Critical Success Factors in Enterprise 2.0

While evangelists and enthusiasts of Enterprise 2.0 praise the benefits of the use of social software in the workplace, the sceptics are not that convinced and some draw attention to the failures of the Knowledge Management concept and tools that were trendy some years ago. In parallel, board members and top management question the true business benefits of Enterprise 2.0 and demand proof of the potential business value prior to giving a green light to this type of investment. If it is true that some of the benefits of Enterprise 2.0 are intangible and therefore harder to measure, the impact on business performance should be observable and consequently measurable. This chapter reflects on the importance of addressing the topic of business performance when it comes to social software in the enterprise. It also discusses the importance of integrating social software into the flow of work in order to drive adoption and sustained use.