The Grill: Andrew McAfee

Sure, companies have started using Web 2.0 tools, but one man says we've seen only a glimmer of the change they're going to bring to the way we do business. Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business in the MIT Sloan School of Management, is author of the recently released book Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for your Organization's Toughest Challenges (Harvard Business Publishing, 2009).

McAfee says tools and Web sites like wikis, blogs, Twitter and Facebook are changing not only the way businesses share information, but also how employees function inside those businesses. In effect, Enterprise 2.0 is changing the way we work.

Favorite Web 2.0 tool: "I was initially a huge Twitter skeptic. I just didn't get it and didn't understand why any responsible adult professional should get into it either. It's become this background presence in my workday."

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Sure, companies have started using Web 2.0 tools, but one man says we've seen only a glimmer of the change they're going to bring to the way we do business. Andrew McAfee, a principal research scientist at the Center for Digital Business in the MIT Sloan School of Management, is author of the recently released book Enterprise 2.0: New Collaborative Tools for your Organization's Toughest Challenges (Harvard Business Publishing, 2009).

McAfee says tools and Web sites like wikis, blogs, Twitter and Facebook are changing not only the way businesses share information, but also how employees function inside those businesses. In effect, Enterprise 2.0 is changing the way we work.

Favorite Web 2.0 tool: "I was initially a huge Twitter skeptic. I just didn't get it and didn't understand why any responsible adult professional should get into it either. It's become this background presence in my workday."

Favorite guilty pleasure: "A cocktail called Northern Lights at a restaurant called Craigie On Main in Cambridge, Mass."

What does Enterprise 2.0 mean? Loosely, it means applying Web 2.0 tools and philosophies to different business situations. The tighter definition is the business use of an emergent social software platform. [It's about] building clever tools that get out of the way and let people interact as they want to.

Are employees dragging IT departments kicking and screaming into the world of Enterprise 2.0? People throughout the organization are clamoring for easier-to-use tools. They're frustrated by the fact that tools outside the firewall are easier to use than the tools in their own enterprise. A lot of times, [employees] do an end run and use some cloud utilities to get their work done.

IT departments have had the final call over what has been used [in the enterprise], but that era is drawing to a close. I appreciate that there are security considerations. There are legitimate concerns, but saying "no, no, no" isn't going to win you fans elsewhere in the business.

A lot of executives fear that Web sites like Facebook and Twitter are big productivity killers. Do you agree with blocking employees from using them? I don't agree that it's time-wasting. They might say, "We don't like those big public utilities, but we will give you something equivalent behind the firewall." Sticking your head in the sand and waiting for this to pass is an extremely short-sighted philosophy. There's the idea that the coolest tech gizmos are no longer the ones that the company buys for you, but that you can get for free on the Internet.

What are the best ways that businesses are taking advantage of Web 2.0 technology? They're taking advantage of it in a few different ways. They're using it to let people broadcast their expertise: I'm going to tell the organization what I'm doing, what I know and what I'm good at. I'm not filling out fields in a database. I'm doing this by blogging. That lets me narrate my work.

Combine that with decent search technology, and you can find out who in the organization would be a good colleague for you [to work with]. You also can use it to broadcast your ignorance and talk about things you need help with. If people have something that would be helpful, they're usually happy to share it with you.