In spite of the previous generations of computing systems, business is unique to each company. No company was started to act and behave like all of the other competitors in the market. No new market was conceived and created with the hope of being just like everyone else. New business methods and technology now exist that extend the investments made in E 1.0 and migrate innovation to the network. Business already has the strong consolidated view of data but requires constant innovation at a speed E1.0 cannot provide. A new generation of solution, Enterprise 2.0 (E2.0), are available today that learn from the strengths and the weaknesses of the past generations. The primary architecture of this generation, E2.0 systems, is the Network.

E2.0 builds upon E1.0, filling in the gaps of missing technology, data or process improvements that the existing system was not developed to accommodate. Opportunity for improvement can now be explored and measured on a smaller scale to eliminate business disruption. Initiatives and strategies of a company that are targeted at making them unique can now be implemented rapidly in response to changing requirements or competitive opportunity. The very thing that constituted competitive advantage is returned to the control of business.

Implementation of E2.0 applications is rapid. Requiring no code change to existing investments and allowing a much more manageable level of scope (a single process), risk is all but eliminated. By focusing in an area for improvement in your operation, without having to address the entire operation, offers freedom to explore gains in productivity, accuracy and quality. The scale of the impact can be measured before full scale investment and roll out to the entire operation. Adjustments to the E2.0 solution are virtually immediate and support the incremental development of competitive advantage and the resulting increases in revenue and margin.

E2.0 Apps have low costs to prototype and low costs to roll out when the improvement is measured to provide a Return on Investment. E1.0 systems cost approximately $6.7K per year per user just to support, and consume 2/3rds of IT’s budget. E2.0 Apps allow you to reduce the on-going costs of E1.0 systems, freeing enough from existing budgeting levels to pay for E2.0. Maintenance costs are lowered for E2.0 Apps v. E1.0 because the customer determines how their business operates, the support required from E2.0 vendors is version, bug fixes and upgrade and not custom solution support.

The alternative to E2.0 is to keep running your E0.1 and/or E1.0 systems. Be prepared for increasing costs in your entire business as new requirements stretch the capabilities of those systems. As new markets, new regulations, new compliance, new competitors and new opportunity arise: be prepared to miss the highest returns available. First to market is a great way to reap the highest rewards. Best in market establishes the long term rewards. E2.0 allows you to be both while earlier versions limit your opportunity.