A 1.0 Business Case for Government Web 2.0 Adoption
April 20, 2008 by Brian Lustig
For all its transformative potential, future adoption of Web 2.0 within the Federal government rests on the same business case requirements as any other product or service. And while enterprise wikis and secure video sharing applications are gaining converts in civilian, intelligence and defense organizations, decision makers in the upper echelons are still looking for strong cost and efficiency arguments to turn Web 2.0 applications from “nice to have” to “need to have.”
This point was made matter-of-factly by Tim Schmidt, CTO at the Department of Transportation, at last week’s Advanced Learning Institute Social Media for Government conference. Speaking April 16th at the Advanced Learning Institute’s Social Media for Government conference in Alexandria, Va., Schmidt hinted that a certain level of fear will always exist when it comes to high level decision makers embracing unfamiliar technologies. This was true in the early days of email and the Internet, and is once again playing out with Web 2.0.
To overcome this ingrained skepticism, Schmidt suggests that 2.0 champions must build a strong business case by laying out specific cost benefits in addition to independent data from industry analysts and others. Once the business case is made, 2.0 advocates face a secondary hurdle to alleviate upper management concerns of the security of these Web 2.0 applications - particular social media tools that encourage information sharing.
FCW recently cited one example of how Agencies are leveraging commercial social media applications while addressing security concerns. iVideo, a video sharing application much like YouTube, allows intelligence analysts and other employees with various levels of clearance across the globe to submit video that can then be viewed by those with proper access. The testing for this application - which first took place on an unclassified network - offers a guide on how even the most sensitive tasks can benefit from Web 2.0
Web 2.0 is not going to receive a free pass - nor should it - when it comes to evaluating the soundness of its business case. But as more champions emerge with demonstrable results and case studies, the willingness of upper management to adopt these tools and technologies will grow.
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