Unlike many new technologies, Web 2.0 is being driven not by businesses, but by the way consumers have harnessed the web – so-called “social networking”. When I think of Web 2.0 at a high level, I think of the way my kids have embraced the web, and how it has become an integral part of their lives – there is virtually no distinction between what they do in-person and what they do on-line.
Take MySpace for example. My youngest son just started high school. His primary means of communication with his sister – a junior in college - is not cell phone, not email, and I don’t even think he knows how to use pen and paper. They communicate through MySpace. Why? Because to them, MySpace isn’t simply a communications device or a website to visit – it is a natural part of their lives – an extension of their bedroom, if you will. On MySpace, it’s not simply voice or “flat” email, but the ideal media for sharing everything that is important to them – photos, music, video, and so on. Their interactions on MySpace are richer and more meaningful than other devices – the closest thing they’ve found to interacting face-to-face.
WebEx has always been about using the web to collaborate, and we like to think that WebEx has been instrumental in the Internet-driven “flattening” of the world. Our vision of Web 2.0 is in many ways replicating the social networking experiences in a way that is relevant to business. I say “relevant” rather than “identical” for there are big differences. It would be dangerous to apply the principals of MySpace or FaceBook or blogging or wiki’s directly to business without being mindful of business needs.
To me, the difference centers around the fact that we are living in an age characterized by a glut of information and a shortage of time – try as we might the 24-hour day remains a fairly rigid constant. Time is a more pressing need for business than the teenager browsing FaceBook to make some new virtual “friends.” The fundamentals of business haven’t changed – we’re all here to make money and increase our value for shareholders.
So for WebEx, Web 2.0 comes down to the acceleration of business: harnessing the tools and technologies we’ve honed over about ten years. Tools that allow businesses to use the web for collaboration – the most fundamental of business all processes. We are combining that knowledge with the phenomena we’ve all observed in a Web 2.0 world that is becoming increasing interactive, and therefore, increasingly collaborative. This is no longer simply an economy of scale, but an economy of speed – an economy that allows a shift in power and influence from the Fortune 500 to the Global 50 Million.
Our vision of Web 2.0 is best captured in WebEx Connect, our
next generation of web collaboration. WebEx Connect changes the concept of a
meeting from an “event” to a “place.” It expands the concepts of presence and
buddy lists to cross-function and cross-company teams and team spaces, with
real-time access to each other and documents of common interest to the teams. All
of which happens independent of specific devices or the physical location of
data. And because time and speed are so
important to business, the technologies we harness in capturing “Web 2.0 for
business” or “
The combination of Cisco and WebEx will change business’s perception of technology from the “desktop” to the “webtop”, much as my kids have changed their perception of physical space to MySpace.
Gary Griffiths, President, Products and Operations, WebEx
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