Q. Do the Tools and Tips apply to all areas of Professional Services?

A. In principle, yes. However, I believe the services most impacted by Web 2.0 are those that are advisory in nature. These services need highly effective collaboration and interaction tools to enable work with clients and associates. Advisory services include areas such as business, IT, financial, marketing and HR consulting, personal coaching, design, corporate finance, legal and tax related expertise.

Q. How can I find out more about Web 2.0?

A. Wikipedia has a good general outline with a balance of supporters and critics listed. The Web 2.0 video by Prof Michael Wesch of Kansas University is a real eye-opener for what the concept is all about.

Q. What Tools & Services has Web2Consult used?

A. We use Office Live to support our website and marketing activities, Live Spaces for the blog and customised sites hosted by Office Live for client and associate collaboration. All these tools have been pushed to their limits with enhanced templates and additional components. We also use a range of best of breed tools like Google Ads, Paypal, Skype and others to meet specific needs.

Q. Do you still use desktop applications?

A. Fraid so. Some of features we need and the speed of response required isn't quite available in the office and business web applications that are around at the moment. This will change as we find more and more of our needs can be met by web based solutions.

Q. Do you think Web 2.0 is all hype?

A. No. After experiencing what's possible with Web 2.0 tools and services for the last 9 months, we can see a major impact on how professionals work with clients and associates, the networks they can participate in and the quality of content that they can create and distribute for themselves. The limiting factor is each professional's ability to understand what's possible, learn new skills and use the services that will give them most value.