NCC Members have free access to these Guidelines on the NCC Membership website.

With Web 2.0, the Internet has evolved from sets of pages created by a limited number of contributors, to a decentralised platform within which everyone is encouraged to take part. There is no solid line distinguishing Web 1.0 from Web 2.0 as it is not a specific technology, rather it is a collection of capabilities and behaviours required to support the next generation of commerce and man-machine interaction. It includes many types of application, including online auctions, wikis, blogs, semantic tagging and syndication and what a site is described as depends on whether that site displays more of the characteristics of Web 1.0 or Web 2.0.

[IMAGE_RIGHT;guide312.jpg;'']Web 2.0 will, in the future, become part of an organisation's toolbox for maintaining competitive advantage, ensuring agility and building meaningful relationships with customers, partners and peers. At the moment it is very much consumer driven but, like many other things that have initially won popularity with the consumer, organisations are hot on the heels to find out what's in it for them.

On the whole, the full impact that Web 2.0 will have on enterprises is not yet entirely obvious, but those organisations with their ears to the ground and that have an understanding of the capabilities and limitations of Web 2.0 as they evolve, will be best placed to take advantage of the new opportunities as they arise.

These Guidelines consider the benefits Web 2.0 can offer as well as the drivers for it and what organisations should think about when considering implementation.