Is business ready for Web 2.0?

Exponential growth of markets. Massive cost reductions to reach those markets. Viral sales opportunities. Web 2.0 tantalizes business with these promises, but eCommerce has not, for the most part, been able to adjust to the new realities of participatory networks. There are varying views of the nature of Web 2.0, but a few key concepts sketch in the outlines of the trend:

It's clear that the Web 2.0 model shakes some of the pillars of corporate imperatives: security, protection of proprietary knowledge, strategic planning to produce some measure of predictable performance. Skype's initial policy of growing in scale and then hoping to find a way to make money with it is not an option for companies answerable to shareholders.

Andrew McAfee at the Harvard Business School has coined the term Enterprise 2.0 to describe Web 2.0 dynamics in the service of commerce. Much of his thought centres on participatory text media -- wikis and blogs, for example -- as business platforms. We at HelpCaster see live media as additional essential components in the emergence of Enterprise 2.0.

There's a meme, or key phrase, heard in the Web 2.0 world: "perpetual beta." It refers to the dynamic innovation that takes place when participant users continually put the pieces together in new ways. That is our Enterprise 2.0 Principle Number One: there is no set solution for everyone. It is all about custom adaptation. But HelpCaster offers powerful tools to help businesses make the transition from static catalogue Webs to dynamic centres of participatory commerce.

Next: Taking advantage of choice...