IT Bombarded for Web 2.0

Internet security solutions provider Websense has just released a new survey of IT professionals and their Web 2.0 experiences. Some of the findings include:

• 95% of respondents currently allow employee access to some Web 2.0 sites and applications
• The most common applications are webmail, mashups and wikis
• 62% percent of IT managers believe that Web 2.0 is necessary to their business
• 86% percent of IT managers reported feeling pressured to allow more access to more types of Web 2.0% sites and technologies
• 30% percent of respondents reported pressure coming from C-level executives and director level staff
• 34% percent reported pressure coming from marketing departments
• 32% percent reported pressure coming from sales departments
• There is confusion even among IT professionals about what constitutes
• Web 2.0: Only 17 percent of respondents correctly identified all the items in the survey that can be considered Web 2.0.

There's alot more info in the report for further reading but you see how IT is already increasing their workload quite a bit for new Web 2.0 apps, and is sure to only be increasing going forward. A lot of people look at SaaS or Web 2.0 applications as outsourcing IT, which it is in a way, but the other way to look at it is how large this whole area is growing and this outsourcing is needed just to keep up.

From largely being independent, will all data in-house, is now changing with the capability, acceptance, and even demand for all of these new applications and tools that interact/integrate with other external sources such as customers, suppliers, partners, HR, research & development...