Seven keys to choosing and managing a corporate wiki

Wikis can seem like a godsend to many corporate end users who've tried messy and unsatisfying collaboration via e-mail and other traditional corporate tools.

A wiki - a webpage that can be simultaneously edited by multiple users and (ideally) done without any experience writing HTML code - takes a legitimate stab at the elusive "one version of the truth" problem in the modern corporation. Traditionally, groups have shared information with one another by e-mailing around documents, making corrections to them, and then e-mailing the new document back to the entire group. One major downside to this method is that there's no ability for people to make changes at once and see the modifications their colleagues have made at the same time.

On the other hand, changes to a wiki get made in real time. Wikis also have much better version control, allowing you to revert back to a previous version if incorrect or unacceptable edits get made.

Choosing the best wiki platform, however, can be difficult. Both new and old vendors are offering an array of wiki platforms. But before you start thinking about vendors you need to do your research on your IT and end-user requirements, says Gil Yehuda, senior analyst at Forrester Research, who recently authored a research paper on seven steps for selecting an enterprise wiki.

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