Everybody is talking about it (aside: most are getting it wrong but I will take that on later) but how are businesses using Web 2.0 related technology?

A recent survey conducted by McKinsey sought to answer that question by surveying almost 2900 (2847 to be specific) executives  worldwide on their adoption, satisfaction and thoughts about Web 2.0 technology. For clarification, McKinsey considers the following to be Web 2.0: “blogs, collective intelligence (crowdsourcing aka widom of the crowds), social networking (FaceBook, MySpace, LinkedIn), podcasting, RSS, peer-to-peer networking (BitTorrent, eDonkey, Limewire, etc.), web services (SOAP, WSDL, UDDI) and wikis.

Among their primary findings:

1. More than 3/4 of executives who responded say they plan to maintain or increase their investments in collaborative technology.
2. More than 1/2 are pleased with their past internet investments.
3. Many executives felt remiss in not increasing their (companies) capabilities to leverage technology.
4. Of those executives from companies that did adopt new technologies, many felt they moved to slowly.
5. In emerging markets (India, Latin America, etc.) executives intend to move more quickly to capture key benefits of these technologies.

A particularly interesting point is the fact that despite the widespread adoption of Web 2.0 technologies many companies aren’t using the better known tools (blogs, etc.). In fact they are using these tools to communicate with customers, achieve tighter integration with partners and facilitate collaboration and manage knowledge inside of the company. Of those that are using Web 2.0 technologies, few are using more than two different types.

Among the reasons cited for the use and investment in Web 2.0 are doing so either to “maintain the company’s market position”, “provide a competitive edge” or “address customer demand”. However, another more startling reason was to “match the competition.” So much for rational business decisions.

You can read / download the survey: How businesses are using Web 2.0: A McKinsey Global Survey from the fine minds at The McKinsey Quarterly (Free Registration Required).

So as association executives, how are you implementing and using Web 2.0 technology? Why are you doing it? What technologies do you feel create the most value for members? Let me know.

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