During a recent discovery meeting with a potential client regarding an Internet Web site overhaul, I was impressed by how naturally the conversation turned to thought leadership. The COO with whom we met had his thumb squarely on the pulse of the alternative energy market, specifically wind.

While specific thought leadership action items were premature, establishing a collaborative repository for these kernels of wisdom seemed more than timely.

(Not being privy to this potential client's intranet, the following may not apply to them; but it may apply to you.)

If one of your goals for the coming year is to develop or enhance your company's thought leadership capabilities, contact Erin Paulson and then establish an internal Wiki. (If developing or enhancing your company's thought leadership capabilities isn't one of your company's goals, contact Erin Paulson).

Step No. Zero: An internal Wiki

As we've researched thought leadership, the missing element — from an IT perspective — always seems to be the actual repository for the knowledge.

At TriComB2B, we've found an internal Wiki to be an invaluable resource for capturing the never-ending stream of data we receive and helping to turn it into information.

Our old system of emailing everyone we think will ever need the information, flagging the important messages and attempting to retrieve the messages was especially laborious when key employees were on the road for multiple days at a time. (How many times have you sent an email which read: "Do you have that email about ..." ?)

Selecting the Wiki that's right for you (or, the Wiki so nice I deployed it twice)

To decide which Wiki engine is right for you, your first stop should be WikiMatrix. In five steps you'll have an excellent list of Wikis which meet your specific needs.

At first, I landed on (and deployed) a Swiss-Army-knife-style Wiki. It had all the bells and whistles an IT department could ever want, but then I remembered IT wasn't the primary audience and went with MediaWiki, the engine behind Wikipedia.

Deploying your Wiki will probably require IT

While mature Wiki engines like MediaWiki are easy to deploy (seriously, I deployed two separate engines over as many consecutive weekends), it's probably best to involve IT to ensure the Wiki's long-term stability and security.

However, once your Wiki has been deployed, insist on marketing getting the "keys to the car" (read: the administrator's credentials).

Populating your Wiki will NOT require IT

One of the most beautiful aspects of your shiny new Wiki is that marketing will probably never have to speak to IT again to successfully populate it.

If you elect to use MediaWiki, the following should prove helpful:

• Editing pages
• Formatting
• Sandbox
• MediaWiki FAQ
• Instructional material