TopLearning Objectives
After completing this chapter, you will be able to:
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Define Web 2.0;
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Discuss the seven principles that exemplify Web 2.0;
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Describe enterprise 2.0;
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Discusses how enterprise 2.0 firms use social networking services, blogs, folksonomies, and wikis;
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Describe Web 2.0 support types and users’ interaction space;
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Describe how firms use web 2.0 applications to support existing business models;
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Discuss how small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) leverage Web 2.0 technologies;
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Discuss the risks posed by Web 2.0 initiatives;
TopSabre Town: A New Employee Connection For Sabre
In industries from retail to manufacturing, healthcare, and financial services, companies are increasingly building corporate social networking services where employees can create profiles and connect with one another. Sabre is one of the many companies that have successfully launched an internal social networking service. Sabre has more than 9,000 employees in 59 countries and runs most of the world’s airline flight reservation systems. To keep employees connected, Sabre created an internal social network site called Sabre Town. Sabre Town allows employees to connect, ask questions, and find information.
Recognizing their own unique need as a global, distributed workforce, Sabre embarked to build their own employee networking intranet from scratch. Basic employee information goes into Sabre Town; everything beyond that is opt-in. Sabre Town has all the features of most social networking services. For example, employees can make their profile more robust, add pictures, and talk about experiences, restaurants they like to go eat, or places they like to visit.
Sabre Town creates a sense of wanting to stay connected in a way that is friendly and easy. Sabre Town’s relevance engine matches questions to the 15 most relevant employees who might have an interest in those questions or have the ability to answer them, based on what they’ve entered in their profile, blog postings and other Q&As that have been previously posted. The results of Sabre Town have been spectacular. For example, 60% of questions are answered within one hour. Each question receives an average of 9 responses. 65% of all Sabre employees became active Sabre Town members in the first 3 months of its launch.
After reading this chapter, you will be able to answer the following:
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How can Web 2.0 applications help organizations improve communications with employees and customers?
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What types of Web 2.0 applications are widely used in organizations?
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What are the risks associated with the use of Web 2.0 applications?