Online communities can enable an organization to:

• Create an early warning system


• Make sure knowledge can get to people who can act on it on time


• Connect people and build relationships across boundaries of geography and discipline


• Provide an ongoing context for knowledge exchange that can be far more effective than memos


• Attune everyone in the organization to each other’s needs--more people will know who knows what and will know it faster


• Multiply intellectual capital by the power of social capital, reducing social friction and encouraging social cohesion


• Create an ongoing shared social space for people who are geographically dispersed


• Amplify innovation


• Create a community memory for group deliberation and brainstorming


• Improve the way individuals think collectively


• Turn training into a continuous process, not divorced from normal business practices


• Attract and retain best employees by providing access to social capital that is only available within the organization