1. Web 2.0 Networked Enterprises – Indian IT Service Providers
Web 2.0 include social networking sites, blogs, wikis, video sharing sites etc that allows
users to interact and collaborate with each other. These collaborative technologies are
widely being used in the organizations to connect the internal employees of the
organizations to share knowledge and expertise that ultimately benefit the clients and
customers. These platforms engage employees and encourage them in providing the
innovative ideas and discuss and collaborate on the ideas and control attrition.
Management also used such platforms as a two way communication channel with
employees and invite ideas form employees to tide over the recession and Indian IT
service vendors used these well in recent recession. McKinsey has studied the enterprise
use for the past four years and found that the adoption has increased tremendously in
organizations, saw significant rise in their margins and market share gains and
improvement in customer/client relationships.
Tata Consultancy services (TCS) developed a platform called Ultimatix which helps to
consolidate internal systems and take advantage of group knowledge. TCS invested in
this platform of wikis, personalized sites, blogs that not only bring employees together
but also help employees to collaborate for organizational benefits. Justask is similar to
that of a Q&A forum that enable employees to ask questions openly, Ideamax encourages
employees to share their ideas about a particular technology or a process. Ultimatix
integrated 50 core applications to streamline operations and internal collaboration for
more than 700 business processes. It integrated all internal processes, including HR,
finance, and project management, to support over 100,000 staff.
Infosys intranet Sparsh, the information intranet of Infosys, allows every single member
of Infosys to be connected at all times was rated among the world’s top 10. It serves as
an internal social network, and members can exchange ideas by email, bulletin boards
and can also hold discussions. Sparsh has helped Infosys in reducing operating costs and
meeting clients’ needs even more efficiently, and increase in operating margins. Sparsh is
coupled with KShop; a knowledge database where Infosys has book reviews, case
studies, even materials, FAQs, tutorials, downloadable software etc for every employee.
Wipro intranet is called as ‘Channel W’, which was launched in 2000 is a communication
channel. Employees can discuss what is happening inside the company, share
ideas/thoughts and post advertisements (such as, looking for an apartment or selling old
furniture) in their discussion boards. The intranet provides a platform to share knowledge
among Wipro employees and collaborate with one another across various locations.
Wipro launched ‘My Wipro World’ in 2009 on the Web 2.0 platform which is an
evolution of ‘Channel W’.
Cognizant spent nearly $10 million on its C2 platform according to IDC. Cognizant 2.0
maps the entire workflow, across varied skills, geographies and business units and it
reduces time to identify the best team for the project. The network connects associates,
clients, and stakeholders and also helps to share knowledge using blogs and wikis, and

2. manage projects using consistent tools and process. The C2 has around 60,000 active
users and the site records over six million page views every month.
HCL Technologies has many initiatives such as social network called U&I that
employees can use to interact with CEO, Communities called Employee First Councils
around health and hygiene, art, music, corporate social responsibility and business related
passions such as a particular technology or a vertical domain area, My Blueprint, another
social networking system allowing managers to share plans for their specific business
areas and get feedback from another 8000 HCLT managers. The company Employee
First and Customer Second policy itself highlights the importance for a strong intranet
within the organization to engage in open dialogue with his employees.
Adoption of Web 2.0 technologies into the organizations and use of these technologies by
employees on a day to day basis have lead to good operating margins and increase in
market share for the organizations. Employees actively participate in such initiatives
which will lead to reduced attrition and increased productivity. The organizations can
take a step further and use these technologies in managing their relationships with
customers which will be a win – win situation for both the parties.
Discussion Points:
1. How to adopt and invest in Web 2.0 Technologies and how to integrate into
Organization?
2. How to encourage the employees and other stakeholders to actively participate
and derive the benefits?
3. How can organizations profit from Web 2.0 Technologies?