Whether we like it or not, Web 2.0 technologies are profoundly changing the way we work and interact. User-generated Web content—hosted applications, blogs, wikis, social networking sites, RSS feeds—is rapidly creeping into organizations, offering users new ways to collaborate and communicate.

While there can be enormous business benefits to leveraging Web 2.0 (such as building and enhancing customer intimacy and loyalty), it also introduces unprecedented levels of security risks. This presents CIOs with a dilemma: how to embrace the benefits of Web 2.0 while assuring that their enterprises remain safe from outside threats and risks to sensitive business information. Business and IT leaders are right to be both eager and cautious about bringing Web 2.0 tools into the enterprise and transitioning to an Enterprise 2.0 environment.

On the positive side, community-building networking applications and services can effectively link customers, suppliers, partners, and employees for fast and easy collaboration—anywhere, anytime. This instant connectivity and flexibility can bring greater productivity, effective data sharing, visibility into business processes, and, ideally, improved profitability.

But on the flip side, Web 2.0 tools come with myriad risks: inappropriate content or applications finding their way on to company computers; the increased possibility of viruses, worms, and malware; and accidental or malicious data loss.

While organizations might be inclined to ban some of these applications and tools, doing so is not always realistic. Instead, CIOs must create a strategy that embraces Web 2.0 technologies securely, and enables a successful transition to Enterprise 2.0. The right strategy will allow organizations and their employees to take full advantage of the benefits of Web 2.0 while protecting them from its tremendous risks.

Understanding the 2.0’s: enterprise, employee, and Web Enterprise 2.0 is a broad term, but essentially it encompasses:
• 24-hour Internet connectivity from anywhere—for example, through a PDA or a corporate laptop
• Web 2.0 collaboration technologies—such as software-as-a-service (SaaS) applications, customer portals, blogs, wikis, and partner ecosystems
• The “Employee 2.0”—a.k.a. the always-on, mobile-device-toting staffer who at times works outside the corporate firewall

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