Enterprise 2.0 in action: Potentials for improvement of awareness support in enterprises

In this paper we investigate conceptually and empirically in a software development company whether Enterprise 2.0 components contain awareness mechanisms. As a result, we introduce additional mechanisms to take the first step to improve awareness in complex cooperative work environments. After a short introduction to the concepts awareness, awareness mechanisms, and Enterprise 2.0 we describe a case study to find out patterns of awareness in collaborative work processes and the missing awareness support. We approach the problem by trying to understand which Enterprise 2.0 components are related to which awareness mechanisms, and to which degree Enterprise 2.0 fulfills awareness requirements of complex collaborative work. Our study results in the identification of two different categories: system- and user-related awareness mechanisms. Search, extensions, and signals - supporting system-related mechanisms - are the most common components that are already established by different tools. Authoring, links, and tags - assisting user-related mechanisms - on the other hand, have not been utilized yet. They are very powerful to create context and capture collective knowledge. To support this, we introduce additional awareness mechanisms like enter, annotate, rate, share, reference, select, mark, and label, to show how these three components can be implemented in enterprises. By doing so, we present the potential of Enterprise 2.0 to support awareness in cooperative work. The new map of awareness mechanisms to Enterprise 2.0 inform not only the developers of tools supporting (aware) collaboration but also practitioners working in teams to define their requirements to such tools.