MWW Group, a public relations and marketing firm in New Jersey with 200 employees spread across eight states found themselves with a problem: overwhelming amounts of e-mail. A press release that might require input from five different people could become a logistics nightmare, with attachments being sent back and forth in various stages of editing. When Tom Biro joined the company in August, 2005 as director of new media strategies, he had a suggestion for dealing with the e-mail mess: wikis. Wiki, Hawaiian for "fast" refers to a piece of server software that lets users create and update web pages quickly through a hosted site on the Internet or on the company's intranet. Anyone with access to the pages can log on and edit documents or spreadsheets in real time, eliminating the need to send attachments back and forth.

Wikis have been around for about ten years but recently gained some mainstream attention due to the popularity of the Wikipedia, an online encyclopedia that is written, updated, and maintained by thousands of anonymous users. The problem with an accessible resource like the Wikipedia is that since anyone can access it, some people can make entries as pranks. This problem can be eliminated in corporate systems by restricting access to a limited group or by requiring passwords. Gartner Group, a research firm in Stanford, CT. predicts that by 2009, wikis will be installed in half of all corporate networks.

In addition to the free open-source wikis available, new software has been created for business users that can operate behind firewalls, integrate with network directories, and act as a central location for corporate information and forms.

At MWW Group, copywriters and designers used their new wiki to brainstorm on an ad campaign and the look of a logo. They estimate that they have doubled their productivity be eliminating their reliance on e-mail. The wiki has also diminished the number of conference calls and meetings since anyone can pull up working documents and view them at any time. Human resources mangers at the company posted benefit information on the site, which they could keep current at any time. Anyone at the company can view and download the pages but only members of the HR team have access to make changes to the information on the pages.

Overall, the wiki has cut the volume of e-mails at MWW by 30% and has rekindled the use of the company's intranet.