5 Web Applications to Watch in the Enterprise - Build Your Own Application

Build Your Own Application
Although there are numerous choices for Web 2.0 apps in the marketplace, and more being developed all the time, many enterprises are likely to do in-house development in order to meet their specific needs.

One major example is IBM's Beehive, an internal social networking site that gives employees the ability to connect with each other by posting personal photos, creating lists of favorite items, and organizing events.

In general, the creation of technology will depend on the purpose, says Gartner's Sarner. "You will have to plan on a range of tools, so there's no one, uber-social-tool out there," he says. "Things like Facebook can work for branding and awareness, while product reviews, messageboards, etc. are moving internally."

Enterprises are looking at consumer applications like Twitter and Facebook and asking their IT team to build a business-ready app that can draw on that type of social networking, notes Michael Gartenberg, Vice President at Jupitermedia.

"We're on the cusp of this architecture, where enterprises are able to look at the Web 2.0 technology umbrella and think about how they can adapt it to their business," he says. "It's an exciting time, and I think it will only get more interesting going forward."