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Web 2.0 and Agile 

Web 2.0 is catching attention of all and organizations need to adopt a quick deployment strategy to stay in the game .Most Web 2.0 projects are consumer oriented and it is very important that users feedback are incorporated early to measure success. This would require a methodology which accommodates users feedback and also has a faster release cycle based on priorities.

Agile development which favors short iterations and continuous integration testing could be one of the methods that can be adopted.Agile development emphasizes the need for feedback, exploration and Release adaptation. One of the common themes in agile is “release early, release often.”, The Continuous feedback would ensure users involvement throughout and Agile development and this would ensure that the released product is as per users expectation and this is one of the key success factors in an Web 2.0 development .

In an Agile development we can use a combination of XP and SCRUM, SCRUM can be used for project Management and XP can be used for implementation. In this methodology it would be logical to group stories (Use cases) in multiple iterations and the Stories to be addressed in each iteration can been decided based on the dependency between stories. Techniques like the DSM would help in sequencing stories. Each group iteration can have 2-4 iterations and length of each of these iteration to be not more than 5 weeks, This would ensure that feedback from each iteration flows into subsequent iterations for action.

While it is commonly believed that this methodology can be applied only in scenarios where we need to closely interact with users and hence it is required that the execution needs to be done at customers site, we have seen large success adopting this in an onsite offshore environment but this needs to done in a well defined process  and clearly articulated deliverables .  

RIA, Is the most happening and buzz word making rounds in the internet world today. CIO’s are exploring this route to see if they can realize better $ returns thru increased customer satisfaction and also better customer retention. Organizations can leverage the benefits of RIAs by applying them to applications that require to be rich, interactive and responsive. RIA’s are associated with  AJAX, Flash, Flex and these have now become the defacto standard and is being used as the primary technology for building the RIA applications. Firms have leveraged the benefits of RIAs by applying them to user tasks that demand interactivity, responsiveness, and richness.While the concept and thought looks very interesting what is important is building the RIA applications using the right principals to achieve best results. Few of the principles are

1. Enhanced user interactions: RIA should adopt standards beyond the conventional UI controls provided by HTML like radio buttons, Text boxes etc ,The RIA application needs to use direct page interactions with minimal drag and drops and also the communication can be more pictorially represented which would increase the appeal factor, The increase in appealing factor should not be done at the cost of system performance and hence it is very important that one chooses the right element of RIA be it Ajax, flex or Flash .

 2. Design based on User groups:  Another factor that would drive the fitment of right RIA element is the user groups accessing the Portals , for eg : If the portals are designed for teens whose expectations are to have some flashy stuff on the portals then interactivity would take the highest priority and Flash would be better recommended for content richness

3. Broadband proliferation:  This plays an important role, for low bandwidth connections

Ajax may be the right choice as it can deliver the content with minimal performance bottlenecks although Flash continues to be designed to deliver rich experiences over low bandwidth connections.

As online experiences are replacing personal interactions it is very important that  RIA should be designed with the right elements .   

Today most of the ECM vendors in their journey of moving up the value chain are focusing on BPM and they are leveraging their workflow capabilities.While workflow can only be one component of the whole BPM space, I think ECM and BPM are complementary technologies with ECM providing a platform for organizing, storing and managing content and BPM is a framework for defining rules, modeling process, Analytics and activity monitoring. Workflow technology is not new and was a default feature that any CMS or Document management systems provided for eg all the ECM products be it Vignette, Interwoven, Documentum etc comes with default workflow capabilities. BPMS is a technology that has evolved lately and focuses on not just workflow and rules but on integration and business activity monitoring and pure play BPM systems aren’t designed to cater to content centric needs.

When organization have a content centric need like for eg loan originating system  ,It is a difficult choice to make between a ECM tool which provides an inbuilt  workflow capability in the ECM repository or a BPM systems that view those repositories as just another external information system. . It is not a good solution to choose either of them rather the best choice would be to use a combination of ECM tools and a rules driven BPMS  where the content centralization ,Process automation, workflow , Security definition ,events can be part of the ECM solution and rules for defining process flows should be part of the BPMS system   .To address this intersection there are number of ECM players who have come out with a BPM tool one such ECM player is Documentum who has implemented this very effectively in their latest versions. This concept can be of tremendous value especially in scenarios where we see events and rules driven processes.

The Obvious answer is it should be Web 3.0.  Web 2.0 is all about Collaboration, Social networking and obviously Web 3.0 would be its extension. Wikepedia defines Web 3.0 that describes the evolution of Web usage and interaction that includes transforming the Web into a database, a move towards making content accessible by multiple non-browser applications, the leveraging of artificial intelligence technologies and the Semantic web.Web 2.0 was often described with a concept that was capable of connecting different people together, With Web 3.0(Connected to 3D Virtual world) which is called the “semantic web “we would see machines doing intelligent things. In the next era of web 3.0 it would seem as if the machine is reading the mind and the data would be presented in what exactly is required by the user.Artificial intelligence will play a key role in seeing the success of Web 3.0. The underlying infrastructure also will be the key to see the success of this paradigm as this will be machine driven intelligence For eg :The Web pages in this era cant be viewed as just HTML pages  filled with information but  these are built on technology which understands the content value  . The most curious part which needs to watched out for are the companies who would be  leaders in this era ,Will it be Google or would it be companies strong on the infrastructure side since this would mean building intelligent and complex machines

