Innovators & Influencers: From Web 2.0 To Enterprise 2.0Innovators & Influencers: From Web 2.0 To Enterprise 2.0

Lots of CIOs pay lip service to Enterprise 2.0, the sometimes esoteric movement toward using consumer technologies like blogs and wikis to create a more collaborative business environment. JP Rangaswami not only is driving those Web processes internally as CIO of BT Global Services, but he's also helping the carrier's customers get on board.

The focal point is the 21st Century Network, a broadband, multimedia IP network BT is rolling out worldwide. As envisioned, the network will let users customize their own networks for Web 2.0 collaboration.

One place Rangaswami sees blogs helping businesses is in moving from the idea stage to a finished product. Conventional business frameworks are too linear for that kind of fluid process, he says. On the other hand, turning a prospect into a sale requires more structure, a process better served through wikis, where the definitions and workflows can be refined and enhanced. Blogs are for the "creators and the thinkers," Rangaswami says, while wikis are "about doing things rather than thinking about things."

Rangaswami hopes to become something of an evangelist for Enterprise 2.0. In his previous job as CIO of bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein, "I was just helping make money by moving money around," he says. Now he's helping customers internally and externally get information into the hands of the right people at the right time.

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