Wikis spread into corporations

Posted by: Stephen Baker on May 06

Companies are creeping into the terrain of wikis, those collaborative Web pages that everyone can edit. One recent example is Intellisync, the wireless software company. In the last two months, they’ve linked up their four p.r. agencies that work for them around the world, and put them all on the same wiki. That means they post and respond to each other’s ideas. They put up documents on the wiki that they never shared before. Rip Gerber, Intellisync’s chief marketing officer, says that once Intellisync gets used to using wikis internally, it will extend them to customers and business partners. Perhaps as early as this summer.

Gerber says: "The next thing we're looking at is to have the four agencies collaborate on news releases. Then we'll take it a step further, having the agencies developing plans together."

This is a delicate process, because the four agencies that work for Intellisync compete with each other in different regions. "The guys in Italy would love to take over Germany for us," he says. But in the coming world of shared communication, companies must increasingly team up with competitors, finding new ways to cordon off the areas of competition and cooperation.

"We are asking people to share learning, and expose mistakes to one another. Some may be used in nafarious ways. You need to develop a sense of trust."

Intellisync knows all about this "coopitition." In its own business, it competes with the likes of Microsoft and RIM--while also teaming up with them.

Leading Intellisync into wikis is Giovanni Rodriguez of the Silicon Valley p.r. firm, Eastwick Communications.

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