Forrester Survey: Web 2.0 Tools Gain Growing Favor with IT

Back in November, a Forrester Research study made much of the fact that a quarter of non-IT executives said they selected tech tools on their own or more often than their IT executives, with 25 percent of them also negotiating directly with the tech vendors or managing vendor relationships. At the time, however, Forrester predicted these numbers would fall fairly quickly, since the business wasn’t especially eager to assume tech-buying responsibilities. It looks as if the tide is already turning, with more IT departments apparently taking an increasingly active role in evaluating and purchasing Web 2.0 technologies. According to a Computerworld story about the research, 63 percent of IT pros say they expect Web 2.0 technologies to have a moderate or significant impact on their businesses over the next three years. Says Forrester analyst G. Oliver Young, who authored the report: “I am having fewer and fewer discussions with lines of business saying, ‘We need help to get around our IT department.’