Don’t block Facebook, embrace it, companies told

It cites analyst Gartner group, which recently surveyed 1,500 CIOs worldwide, and found half saying they now plan to invest in Web 2.0 technologies for the first time – and that it will be this year. The message is: businesses should not block access to sites like Facebook, but instead harness these consumer tools’ potential to encourage creativity and collaboration. “Once secure access to Web 2.0 services is enabled, then the benefits of these services, which include collaboration, mind-sharing and professional social networking amongst employees, affiliates and partners, can be maximized,” says David Lavenda, WorkLight’s vice president of marketing and product strategy. He reckons his company has seen “considerable interest” in adoption of Web 2.0 services amongst businesses in the financial and technology services sectors. “Use of consumer tools for work-related tasks must be protected by enterprise-grade security measures,” says Lavenda, adding that, with the right safeguards in place, Web 2.0 services will add significant business value for forward-thinking companies that embrace the technology.