The first generation Web focused on pushing out content in a one-way mode. In contrast, Web 2.0 provides a very dynamic, highly interactive user experience, similar to consumer Web sites, such as amazon.com or ebay.com. Steve Papermaster, chairman and CEO of nGenera, a company that offers a platform for transforming next generation enterprises, says, “You don’t notice the technology. Instead, you’re completely tied in with your environment. It’s like you become one with it.”
Enterprise 2.0, Web 2.0 technologies taken one step further, includes a portfolio of newer, mostly on-demand technologies designed for the enterprise. These technologies could include open source, on demand software as a service applications, or other types of on-demand cloud-based applications and services. Papermaster says that the key question is how do these new technologies impact and power capabilities in the enterprise? He says, “You need to understand the business benefit and the economic benefit before you seriously start to deploy them.”
Papermaster’s company has established itself as one of the forthcoming providers of next generation enterprise applications to major companies. In fact, Rob Carter, CIO of FedEx says that nGenera’s collaborative platform enables companies like FedEx to develop new business models and to stay ahead of the competition.
In this podcast, Papermaster talks about some of the business models that Web 2.0 can produce for global companies that deploy it, but also the new types of business models their customers can derive from dealing with it.
Bio Since the founding of nGenera (previously BSG Alliance), Steve Papermaster has been the company chairman and CEO. His other entrepreneurial experiences include the following: chairman, CEO, and or board member for Powershift Ventures LP, Perficient, Inc., Vignette Corporation, Per Se Technologies (acquired by McKesson), Tipping Point Technologies (acquired by 3Com), BSG Corp., LabNow Inc., and ROME Corp. In 2001, President George W. Bush appointed Papermaster to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology. Papermaster also received an Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award. He has a BBA in Finance from the University of Texas.