Web 2.0 is Multi-Dimensional

Jason Corsello’s comments on Web 2.0 triggered (in part) by my post last week are getting my juices flowing!  And for me, it brought into focus that there are (at least) three dimensions on which we software guys need to think about Web 2.0:

• UI — not a big deal — relatively straightforward, and I wouldn’t do anything but agree with Jason’s comment
• Leveraging system-of-record data for collaboration in other platforms (my original comment)
• Vendor positioning on just what they are developing in response to the evolving Web 2.0 technologies (Jason’s follow-on comment)

I believe that our current (and future) customers need all three — a great user experience, an application taxonomy that allows us to really capture the data in a sensible way (Naomi Bloom would be proud!) AND some rich applications that make a difference.

At HR tech last year we introduced two of them — the use of Microsoft Outlook as the primary user interface for manager self-service, and our Come Work with Me widget that allows a Facebook user to add their employer’s jobs page to their personal Facebook page.  And Jason’s dead on — get the search capability right once and for all.

I’m always looking for great new applets that can leverage these Web 2.0 technologies and we intend to keep building them (and I’ll save any specifics for a future product announcement) — but I would welcome andy and all ideas from those of you out in the blogsphere!