Microblogging represents the first wave in the enterprise. Now the questions is what represents the second wave and how adoption will occur.
The issue of the second wave came back up again and again in “Applying The Real-Time Web in the Enterprise,” at the ReadWrite Real-Time Web Summit today.
But though the first wave has had its impact, the group has questions about how quick the adoption has been.
Those that are adopting social technologies often already use tools like Twitter. For the uninitiated, the technology is a bit mystifying and since it is optional, the adoption is not as great as it could be. The answer is not to clone Twitter but to find the application that really works for the enterprise user.
The gap goes beyond microblogging and into the general realm of social technologies. For instance, mashups arose as an example. A woman in human resources may not have any interest in creating a mashup. Her views may change if i is not presented as a mashup and if she is assisted by a business analyst or IT worker who is familiar with the technology.
It’s the people with the expertise who have in some ways always been using real-time technologies. IRC channels, for instance, were originally used by IT to keep updated about projects. It’s a tool similar to instant messaging and activity streams of the real-time web, But it had pretty much been inaccessible to most business users.
A new generation of user interfaces are changing this dynamic. Tools that had been inaccessible are now fashioned in a manner that users understand. People use the social web. They get the notion of the status update. The enterprise applications that have adopted this style are the technologies that get better use.
Machine-to-machine technologies that integrate the social web may help close the gap. These are tools that people are required to use for projects. By adding a “people” element, social applications may have more use for the business person.
Still, the real-time web can not be viewed only in terms of the office person working on their desktop.
Such a large percentage of the workforce are out in the field. Their use of mobile devices for establishing geo-presence is an area that should further develop, especially with the continued adoption of smart phones.
