R.I.P. Enterprise RSS : Are you so sure ?
I came to read an article named “R.I.P. Enterprise RSS” during breakfast this morning and I was really surprised to see such an article on enterprise RSS. First I must say that enterprise RSS like all the others called “web 2.0” technologies are just nascent inside enterprises and that having this kind of quick conclusion seems to me a little bit premature.
Before implementing enterprise RSS, companies will have to deeply modify their information structure already in place for years, changing existing and proven technologies by nascent and “unproved” (not yet validated) technologies will be a long process in some industries. Implementing an enterprise RSS is not only installing a software but a majority of the work will be to start classifying the information still lying on unstructured drawers like file shares. Once those classifications are in place, then the enterprise RSS will be able to aggregate information from different existing sources ( and not only from new sources). Before getting a real ROI on enterprise RSS, you need to generate new information exchange and workflow inside the company.
How many enterprises still have most of their information stored on file share or in public folders ? Enterprise RSS have to be seen as a new communication (information) channel and we should first kick out file shares and old communication channels before saying that Enterprise RSS is born dead. It is our responsibility to be evangelists for those nascent technologies inside the enterprise since even on the Web RSS feeds are often not used for what it are really worth (see my post “RSS: a tool for only 11 % of web users ?” )
As said in this article “Neglecting RSS at work seems to us like pure insanity” and Mr. Marshall Kirkpatrick should have named his post “ R.I.P. Enterprise which are not implementing RSS” since today Enterprises who wish to remain competitive will have to focus their strategy on information workflows.
Be Xin Fu 
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