Web 2.0 tools are invaluable for connecting companies with their customers. The savvy companies, however, the ones that are in touch with their employees and realise the value of their opinions, have realised there is no need to stop there, and have utilised these connections to communicate within the workplace: come in Enterprise 2.0.

Emergent social software platforms are permeating the intranets and extranets of businesses, allowing employees to communicate in the same way they do across familiar social networking mediums: easily and instantly. Now everyone is allowed to have their say and express their opinion at work, and as in social circles, that opinion counts regardless of race, gender, schooling or age.

Enterprise 2.0 tools empower employees. No longer is everyone fighting to be heard and having their opinions suppressed by the management machine.

Increased employee satisfaction and recognition comes as a result, together with better use and less waste of resources and skills. This is all about getting rid of unhealthy working environments where knowledge, skill and initiative are suppressed making workers feel like they are not valued.

As well as this, Enterprise 2 eliminates contradictory projects that can lead to a company developing within a company, a common occurrence especially in professional organisations where departments are run by qualified individuals with aspirations of director or partnership. Without an information exchange hub, these potential leaders tend to go off in their own directions. Bring in a discussion and reporting forum however, and they can work together towards common goals instead of going off at tangents that are not in the best interests of the business as a whole.

Knowledge find-ability is another major benefit of Enterprise 2.0. A 2008 study* of 500 businesses conducted by AIIM, a community that provides education, research and best practices to help organisations find, control, and optimise their information, states that 49% of survey respondents 'agreed' or 'strongly agreed' that it is a difficult and time consuming process to find the information they need to do their job. Why? 69% of respondents believe that only 50% or less of their organisation’s information is searchable online. Amazing seeing as in real life, a whole array of information is at our fingertips courtesy of the internet.

Enterprise 2.0 is bringing major benefits for businesses. Employees get to express their opinions and share their experience and expertise with their colleagues meaning they feel valued and will therefore give much more; everyone gets their hands on the information they need which instantly makes the business run more efficiently; and communication loses the paralysing delay factor. Companies can only grow and prosper as a result.

*http://www.aiim.org/ResourceCenter/AIIMNews/PressReleases/Article.aspx?ID=34834