Christopher S. Rollyson and Associates

Enterprise 2.0 Adoption by Investment Banks 2007

Leveraging Web 2.0 to Drive Productivity

Investment banks' performance is largely driven by how fast they can innovate, how effectively their people use information to execute, and how they grow client relationships. Collaboration among far-flung teams is a key performance driver because it reduces the friction embedded in interpersonal transactions.

E-Business, now known as enterprise 1.0, slashed transaction costs by giving people access to enterprise systems via standardized Web browsers. Enterprise 2.0 will have an even more dramatic impact on productivity because it reduces transaction costs by giving people access to other people, sharply boosting the breadth and depth of collaboration. It holds special relevance to investment banking because it enables people to locate and distribute emerging, unique information very quickly and efficiently.

In 2007, bank visionaries have been proving the enterprise 2.0 value proposition, but they have struggled to get mindshare. Stakeholders don't feel compelled to act because they don't know about competitors' Enterprise 2.0 activities. Due to CSRA's current client work, we know that extensive work is happening under the radar.

This adoption study will show participants what their peer group is doing—without disclosing what any individual firm is doing.

The study's main deliverables will be reports that will detail, in general, the nature and number of enterprise 2.0 projects that are currently underway within investment banks, as well as future plans.

The study will significantly help visionaries to explain enterprise 2.0's relevance and value proposition.