Focusing on the ROI 2.0. Part 1.

I’m going to present this post in three installments.  Part 1 will introduce the series. Part 2 will discuss the three vendors I want to highlight. Part 3 will present some concluding thoughts.

Enterprise 2.0 describes a new kind of workplace that leverages tools and behaviors inspired by the social Internet. The idea is largely based on drawing parallels to Web 2.0 (the social Internet). The emergence of new tools and behaviors on the consumer Internet has dramatically changed the way we see and use the web — hence the designation “2.0″ = new version. Not only are more people using the web, but we are relying upon it for daily activities and needs — displacing other channels of commerce. We use it differently, connecting with others in communal-like relationships via social networks.  And “it” is different from what “it” was.  The web is far more agile and interconnected than ever before. You may or may not like the numerical description 2.o (I don’t, actually), but the change is real — the web in 2009 is different that the way it was in 1999.  All this is good — but is it really happening in the Enterprise?  Is the workplace of 2009 fundamentally transformed from the workplace of 1999?

Many Enterprise 2.0 marketplace players focus on enabling team and community behaviors to thrive more successfully at work. Virtual team environments with offshore resources makes collaboration quite challenging. Tribal communities at work have always existed, but evidence in the form of many case studies demonstrates great value in giving these communities a communication platform to assist their collaboration. All this is good — but it’s a bit soft and squishy.  We all know that collaboration is difficult. We all get frustrated with second-rate technologies that just don’t work right and cause us delay. And we all know that improvements will pay off. But the “ROI Question” always dogs us.  So “full-blown” Enterprise 2.0 is not here, yet.  It’s much harder to realize the kind of change to the workplace that has taken place on the Internet.  There are good reasons for this — so good that one must challenge the notion that workplaces will ever change as much as we might think they could.

Don’t think that I’m saying Enterprise 2.0 isn’t happening or wont.  Not at all.  But I do want to take a careful step back and observe what is working, where, and why.

I recently had a conversation with my colleague Jeremiah Owyang about this topic — and his ever-sharp insight was simple and to the point:

“If you want to capture the attention of any business, you have to either help the top line or the bottom line. You either help them make more money or save them from spending money. Anything else is too squishy these days.”

So along those lines, I’d like to highlight three companies who are taking a very targeted approach to ROI in the Enterprise 2.0 space.  I think they are good examples because they are not setting out to transform the enterprise.  Rather, they are taking advantage of new tools and behaviors to bring value to companies.  And they have a laser-focus on a hard money story.  I believe that this is helping them (and their customers) find success during these very challenging economic conditions.

So stay tuned to the next post to see three examples of companies who have a crisp ROI story in a 2.0 world.  Hint:  They all focus on Social CRM.

Tagged as: Enterprise 2.0, roi, SaaS, social crm, social media, tip, tool