Web 2.0's business-world cousin, Enterprise 2.0, is quickly becoming the "secret sauce" of collaboration strategies. According to research recently released by enterprise content management association AIIM, when businesses were asked to identify the prime goal for launching wikis, blogs, community discussions and similar Web tools, nearly 70 percent chose "increased collaboration."

Significantly, these companies ranked customers and partners near the top of the list when it came to naming the most important audience for targeting these communications. Other top Enterprise 2.0 applications consisted of customer support, marketing and sales.

For solution providers, collaborative Web-based technologies offer new outlets for marketing, identifying new customers and burnishing their images as printing experts rather than mere "box movers" that compete only with low prices.

That's because Enterprise 2.0 components free companies from merely posting static information on their Web sites, which amounts to little more than electronic brochures. Instead, the latest tools offer the chance to combine company and product information with opinions, insights, videos, polls and customer comments that create interactive communities of interest. With a little upfront effort, solution providers can share news about new printing technology, special programs, the benefits of per-page and service contracts, and tips on security.

Creating these communities is becoming easier than ever, even for companies with little time and few budgetary resources available for new marketing initiatives. For example, solution providers can use Wet Paint's free services to quickly set up wikis and blogs for online discussions and information sharing. Proving that such freebies are ready for the business world, among the features Wet Paint hosts is Hewlett-Packard's SMB community wiki, with sections devoted to business printing and business strategies.

The SMB site is an outgrowth of Hewlett-Packard Print 2.0 vision, which also offers small and midsize businesses a special Web portal for help in creating in-house marketing materials. The marketing resource center includes interactive templates, blogs and primers about in-house marketing and logo creation.

Other printing and imaging OEMs are also active Enterprise 2.0 participants. Xerox promotes blog sites about technology innovation. Scott Titus's "Ideas, Ideas, Ideas" blog recently discussed how blogs help cement customer attention, and Francois Ragnet's "The Future of Documents" posts entries about innovations in document handling and environmentally green strategies.

Enterprise 2.0 examples like these are likely to grow in the months ahead, as additional companies see the need for a more collaborative presence. For example, when AIIM polled organizations about the connection between Enterprise 2.0 and overall business goals, 44 percent said the tools were imperative or significant. Another 27 percent said Enterprise 2.0 had "average" impact on business goals and success, while only 29 percent saw minimal or no impact on success.

Nevertheless, AIIM warns companies to follow a prudent path to greater adoption of Enterprise 2.0 technologies. "Without a clearer understanding of the strategic and holistic nature of Enterprise 2.0, it is likely that implementation will be addressed in an ad hoc [way], which can potentially deter enterprise-level leverage and minimize the potential level of benefit," the report concludes. Instead, AIIM advocates for centralized, strategic deployments that will have a greater likelihood for collaboration efficiency and benefits shared throughout the entire organization.