More than 50 percent of German companies use the means of communication provided by web 2.0, i.e. blogs wikis and social networking. Given that these technologies have turned out to be successful 60 percent of businesses want to extent their use even further. This is the finding of a study carried out jointly by BITKOM and Oracle.
“Those new technologies such as blogs which were initially used in the private sphere have also established themselves in the business world”, says Prof. August-Wilhelm Scheer who is BITKOM chairman. Blogs, Wikis and other similar ways of communication on the internet increase a company´s productivity and have become an important part of work processes.
Companies make particular frequent use of so-called wikis. Colleagues, partners or customers may read the contents of such sites online, develop them further and thereby define the structure of such sites. By establishing web communities in companies it is possible to find the right people for particular tasks and problems. This facilitates co-operation between divisions and business locations. Blogs provide the opportunity to document work processes and make them transparent. Two thirds of companies which already used blogs, wikis or social networking made positive experiences.
The study also revealed the reasons for which in some cases web-2.0-applications are not implemented. Thus, in some companies the usefulness of such applications in doubt. Furthermore, decision makers are afraid that these applications may involve security risks and cost too much.
The findings of this study are presented in a detailed manner during the “KnowTech 2008”. This congress which is user-oriented and focused on knowledge management will take place from October 8th and 9th in Frankfurt/Main. More information is provided in a flyer on this event. 