I guess we have all heard the term ‘Web 2.0’ being used with increasing frequency. Indeed, there are times when I have wondered if it is simply a convenient ‘buzz phrase’ to sound as if someone knows what they are talking about and/or whether it is being used in the correct context. As the least ‘geeky’ member of AT8, I thought it would be worth looking at from my perspective as it is one of those terms that is difficult to define consistently, but many seem to instinctively know what it means. The Life Office Managers Association (LOMA – USA) has been looking at Web 2.0 in insurance and as I read their article, I couldn’t help but check the definition on an archetypical Web 2.0 application itself – Wikipedia. I had personally seen applications that fall into the Web 2.0 category as being ‘participative web/platform applications’. Interestingly, similar terms are being used by others more distinguished than me – perhaps indirectly influencing my own educational osmosis.
So, what does Wikipedia say it is?
‘Web 2.0′ refers to a perceived second generation of web development and design, that facilitates communication, secure information sharing, interoperability, and collaboration on the World Wide Web. Web 2.0 concepts have led to the development and evolution of web-based communities, hosted services, and applications such as social-networking sites, video-sharing sites, wikis, blogs, and folksonomies.
Is the future value of Web 2.0 hype or reality and what should people be doing? Many out there would say that Web 2.0 is simply ‘Social Networking’, but in my opinion, that conclusion would underplay the wider potential and I’m not sure if it is borne out of ignorance or technology snobbery. Sure, it would encompass applications such as Facebook, MySpace and Professional networking sites such as LinkedIn. However, this open, collaborative sharing is being used more widely and with a broader user group. Perhaps the ‘Social Networking’ association has acted as a barrier to some in the industry, but more companies in the US and here in the UK are beginning to take the business applications more seriously. The use of Wikis and blogs as a means of knowledge and communication management is being adopted by more organisations – albeit mainly on intranets for internal use across organisations for the moment. However, this limited exposure to the potential uses could fuel an exponential increase in adoption and may even result in a wider engagement with agents and customers as well as suppliers and partners on a multi-national basis once people start to recognise the power of user-generated content. How often do people in departments, companies and countries ‘reinvent the wheel’ with the associated duplication and costs? Whether it be technical departments, product development, actuarial or underwriting, the ability to collaborate as a wider community in a simple accessible medium must have significant business benefits. In a past life, when merging one Life company with another, my own company had one POS system, whilst the other company had seven… yes, seven! Worse still, they didn’t even realise that was the case until doing the merger due diligence!
Terms like, Cloud, Wikis, Blogs, Social or Professional Networking, Mashups and Twitter will be varyingly understood or misunderstood. Is Web 2.0 the ‘next wave’? Well, companies in our industry should not ignore it. The point I always feel about technology is that it is a ‘means to an end’ rather than an end in itself. It should not be ignored or tainted by unhelpful preconceptions, but it should instead be considered for how it may serve the business and its customers. The ‘what’ and ‘how’ may not be immediately obvious and could involve new ideas and initiatives. However, as a non-geek, Web 2.0 could be like a technological cooperative, where the power of participation gained through engaging empowerment could be enormously beneficial.
