Wikis go Mainstream

When I teach classes on e-commerce and web sites here in Austin, one topic that constantly elicits either yawns or fearful, wide-eyed stares is the subject of databases. Everyone uses databases in one way or another — they power your accounting software, they run Google and a million other web sites, they might even be running on your smartphone — but the mention of databases tends to make people’s eyes gloss over. Databases are dry, uninspiring tools to store information. In and of themselves, they offer little in the way of excitement. Hook them up with the right software, however, and they work magic.

Databases derive much of their power from structure. When you impose a structure on data you can organize it, search it and report on it. Add relationships to the mix, and you’ve got real juice. A list of all your customers is a good thing, but tie every customer to their invoices, orders, quotes and phone calls, you’ve suddenly got a complete system for managing your business. Companies charge quite a bit of money for these kinds of systems, and if you’ve got the scratch, they can have a huge impact on the way you run your business.

For some kinds of business information, though, databases and highly structured data can be overkill. Say you want to keep track of some simple processes for your business, or create some online documentation for your customer service reps to use as reference. A structured database may take too much time to set up — and you don’t need a rigid structure for the data; you just want to make it easy to access and quick to find exactly what you need.

A few years ago, you would have hired someone to build an intranet. Intranets are web systems which are generally accessible only by you and your employees (and sometimes, selectively, by your customers). They’re wonderful tools, but they take planning and time to set up; they’re overkill for many small businesses. But the principle makes a lot of sense; if you have a bunch of different kinds of information — employee info, customer info, random documents — an intranet can be a great way to keep all that stuff organized and accessible.

So, if databases and intranets are overkill, what are the rest of us left with? A silly-sounding word that everyone should know: “Wiki”. If you’ve ever looked up anything online in Wikipedia (a huge, online, user-edited encyclopedia) you’ve used a wiki. A wiki is a bit like an online whiteboard in that it’s pretty much free-form content, but it also allows you to build informal structures as you go. You need a section for employee contact information? Fine. Just add it. No need to set up fields ahead of time for name, address, phone and so on. Just type the information in and you’re good to go.

From an informational standpoint, wikis are sort of like anti-databases. They impose no structure on your data; you can put it wherever you want in whatever format you want. They require no planning to set up; anything can be added virtually anywhere on an ad hoc basis. Wikis do, however, offer one of the primary benefits of databases: search. Forgot where you put that production process overview? Search for a keyword and you’ll have it in a few seconds.

Wikis offer one capability that is fairly unique: Editing with complete version control. With a wiki, it can be beneficial to decentralize the control of information — if human resources is drafting a new vacation policy, why not let them publish it? In a wiki, everyone in your company can edit content. This may seem a little scary at first, but wikis offer very powerful version control, so you can see exactly who did what and when. Once your employees know that every change they make will be tracked, they’ll be a lot less inclined to online mischief.

So, how does a wiki work? Well, it’s probably easier to go online and try one, but the concept is fairly simple. Imagine an online, text-based whiteboard where you can put any kind of information you’d like: text, attachments, images, etc. Now, imagine that if you want to create a new page, you just type the link to that page and the page is created. Save your page and go to the next one you want to edit, and on and on. You can organize your pages with a lot of hierarchy or you can keep it pretty flat. It’s entirely up to you.

With version control and user editing, many people can work on one document. Say you’re trying to brainstorm new ideas for a tradeshow and you’ve got a couple of salespeople in the field for the next month. With a wiki, everyone can contribute to the brainstorming page, whenever they want. You’ll even know who added certain ideas and when they added them. Instead of circulating a Word document around via email and trying to keep track of who has the latest version, you’ve got it all in one place.

Wikis can be as simple or as complex as you want them to be, and there’s no one “right”way to build them or keep them organized. Despite the fact that structure isn’t required, a little bit of structure and organization can be your friend. You may want to organize your wiki at the top level by department or type of information — say, categories like “sales,” “marketing,” “employee info,” etc. You can always add structure down the line, though, so don’t let that stand in your way of trying out a wiki.

Wikis are a hot topic for business these days, which means there are a whole bunch of technology companies offering hosted wiki services, many of them for free. If you’re ready to try out a wiki for your business, you can Google “hosted wiki” or check out some of the wiki services below:

Google Apps: I’ve recommended Google’s business application suite before, and it continues to get better. In addition to free email, calendars, word processing and spreadsheets, Google Apps now offers online presentations and a hosted wiki. Google acquired wiki provider Jotspot back about a year ago and, like so many of their acquisitions, they’ve rolled it into a free service. In fact, I’m writing this column in Google’s excellent online word processor, Google Docs (also part of Google Apps).

Wetpaint: A very easy-to-use, free hosted wiki with a focus on simple sharing. Wetpaint is more consumer-oriented than most hosted wikis, which makes it very easy to use but perhaps a little lightweight for business. It’s also ad-supported, so you’ll see ads related to your content on pretty much every page.

Central Desktop: Until Google entered the picture, this would have been my hands-down favorite for hosted wikis. Central Desktop goes beyond standard wiki functionality and adds calendars, online meetings and other features. They offer plans ranging from free to $249 a month for large organizations. It’s a very slick product and ideal for geographically dispersed workgroups. They’ll need to work hard to stay ahead of Google’s free offering but, for now, this may be the best one out there.