A new report from Forrester Research, a company that has been closely following the adoption of web 2.0 and social technologies by businesses, now says that their earlier predications about Web 2.0 in the enterprise may have been too timid. Last year, they said that in 2008 I.T. shops would start to take a leadership role in Web 2.0 adoption by business, but this latest report is now debunking the conventional wisdom that I.T. is as skeptical as once thought.
The most startling number to come out of this recent study - a survey of 260+ I.T. professionals - is that 63% are now expecting social technologies to impact the business world. Even more interesting is that they feel that the impact will be a positive one - only 3% of respondents viewed Web 2.0 negatively.
However, that's not to say they don't have their concerns. They are wary of one thing in particular: 79% are concerned about the risks of unsanctioned use of these tools by employees. Like we mentioned before, "tech populism" occurs when employees go behind I.T.'s back to provision their own tools from the ones freely available on the web. This opens up a whole new way to jeopardize sensitive company data.
To fight this trend, I.T. departments realize that must lead the way for Web 2.0 adoption and act as an enabler and facilitator of Web 2.0 tools. And this is where I.T. still holds the power - 80% of enterprises reported that funding the Web 2.0 deployments remained within the hands of I.T. This is most likely due to the fact that I.T. is still the major source for technological expertise within a company.
This news means that Web 2.0/Enterprise 2.0 technologies looking to gain a foothold in business, simply appealing to the CIO or one particular department (like Marketing or HR) won't be enough. Tech marketers looking for insights into how to embrace I.T. in order to gain acceptance should check out the Forrester report for more details and suggestions.
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I predicted 10 years ago when the Web was in its infancy that companies that failed to create websites would be forced out of business because their competition would take advantage of the Web technologies.
As many U.S. newspapers, for instance, are scrapping print editions and converting to online-only formats, I wonder how prevalent the media world is represented in the Forrester study.
I also wonder about the 13% of PR departments funding Web 2.0 initiatives; surely more PR departments use social media even if some other department funds it?
Posted by: Ari Herzog
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July 14, 2008 12:36 AM
@Ari Herzog Anyone could have predicted that. I knew that and I was only 14 years old. ;)
Posted by: James Mowery
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July 14, 2008 1:17 AM
I'm shocked that it was only 63% that believe that. Gotta love businesses in denial. They are the ones that will fall hard.
Posted by: James Mowery
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July 14, 2008 1:18 AM