including Google, Amazon and eBay are successful, quite simply because they enable interaction and information sharing between users, offering information and purchase suggestions based on users' habits and previous interactions. These sites work because they provide this information in a way that is convenient for the user; successfully internalising and managing the complexities associated with managing and cataloguing the plethora of data they acquire about each user, and on which their business is built. Their strength it seems is their Data Centres.
Of course, very few companies can become an Amazon, and even fewer will want to make a wholesale shift to Web 2.0, but the principle still applies. A well managed Data Centre will ensure organisations are making the most of traditional data capture methods, while still facilitating a gradual move to Web 2.0 adoption. But how?
Media savvy
Smart organisations will opt for a gradual role out of collaboration software tailored to suit the needs of specific users. For example, a Wiki may prove invaluable for a development team based in different offices or even different countries, enabling them to share ideas and resolve problems more quickly. In contrast, a short, slick video blog might prove a time and cost effective way for the CEO to disseminate information across the organisation about the future direction of the business. Whichever combination of options is adopted, the key to ensuring longevity is search. While Web 2.0 may provide a flexible delivery model for information creation and collation, its value is limited without an effective search solution to deliver relevant information when required. Again, there is merit in emulation, this time by looking specifically at Google, which has created a multi billion dollar business connecting people to information in an instant. At the core of its success, and continued market dominance, is its highly searchable, well ordered, and well managed Data Centre.
Store
Enabling staff and customers to access relevant data in a timely manner is intrinsically linked to storage. As storage becomes more sophisticated it is possible to architect a consolidated physical or virtualised storage network within the Data Centre, which combines existing storage infrastructure with best fit technology. So, while it may make sense to store primary, high value data that is frequently requested on expensive disk solutions, it can be more cost effective to store tertiary data on serial technology architecture (SATA) disks. Storing data in this way ensures an organisation's Data Centre runs at its optimum best, and that storage needs are tailored to fit the demands being placed on the data on a rolling basis.
Tag
Further improvements can be made through the tagging of all information stored within the Data Centre. Traditionally, information has been made searchable by rigid taxonomy systems that bear only a thin resemblance to the way people interact with data. Instead, this draconian system is being replaced by tags or a concept called folksonomy. In true Web 2.0 style, this is collaborative categorisation of data, allowing for multiple, overlapping associations that the user would be more likely to search under, rather than those which traditionally have been applied to data. In this way, the tacit information offered to the organisation by its staff, is given a relevance, long after it has been posted. Appropriately, storing and tagging information as it enters the Data Centre, ensures it is searchable or accessible long after its traditional lifespan.
Integrate
However, before we rush headlong into the new Web 2.0 world, consideration should be given to the vaults of information built up by organisations over proceeding decades. The irony of this vast amount of data is that while we are loathe to get rid of it, we certainly don't access it. Stored and categorised in a way which has not evolved with modern working practise, businesses labour under the weight of their enterprise legacy systems. The coming of age of Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) provides the perfect opportunity to unlock, or web enable, the information stored within these back office systems. It provides the opportunity to tag and index this otherwise latent information in the new Web 2.0 format, so it can be reissued to the workforce that created it, but in a newer, much more usable style.
Optimise
Of course, not everything in the Web 2.0 world is rosy. At a time when the spotlight is being directed squarely at Data Centre power consumption, there is no denying that certain Web 2.0 tools are thirsty beasts. The answer, of course, is virtualisation. Load balancing servers to run data rich applications such as Web 2.0 services, enables a reduction in servers, and a reduction in power and cooling.
Conclusion
For organisations which rely on knowledge sharing to survive the appeal of Web 2.0, is the ability to harness information and monetise it in a very real way - enabling the workforce to access the very thing that distinguishes one organisation from another. How these organisations choose to adopt Web 2.0 will be integral to how successful they are. Those who engineer formal tag, search and storage mechanisms, and build a well managed Data Centre, integrating traditional data with newer information formats, will undoubtedly reap the rewards through a faster dissemination of relevant information. Those who see Web 2.0 as the end goal, rather than conduit of information delivery, omitting to support it with a robust Data Centre and formal data management guidelines, will invariably end up blogged down with data yet unable to access knowledge. Depending on your approach, Web 2.0 could offer the best of times, or indeed the very worst.
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