WIKIS IN BUSINESSBy: Brandt Marine, Brandon Sohl, Andrew Doyle

Outline

Problem Statement and Factors Background on Wikis Types of Wikis Wikis vs. Email Recommendation

Problem Statement and Factors

The goal of this research was to evaluate if businesses can benefit from implementing wikis into their workplace.

FactorsProductivityEfficiency

Background on Wikis

SoftwareCentral location

Ward Cunningham, 1995Portland Pattern Repository

WikipediaAccess

Geek Squad

Robert Stephens, founder of Geek Squad

Bought by Best Buy Geek Squad wiki

Distribute ideas throughout organizationUse other forms of communication like video

games and blogs

Wikis in Business

Nokia (13,600 using wiki)Update schedulesMonitor project statusExchange ideas

Connects departments

Yahoo, Kodak, Disney

Types of Wikis

Personal WikiAlso known as a “Meeki”Many people can seeOne person can change contents

Types of WikisPrivate Wiki Gated Access Wiki

Bigger Business Select list of users Password needed to

access Individual knowledge to a

central location Customer relations and

direct access to employees

Small Business Select list of users Password needed to

access Individual knowledge to a

central location Connection of business

to business sources

Types of Wikis

Public Wiki with Open AccessSimilar to WikipediaNo control of changes in informationHard to keep information legitimate Used for public opinion

Wiki Example

Wiki Spaces http://businesswikis.wikispaces.com/

Wiki vs. Email

Advantages of wikiCut down on emails sent in a dayCollaborate ideas in central location

Advantage of emailOpen SourcePrivate conversations

Wikis Vs Email

Source: http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/index.php/2008/03/26/wiki-collaboration-leads-to-happiness/

Examples of Wikis

Luis Suarez, executive of IBMReduced email from 175 emails/week to 35

emails/weekAverage of 5 minutes per email saved 700

minutes per week

Business Types and Wikis Company Intranet Corporate Documentation Organize and Display:

Meeting NotesProject AgendasCalendars

Cost Efficiency

Business Types and Wikis Formatting Maintenance Not a good conversational tool

Conclusion

Background on Wikis

Types of Wikis

Wikis vs. Email

Recommendation

Wikis over Email for collaboration

FactorsEfficiencyProductivity

Private Wiki or Gated Access Wiki

RecommendationConsider a wiki: Do not consider a wiki:

The company is looking to establish a company intranet The company needs to use complex file formats

The company is looking to publish a range of corporate

documents in a universal location

The company does not have a staff member to organize and

format the wiki

The company is looking to manage meeting notes, project

agendas, and calendars

The company is looking for a debate of opinions

The company is looking a cheap project management tool

accessible through your web browser

The company is looking a central location for large teams to put

documents

Sources Carlin, Dan. (2007). Corporate wikis go viral. Business Week, Retrieved November 18, 2010,

from http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2007/tc20070312_476504.ht

Goodnoe, Ezra. (2005). How to use wikis for business. Information Week, Retrieved November 18, 2010, from http://www.informationweek.com/news/global-cio/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=167600331&pgno=1&queryText=&isPrev

Lynch, C. (2008, December). Seven Keys to Choosing and Managing a Corporate Wiki. CIO. Retrieved November 18, 2010, from http://www.cio.com/article/472369/Seven_Keys_to_Choosing_and_Managing_a_Corporate_Wiki

Mell, J. (2008, March 18). Wikis as alternatives to email – find the ROI. . Retrieved November 18, 2010, from http://jonmell.co.uk/wikis-as-alternatives-to-email-find-roi/

Schneider, Ivan. (2007). What's a wiki? part ii. Information Week, Retrieved November 18, 2010, from http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=201400&queryText=what%27s%20a%20wiki%20part%20II

Williams, A. (2008, March 26). Wiki collaboration leads to happiness. Wikinomics. Retrieved November 18, 2010, from http://www.wikinomics.com/blog/index.php/2008/03/26/wiki-collaboration-leads-to-happiness/