Wiki in corporate environment - Wiki features and business

When we want to speak about implementation of wiki in business we have to look at the features of wiki and whether they are interesting for business. We also should ask if these functions are unique and no other software offer them. If both conditions - features can be used in the business AND these features are unique - are true, then wiki can be successfully used in corporate environment.

Wiki features and functionality

• Wiki is a social software - wiki enables social interaction, collaboration and information exchange. Wiki offers many-to-many type of communication.


• Wiki is open - anyone can edit any article or create new article on any topic (see wiki concept). There is of course other aspect of wiki openness - majority of wiki engines is open-source.


• Wiki is accessible through web browser - it is possible to access and work with wiki from anywhere, where internet is available.


• Wiki is easy to use - wiki is very easy to use. It is very similar to using text editor or blog. Some wikis even offer WYSIWIG editor, which makes editing even easier.


• Wiki allows connecting wiki pages easily - it is very easy to connect wiki pages using hypertext links. These are called wikilinks. Wikilinks are not just easy to create but extremly usefull as well especially when you want to cooperate with others - connecting your pages to other is really easy.

But what these functions and features mean to business? In the following text I will propose 3 main areas where in my opinion can wiki be used according to its functionality.

• Communication - It is very well known fact that employees are overhelmed by emails (Williams, T. "Too much email!", p. 40) which decreases their productivity. What is more interesting is that emails are used even for inter-company communication and project management. Usage of emails for such purpose is highly ineffective mainly due to two reasons: 1) it is difficult to search emails and 2) email messages once received are stored on local computer and not available to others from the company. Wiki on the other hand can be used for project management or can support inter-company communication, which is then stored in one place and therefore accessible from whole organisation.


• Collaboration - Nearly every job is now team work oriented and thus there is a strong need for tools that would support collaboration effectively. I strongly believe that wiki is one of the best tools for project management. It can become knowledge hub of the project - everything from schedules up to problem solutions can be stored in the wiki. It will be valuable not only for team members of project manager but it is valuable even when the project finishes - it can be checked which problems the team faced and how did they solve it.


• Knowledge sharing - since knowledge is the most important resource and only one that can offer competitive advantage (Wagner, Ch., "Wiki: A Technology For Conversational Knowledge Management and Group Collaboration", p. 265) it is crucial for the company to be able to share and store knowledge efficiently. Knowledge is very difficult to handle due to its heterogenity. Wiki thanks to its variable structure (there is no explicit data structure, users create it themselves) can became company's knowledge repository.

In this text I tried to determine main wiki features and functionality. I also proposed three main areas where wiki can be used. In the following article I will offer some case studies in order to support my analysis.