The Wall Street Journal has started a new blog on Business Technology. Thanks to Hylton Jolliffe for pointing it out. The lead story on August 7 was An Office Winner: Consumer Tech. The post reported that:
“According to a new study by the research firm Yankee Group, 86% of corporate employees say that they use at least one consumer-oriented tech tool that isn’t supported by the IT department – things like instant messaging, USB drives, and iPhones – in the workplace, with the average employee using four. This is in spite of the fact that IT groups at many companies try their hardest to keep these tools out of the office, Josh Holbrook, the study’s author, tells the Business Technology Blog. Why are workers turning to consumer tools? Contrary to what many tech managers believe, it isn’t to goof off; it’s because these tools make them more productive. More than half of the workers surveyed said that they would be more productive at work if they had access to all the technology that they could use at home. Another 49% said that the technology they use at home is more sophisticated than the technology that they use in the workplace.”
I am sure the sneaking in with the IM and UBS drives are web 2.0 tools as they make employees more productive. It goes on to say that the average IT department does not have time to innovate so the consumer market is going way beyond them. We have discussed issue on this blog. It is nice to see some research data. I am sure the new Wall Street Journal blog will have more to say in the web 2.0 and enterprise 2.0 space. 
enterprise 2.0 
web 2.0 
business blogs 
enterprise social media
But still corporations continue to resist! There's an organisation I know of where use of Firefox has just been banned. Why? People could use it to set a start page that wasn't the official "intranet" page. It seems this contravened communications strategy of all things...
Posted by: Michael | August 11, 2007 at 05:08 PM
Michael for sharing this example. The barbarians are at the gates. The smart CIOs will form alliances and gain lead the change. Bill
Posted by: Bill Ives | August 11, 2007 at 07:11 PM