Wiki Sherry Martin, CEO Ref:

Wiki Sherry Martin, CEO Ref: Making communication more efficient through the use of Wiki technology This report will be structured to include both an objective analysis of the Wiki and the impact the use of such a tool is likely to have on an organization and will contain the necessary recommendations with regard to whether our company will benefit or not from the implementation of Wikis in our organization.

General Description of Wikis Colluding several definitions into one, Wikis represent "the simplest online database that could possibly work" This definition contains two of the most important characteristics that make up a Wiki: it is an online tool (with everything deriving from this, including security issues, but also the capacity of all with appropriate rights to access or edit content) and it is an extensive collection of data and information that are put together for the use of community interested in a particular subject or matter and working together towards editing and writing about the respective subject.

As the source mentions, there are several other secondary characteristics that define the Wiki. Most importantly, people who have the appropriate rights can either view or edit the data and content or can do both. At the same time, pages in a wiki link to one another through different hyperlinks, which extend the concept of collaborative writing by joining together pages on different subjects. All the editing of content can be done at an increasingly speedy pace, without too many necessary steps after a user become registered.

Potential advantages This part of the memo will list the advantages of wikis, which would be reflected at our company as well: Low cost. This is probably one of the greatest advantages, as a wiki platform provides a "low-cost alternative that brings key editing features into the hands of users" , which basically means that the wiki platform allows an organization to benefit from many of the features of more expensive content management solutions and applications.

The low cost is also translated in the post-implementation process: because the wiki applications are reasonably simple and easy to use, the company and company users will probably not need to have post-implementation training and the application will not require any technical support or similar services. Availability: there are numerous Wiki applications available, many of them over the Internet to which our company can have access either for free, in many cases, or for a small sum of money. Customization.

A Wiki application can be customized to fit the exact characteristics and needs of our company communication and joint collaboration. As such, for example, because our company is small, we would not need a large amount of storage, but may want to have other extra features. Easy implementation and training. As previously mentioned, the Wiki application would not require a large volume of training for the employees or a difficult implementation in our company. Flexibility.

Because of its simple structure and implementation, the Wiki application would be flexible for the users. Instantaneous. The concept of the wiki is in fact based on the fact that all content editing is instantaneous, which increases overall efficiency. In the case of our company, the usual email flow would require a series of replies, a communication that is difficult between several participants and a final approval from, Potential disadvantages Security issues.

The wiki application does not necessarily have to be online, but it will be installed either on a server or on an internal network. In both of these cases, there is always the risk that external individuals or entities may gain access to some of the reports and confidential data with which the company is working. Additional security barriers will increase overall costs. Import/export issues.

The type of activity that our company has may require, in many occasions, the wiki to either export data to other applications or to import such data into its system. In the present, this type of capability is not yet available, which makes it much more difficult to create our required documentation and materials. Suppose, for example, that the document requires, at some point, an import of a certain excel sheet or any other type of application. Potential technical failure.

If the wikis are hosted either externally or on the internal server, a failure of the respective server may lead to the work in progress being lost. Overall, our productivity may decrease at company level if such events occur on a repeated basis and additional costs may be incurred. Potential issues of managing content. With the content availability and flexibility also come the potential problems arising from the management of the existing content.

As such, some of the content may become obsolete at some point and would need to be deleted, some of the content might need to be restructured etc. Within our company, an improper management of all the data associated with the proposals, reports, and other documents that we need to publish could potentially result in reporting problems. With this conclusion also comes an additional issue: management problems may bring about additional costs.

Although an IT person to offer post-implementation services is not necessary, it may be the case that someone will actually have to be in charge of managing content and ensuring that a certain set of minimal rules are respected.

Recommendation The specificity of our company's activity (small company, but with a large amount of paperwork that is usually collaboratively authored and where a large number of individuals are involved in creating the final product) recommends that the company adopts, customizes and implements a wiki application by which it can reduce the amount of time spent in the collaborative enterprise of creating a report or any kind of documentation.

However, there are several important issues that the company will need to consider and that will need to be added before the final implementation: the security issues. The company should hire a specialized security consultant that can implement a secure system for the wiki application and communication over such environment; the workload/content management. There should be a 'wiki manager' that can ensure that the content is constantly updated and cleaned of the parts that are no longer needed in the process. Bibliography 1. Tonking, Emma. 2005. Making.