In 2007, we began surveying companies on their use of Web 2.0 technologies.  When we compare the results over these three years, we have seen a steady increase in the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies by employees for internal collaboration and for communicating with customers.  Interestingly, the percentage of companies using these technologies for connecting with business partners and suppliers has remained relatively constant over the three years. (Click here for the findings from our latest survey.)

Across all categories, the use of Web 2.0 technologies by employees for internal purposes has increased from 53% in 2007 to 65% of respondents in 2009. The largest components of growth have come from using Web 2.0 to develop new products / services internally, to manage internal knowledge and to reinforce the company culture via tools such as internal social networking applications.  The companies who have embedded these tools in their day-to-day activities and processes have seen the largest impact by improving communication across silos to reduce duplicate work and leverage experts in other areas.

Improving customer interactions has been another goal of Web 2.0 tools, with growth from 48% in 2007 to 58% of respondents this year. The growth in this area came from improving customer service and marketing engagement. There are some differences across sectors here, with technical fields (e.g., computer hardware providers) having the most mature customer communities, which do a number of things, from providing product support, testing new product ideas and improving targeted marketing.  However, given their broad applicability, we are seeing these uses migrate across industries, especially toward consumer packaged goods and services.  Companies have repeatedly found that using Web 2.0 technologies is an effective way to cheaply reach a broad set of customers. While many adopters are concerned about unfavorable opinions expressed in these semi-public forums, this risk seems to be easily mitigated via part-time moderators.

In contrast, over the past 3 years, the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies for connecting with business partners and suppliers has stagnated at 40%.  We have measured minimal changes in how companies integrate or coordinate using Web 2.0, and tapping into external networks of experts has also largely plateaued. We believe the informal nature of many Web 2.0 technologies runs counter to the formal relationships between many suppliers and partners.  Although some companies have broad collaborative relationships with each other, most have well structured points of interaction to manage specific business processes.

The momentum we see in the growth of Web 2.0 technologies implies we will see higher penetration in 2010 for using these technologies for employees to collaborate and to facilitate interactions with customers.  To drive increased usage for managing interactions with suppliers and partners, companies will need to find ways use these technologies to augment the formal relationships between business entities and not substitute formal interactions with more ad hoc ones. Nonetheless, it is clear that expertise in the use of Web 2.0 technologies is becoming a required skill for all enterprises.