Since we started talking about the potential of Web2.0 in business and organizations, the idea seems to be gaining momentum across the board. Now, I’m not going to pretend that Robert Scoble has ever read anything I have written, but it is an interesting coincidence of timing that this is becoming a very hot topic. In this article, Scoble talks about a presentation he gave to a global audience of Cisco employees on how Web2.0 can solve real world problems in the enterprise.

One thing that jumped out at me was the elation of the audience when he talked about using these tools to reduce the amount of email they send and receive.

At one point during the presentation someone asked me what I’d do if I were trying to apply Web 2.0 techniques inside an Enterprise. I answered “every day I’d try to come up with some way to avoid using email.” I almost said it half in jest but was a little surprised when a sizeable cheer came from the audience.

They are sick of email. This is what Scoble is calling the “Enterprise Email Crisis.”

So what causes this email fatigue? The most common cause is that people use email for things that it just isn’t suited for. For example, collaboration. Scoble uses the example of emailing a Word document to 10 people to get their input (sound familiar? track changes, anybody?). This is horribly inefficient as no one can see what changes and recommendations others are making, you have (at least) 10 different versions of the document floating around, and someone has to go to the trouble of collating and reconciling all of the recommendations into a final document (which then has to be shared, again, and so on…). Email is not a collaboration tool.

So then, why do people us it as one? Because they are familiar with it; because it is the default way to communicate electronically; and because it is ubiquitous…everybody has an email address.

Scoble discusses real collaboration tools like online office suite Zoho and enterprise collaboration tools Mindtouch and Socialtext. These tools are designed to make collaboration efficient, easy, and effective. They can make a measurable difference in productivity, quality, and employee satisfaction.

Probably the most amazing aspect of this article is that Scoble didn’t mention his favorite social tool of all, FriendFeed. It’s a very powerful communication tool that we will be discussing soon.

How do your employees collaborate?

Read Scoble’s article: Scobleizer — The Enterprise Soft Spot, er, the Enterprise Email Crisis

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