Web 2.0 just won't go away

If you are an information development professional, toiling away in corporate America, producing manuals, or web copy, or learning modules for customers, support staff, sales, or marketing initiatives, you might be wondering about the web 2.0 communications mesh. Or maybe we should call it the web 2.0 communications mess.

If you have a limited budget and ramp-up time but have been asked to use Web 2.0 tools to improve your documentation projects and customer satisfaction, with an eye to ROI and costs, what would you pick to implement first?

• install an internal wiki
• port all the manuals to html and post them on the corporate web
• argue in favor of a CEO blog for promulgating the "authentic" voice
• do all project management online
• abandon MS Office for Google tools
  

If you are considering doing any of these things, we'd like to hear from you. It's confusing out there and it's also hard to measure results.

Why does SaaS Matter?

Software as a service is so prevalent now that it seems archaic to order an application on a CD. Online pay-as-you go tools and online file storage blur the line between locally-owned and web-based content and tools. Even so, loosening your iron grip on the CD takes some getting used to.

A NYT article on consumer behavior toward media purchases suggests that younger (under 40) folks don't have this need to hold and touch their media purchases. Downloading and single-item selection make them total strangers to this media ownership concept. They have never had 3-ring linen binders of user docs in box sleeves that signified an authorized purchase. They never kept torn off bits of packaging listing serial numbers and product keys taped to installation instructions and jammed into busted CD jewel cases. They aren't chumps willing to pay 700 or 1400 bucks for bundled applications.

Bravo to them.

But in trading ownership for convenience and easy, regular updates, what have we lost? SaaS seems to place greater emphasis on the web-based aspect of the software and much less on its features and help. For example, using Google docs makes collaboration easy--this blog is written in Google docs then published to Blogger. But for corporate doc development and sharing, the tool set is minimal and you can quickly run short of format options that render it useless except for memo-length work.

What's your experience with a free or paid SaaS app?