As an IT manager, whenever I am faced with a new cool technology I am faced with a dilemma.
On personal level am always tempted to deploy it and see how it fans out. I am, after all, something of a geek. I am also outspoken and something of an exhibitionist.
On a managerial level I almost automatically call on the help desk to put on their flak jackets and helmets, arm the sysadmins with smoke and tear gas canisters, turn to the boffins and proclaim:
Our Sovereign Lord the King chargeth and commandeth all persons, being assembled, immediately to disperse themselves, and peaceably to depart to their habitations, or to their lawful business, upon the pains contained in the act made in the first year of King George, for preventing tumults and riotous assemblies. God Save the King!
IT is primarily the art of provisioning. Finding the technology that provides additional value to your business, and implementing it in the least disruptive way. Data and processes are assets we need to both protect and utilize. Social networking, Instant messaging, blogging and other means of communication may enhance a business, but may also put it in risk. This is the business perspective of IT.
There is also a human element. The technology divide has not decreased due to Internet. People can do much more with our computers, but they do not necessarily understand the implication more then they did before. If any thing, shining new interfaces hide mode complex issues then those that existed before. Web 2.0 adds even more complexities.
Web 2.0 tools can enable people to be more entrepreneurial, even in a corporate environment. As those tools are abandonment, and most are freely (or cheaply available), it seems almost inexcusable not to use them. But not all business or business users are entrepreneurial in the Web 2.0 way of thinking, for some, the overhead of learning and managing new technologies can actually reduce their productivity.
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