Wrapping up Enterprise 2.0

I got to spend about a day and a half last week at Enterprise 2.0.  Overall I was impressed with the energy of the event.  I sat in on a couple of sessions (well, stood in was more like it as many sessions were SRO), and I had the opportunity to moderate sessions on Facebook and communications-enabled business processes.

I got the sense that most of the attendees were still trying to figure out Enterprise 2.0.  From the Q&A I heard, there seemed to be a lot of focus on trying to understand exactly what Enterprise 2.0 is, and perhaps more importantly, how to justify adoption.  E 2.0 doesn't seem to fit into a neat little bucket, rather its more of a vision for applications that foster free flow of information and remove barriers related to platform or location.  It was apparent that many of the attendees are still just trying to get their arms around E 2.0.

On the show floor I had the opportunity to chat with several vendors, an interesting mix of traditional telecom companies such as Alcatel-Lucent, the large collaboration vendors such as Microsoft, Oracle, and IBM, and dozens of start-up companies offering everything from simple Wiki platforms to management services for Drupal.  Again, I think the variety of vendors underscores the breadth of E 2.0 technologies, and I expect to see more diversity in future events.

Overall it was a worthwhile event, with a very engaging crowd.  Q&A was never a problem for me as a moderator.  And my information on enterprise adoption of social networking was well received.  I look forward to the opportunity to continue to participate in helping to shape future programs.