Next week the Enterprise 2.0 Conference takes place in Boston. This year it moves from the Westin in South Boston to the Hynes Convention Center in the heart of downtown. It's probably a sign that the conference has grown and that's a good thing for the sector as a whole, but as we approach this year's conference, it might be time to step back and consider the state of Enterprise 2.0. I would suggest we're seeing a couple of trends coming together at the same time that indicate the sector is at a critical juncture.

First, we have reached the point where it's time to consolidate and we might be seeing the edge of this trend already. Secondly, the nature of enterprise social computing is changing as vendors recognize that to be successful it has to be built into the work process, rather than a separate tool and activity.

I've attended this conference for several years running. It began with a bunch of smaller vendors and the last year or so, the bigger players began to see the value of enterprise social computing, as I wrote last year in "The attack of the huge Enterprise 2.0 vendors."

One thing I noticed as I walked the floor at this conference in Boston last year (and the one I attended in Santa Clara in the Fall) was that increasingly, these vendors were beginning to look an awful lot alike.

Sure, each one has its own unique approach to collaboration and enterprise social software (as it is increasingly being called), but when it comes down to it, there is a limited set of functionality and each of the players is offering it in their own way.

Last week, we wrote about VMware's purchase of Socialcast, which to me marks the first signal that we are about to see a big period of consolidation. I'm predicting that over the next year or so, we will see more big companies scoop up various Enterprise 2.0 vendors.

At the same time, I'm predicting that we will begin to see others combine forces to make larger companies with more significant market share. In some cases, it will be to build the customer base. In others it might be (as in VMware's case) a deliberate decision to build social functionality into their software stack.

But whatever the reason, the time is simply ripe. There are too many players doing the same thing and when that happens, it's only a matter of time before we see companies beginning to join forces.

One other thing that has also seemed clear is that the act of using social software has to be woven into the very fabric of the work process. In fact, this is something that Greg Lloyd, president of Traction Software talks about in this week's One on One interview.

As Lloyd said, "I believe the ability to link plans, actions, discussion and work product (in any system of record) in context is the key to unlocking the value of social software for businesses of any size."

It's a point VMware's Brian Byun made when speaking about why his company purchased Socialcast. "For enterprise collaboration to improve business outcomes it can't just be a feature in a single application. Organizations need a new social collaboration fabric across the applications people already work with."

As we attend this year's conference, it's worth keeping these trends in mind because it seems to me that they will have a big impact on the Enterprise 2.0 sector as we move forward, as we watch the sector continue to grow and mature. - Ron