Web 2.0 –Is this Hype or a Reality
Web 2.0 described as “Web as a Platform” , is a Buzzword making news everyday , It is not a specific technology but implies two step paradigm shift. The definition seems to be out of Sync as it conveys as though the Web was not a Platform earlier and is being viewed as one now, But reading between the definition it is clear that that the Web mattered again after the Bubble and lots of new items were getting added to make the user experience more appealing and further strengthen the power of WebWeb 2.0 is synonymous with Ajax,RSS, DHTML,Javascript,RIA,Flex,Flash ,Blogs etc etc but all these by itself cannot make an effective user experience solution , What the Web 2.0 can achieve is an increased user satisfaction like it can enable Internet users to author their own content. Personalization is another big topic in Web 2.0 ,Blogs which is a big evolution from Web 2.0 is a good way to personalize media content and hence is a good reflection of ones own thoughts . Web 2.0 is all about social computing and is a fusion of Media ,Digital and Web technologiesI think web 2.0 has lots of good things to offer and we need to look at how this can be applied for productivity improvements rather than dismissing this thought as a hype. Google Maps are a good example where their API rich interface allows developers to overlay any data onto any place, The Developers need not bother about the mapping system and populating geographical data but can focus on source and how to overlay it. Although the usage of API’s is not new what is different is definetly the simplicity with which it is built

Portals today has become the de facto UI for adoption of SOA and also for any Web based applications .Over the last few years the usage of portals has undergone a major transformation and the Portal is being viewed by companies today as a basic foundation and infrastructure for resolving business problems, Thereby increasing productivity and increased ROI .

While most of the companies clearly realize the value of creating enterprise portals, one of the Key points that ponder a CXO is the ROI and “True value for Investment”. For 70-80% of the companies Portal journey may not be the first time which means they must have invested in some portal solution small or big in at least a few departments in the organization. The major decision is whether they need to invest on standardizing portal infrastructure and hence achieve common integration between people, processes and technology.

Next comes creating a vision which aligns with immediate business needs and also provides a cushion for further scalability. The technology choice is not a easy decision either with so many open source and big vendors in the market the choice becomes even more difficult, added to this is the changing market positioning of each of these products each quarter .But The key decisive factor while selecting a tool or technology is best done when a good balance with regard to long term strategy with meeting the immediate business goals is taken into consideration. My experience with most of the customers have been that the major influencer with choice of the tool or technology has been the cost factor and vendors relationship with the client.

This long journey also needs to be taken in incremental steps which means Iimplementation of this vision needs to be done in multiple releases, tested, wait for user feedbacks before taking the next leap. A big bang approach may not be the right choice to complete this journey.

Last but not the least , one needs to adopt enterprise portal and create a differential value by building features which makes real business sense and not implement features just because a product provides them or it is the latest trend .one such example is the RIA and SOA that is being widely discussed today .

We need to do a context based, situational, competitive analysis before we can arrive at what can be best implemented for the portal before beginning the journey .Few examples are: customer facing portals, which is front facing for the business and is the key to increase the business, then RIA and SOA can be adopted but if this is for more of content portal then RIA doesn’t make any sense. For a KM portal features like advanced collaboration search, chat etc would definitely be a value addition. However one should definitely create this portal infrastructure keeping the long term strategy in mind

Web 2.0 is the next generation transformation of the World Wide Web, It is neither a new technology or a technique but it is a new way of thinking .Web 2.0 are a set of principles and practices that when applied would bring in the change .This concept is more an ‘evolution’ and has ‘revolutionized’ the world of web . The web is now been viewed as a participative medium with greater collaboration among Internet users, other users, content providers, and enterprises, Using the 2.0 principles of network effects , This eco system has now a greater benefiticial value . This concept could be extended to build a collaborative outsourcing ecosystem and could be related to Outsourcing 2.0

Web 2.0 is not just a ‘thing” It is a state of mind ,Outsourcing 2.0 is a Innovative state of mind in which customers could seamlessly weave internally and externally available services by applying the web 2.0 principles of Network effects thereby harnessing the collective intelligence within the network to optimize the profitability of their products, services, and business models
While cost is one of the factors for deriving outsourcing benefits, It is no longer a competitive edge and hence companies are adopting the global network effect and gain the first mover advantage. In order to gain maximum benefit it is important that the firms effectively harness innovation from a multiprovider services delivery network

Web 2.0 capabilities will bring in an entirely new mindset to the outsourcing community .It is not a product or a strategy ,it is not owned by any market segment .It is an intersection of this new and evolving outsourcing demographics and the power and capabilities of Web 2.0

Web 2.0 is a buzzword but the concept is important it embodies ideas like software as a service and open development, and wraps it in the bigger notion that the value of the Internet is in the ”long tail” .It is all about social networking and community collaboration which has revolutionalised the Web world. Mirroring this concept with the Global outsourcing we would set a stage for a change that would enable collaboration to take place across the globe and open up floodgates for more and more people, various cultures to get wired .

The merge of outsourcing and Web 2.0 is a real phenomenon that will take the outsourcing to the next level thereby increasing the capabilities and efficiencies. Globalization combined with the Web 2.0 principles can be a good intersection point for future outsourcing models, with this model companies can leverage varied infrastructure and cultures and hence can benefit use of best brainpower in the world and can create themselves a competitive advantage.