Business+Web 2.0 from McKinsey

McKinsey has an insightful new study on business and web 2.0 that’s well worth a read. [Free, but registration required.]

For the past three years, roughly 1,700 executives from around the world—across a range of industries and functional areas—have responded to a McKinsey survey on how organizations are using Web 2.0 technologies. This year we created an interactive tool that links the data from these survey results and charts it to the emerging trends in Web 2.0 adoption.

Adoption is spotty but growing fast:

Companies are using web 2.0 tech to solve problems with partners and suppliers:

20%-30% are using web 2.0 tech to improve customer service:

Companies are satisfied with the results they’re receiving:

If your company is not on board, you’re trailing the pack:

The companion article, How companies are benefiting from Web 2.0: McKinsey Global Survey Results, is well worth reading.

The heaviest users of Web 2.0 applications are also enjoying benefits such as increased knowledge sharing and more effective marketing. These benefits often have a measurable effect on the business.

McKinsey doesn’t shy away from the MacGuffin: organization-wide adoption is not a day at the beach:

Many companies experiment with Web 2.0 technologies, but creating an environment with a critical mass of committed users is more difficult. The survey results confirm that successful adoption requires that the use of these tools be integrated into the flow of users’ work. Furthermore, encouraging continuing use requires approaches other than the traditional financial or performance incentives deployed as motivational tools. In the Web community, status is often built on a reputation for making meaningful contributions. Respondents say informal incentives incorporating the Web ethos, such as ratings by peers and online recognition of status, have been most effective in encouraging Web 2.0 adoption.

In helping organizations integrate web 2.0 into how they do business, I’m finding there’s no silver bullet. Changing course requires a blunderbuss approach: chipping away at corporate culture, management practice, experimentation, daring, learning, and more.