History repeats. Web 2.0 will get into the enterprise the same way the PC did. Through that back door.
IT directors wanted nothing to do with the PC. It threatened their ivory tower. But users wanted simple solutions to their problems without waiting years in the IT development queue. Once they were able to buy a PC with spreadsheet software without higher budget approval, the "man behind the curtain" was exposed forever.
A generation later, it's all about to happen again, with or without the IT department. Even if IT fights it by blocking sites users want to use, they'll get around it with proxies or by bypassing corporate networks. You can't stop progress. Enterprise IT departments would be better off in the long run by embracing what their users already know.
IT directors wanted nothing to do with the PC. It threatened their ivory tower. But users wanted simple solutions to their problems without waiting years in the IT development queue. Once they were able to buy a PC with spreadsheet software without higher budget approval, the "man behind the curtain" was exposed forever.
A generation later, it's all about to happen again, with or without the IT department. Even if IT fights it by blocking sites users want to use, they'll get around it with proxies or by bypassing corporate networks. You can't stop progress. Enterprise IT departments would be better off in the long run by embracing what their users already know.