Closed companies like Apple can still share and collaborate internally

Gerry McGovern [1], a content management author and consultant, has an interesting piece this week on CMS Wire on what he sees as the disconnect between Apple's reputation as a "cool company" and its desire to control information. McGovern suggests that because Apple makes cool toys that enable us to share and collaborate (like the iPhone), it should practice that in its dealings with the outside world about company information. I have to respectfully disagree and say the concepts are not even remotely linked.

Being open and communicative as a company internally doesn't mean you are open and communicative to the world. You can be a poster child for Enterprise 2.0 internally, but be locked down externally. You can make tools that facilitate Web 2.0 functionality like the iPhone, but there is no relationship between any of these conditions and being open and communicative about your company business.

This is precisely what I was talking about last week in my Editor's Corner: Why are we still blurring Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 concepts? [2] The idea of Enterprise 2.0 is to provide an environment to communicate and share information internally (and with others such as customers, suppliers and partners as you see fit).

McGovern criticizes Apple for what he suggests is a double standard in this regard, but in reality, Apple doesn't have to share information with the outside world until it's good and ready--unless it is required to do so by law as a publicly traded company. This doesn't have anything to do with whether it embraces Web 2.0 or Enterprise 2.0 concepts. It has to do with being a company in a competitive business trying to keep in-house business in-house.

Certainly many companies have found it is better to be open than secretive, but so far you can't argue with the results Apple has enjoyed from taking this approach.

For more information:
- see McGovern's post [3] on CMS Wire

Related Articles:
New report finds less than half of Intranet users are adopting Enterprise 2.0 [4]
The Enterprise 2.0 generational myth [5]
Why are we still blurring Web 2.0 and Enterprise 2.0 concepts? [2]
Apple news from FierceCIO [6]