The Forgotten Tool: Enterprise Mashups

Many times in this blog, we cover blogs and wikis as an important tool in order to create an Enterprise 2.0 environment in your workplace. In Ross Dawson’s recent post he points out not to forget one of the most important: the enterprise mashup. We must remember it’s definition in order to see the power it can hold as a tool in the enterprise:

Enterprise Mashup – A combination of different types of content or data, usually from different sources to create something new

When introduced to employees, they fully take the power. The employees can begin combining different tools such as sales, market research, transactions or other important data and keep it on the enterprise intranet. There is no need to have the IT department involved with many tools out there for the employee such as Yahoo Pipes, Microsoft’s Popfly and IBM’s QEDwiki or Lotus Mashups.

I think mashups will get your employees more involved in the adapting of the Enterprise 2.0 tools. It’s not like the wiki where they dump off a huge file for everyone to collaborate on. One employee may need to see the locations of the country that generate the most revenue for statistical purposes. So they create a mashup. Later, the sales team sees the hot areas and begins to research more in depth why these areas are hot spots. This could ultimately lead to seeing more opportunities for your company. It can also foster two key elements of the Enterprise 2.0 process: the tool (the Mashup) and collaboration. More collaboration means more productivity.