Web 2.0 in small business

If today we invite Internet audiences to answer the question “Have you heard about Web 2.0”, the vast majority will answer in the affirmative. However, if you ask these people to name a few projects that use Web 2.0 technologies in business, few of them will name at least one such project. And no wonder, every day there are new publications about community-oriented projects. There are publications about solutions using data from popular third-party projects. But finding publications about using the potential of Web 2.0 in the corporate infrastructure is not so simple. As a result, developers often simply do not “see” Web 2.0, trying it on with corporate solutions. I decided to try to consider in the light of the trends of Web 2.0 a workflow familiar to developers, a typical workflow of a web development studio.


So, we list the sequence of iterations in the process. The client goes to the studio. A client manager communicates with him, and at the same time outlines the conversation. If the client has a poor idea of ​​his needs in the electronic business, he is asked to fill out a special form. Then a commercial proposal is formed and transmitted to the client. After the approval of this document, the project structure is agreed upon, then the structure of the templates. Further, the technical task is developed and agreed until the final version is developed. Next, a design concept is proposed for approval, then graphic templates. Then the layout and programming of the project are made. After that, the testing and commissioning stages begin.

How to increase the efficiency of the process? This begs the extranet system, which includes a number of corporate applications. We see that at each stage of the technological process corresponding different types of documents are formed, which should be stored in a common archive. Moreover, in the process of approving documents, their versions sometimes multiply exponentially. Sometimes you can see documents with the heading "The latest TK, stopudovo, 2". Obviously, Outlook is not the best solution in this case, and you need a tool for collaborating on documents, allowing access to folders for a given group of users, supporting various file formats and version control. It would be nice to use the functionality of a ready-made solution here, say www.esnips.comto create an online file archive. It would be just great to use the ability of www.scribd.com to view electronic documents via the Web. However, neither the first nor the second project offers an open API for implementing The Long Tail. Thus, this problem can be solved either by developing your own solution or by integrating the extranet system with an internal electronic document management system.

In addition to electronic document management, the process needs effective time management. As part of the RG Lab, we use an application developed in Lotus Notes for these purposes. Fortunately, Lotus offers a ready-made SOAP server and, accordingly, getting a full-featured web-based application interface within the extranet of the system does not seem difficult.

Something like the AWP of a studio employee is starting to emerge. AJAX allows you to organize a customizable desktop interface (www.pageflakes.com) so that studio staff can see all the processes that interest them on one page. Mindful of the precepts of Tim O'Reilly, we must encourage employees to interact. Add a knowledge base (KMS) to the system. The easiest way is to integrate Wiki-based software. By the way, the same platform can be used for a corporate bulletin board. Then we add AJAX-based chat to one of the windows of the “desktop”. Moreover, due to the fact that today the API of the leading instant messenger pagers (www.meebo.com) is available, we can organize bridges between the networks so that employees can use familiar programs. Integration with 1C and a little “shamanism” will allow employees to possess operational information about personal accruals (salaries, bonuses, etc.). You can add to the system the ability to plan tasks by integratingCalendar Viewing google . However, when the API www.HipCal.com (http://www.hipcal.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=149) opens, it will be possible to provide users of the system with full personal online organizers.

Summing up, we can say that today, of the stated trends of Web 2.0, only service-oriented architecture and AJAX-based interfaces are applicable for optimizing the e-business of a small company. Syndication and participation architecture can give a certain effect to companies with a large staff. The Long Tail model has good prospects if owners of popular services open their APIs and support the OpenID initiative. I see no reason for them to open the API for use in private closed networks, however, the trend of paid rental services is gaining momentum.