Now that the ‘buzz’  around wave has calmed down a bit (it’s not gone, on the contrary, look at Mashable’s Wave news ), they start to use the real-time technology in other Google applications : Docs.

Yesterday, Google announced that it now is possible to edit document with several people at the same time. Sounds very Wave, right? (Google Docs online documents with real-time collaboration ).

For wiki users collaborating on documents is not new. The real-time aspect however is new. Google again adds useful feature to their already fine application set in the cloud.
This powerful real-time feature combined with chat orVoip calls makes it even more easy to produce information with a group of people wherever they may be.

(Source : The Official Google Blog, The next generation of Google Docs)

On LinkedIn’s Enterprise 2.0 Group there’s an interesting discussion going on about whether businesses are making the same mistakes as they did previously with KM, Collaboration..You can find it here.

Here’s my contribution to it:

Reading through this conversation, I see a lot of valid points as to why KM did not measure up to the expectations and how E2.0 is different.

Some of the things I have learned in the past 1.5 years studying E2.0 and the reactions of companies to it, are the following :

Although E2.0 is IT based, it’s not about the tools, it’s about the people using them and about solving business problems. So if E2.0 is going to be successful, one must demonstrate clearly what problem it really solves. There are quite a few benefits to E2.0 solutions but you have to find the one that appeals to the person in front of you. For some it will be easier collaboration of their teams, for others it will be email clutter reduction.

The success of an E2.0 project does not depend primarily on the successful implementation of the IT tools involved. Installing and configuring a E2.0 platform, and even integrating it into the existing IT environment is not rocket-science.

What will define the success or failure, in my opinion is how the platform is activated and nurtured throughout the organisation. It needs to be properly planned and coached and evaluated.

But this is not new. It is the case with any IT integration that requires change of people.
Just like any other IT system (and it still involved new tools) an E2.0 platform needs to be integrated seamlessly into the IT Architecture of the organisation. No IT manager or CIO is going to allow a proliferation of stand alone tools.
But more importantly, change management is of crucial to any new technology investment. In E2.0 projects especially, people are the driving force, not IT, not one department, but the whole organisation. And of course, for that you need the support of an executive level manager.

But we know all that. Selling it is the hard part. Convincing people is what it comes to, I think.
We require people to change, we require business culture to change, and that it the hardest thing to do. People don’t want to change unless they see clearly what’s in it for them. And that is still the greatest challenge.

Franky Redant