Enterprise 2.0 Predictions for 2009

Dion Hinchcliffe from ZDNet put his prognostication prowess to the test with eight predictions for 2009.  Here they are.

1. Tight budgets will drive the adoption of low-cost Web 2.0 and cloud/SaaS solutions.
"This seems like an obvious prediction but how it plays out will be very
interesting…"

2. Online community and 2.0 technologies become a priority for most organizations. "The early data from our IT and Business Outlook Survey for 2009 shows these two areas as a top priority this year for respondents…"

3. Cloud computing will remain one of the biggest new Internet developments.
"The cloud computing story, as compelling as it is today for many
situations, will only get larger in 2009…"

4. Internal use of 2.0 will continue growth in large enterprises while the struggle continues with market-facing 2.0 products.
"We saw widespread internal penetration of social networking and
Enterprise 2.0 in organizations globally in 2008, but the weak story
continues to be the successful creation of online 2.0 products for the
broader marketplace…"

5. The economic climate will at long last drive major advances towards aligning IT with business.
"With little room for error this year, many organizations will finally
close ranks over the IT/business divide to reorganize, respond to new
business conditions, create new revenue streams, and solve
long-standing business challenges…"

6. Mobile platforms and devices will become highly strategic in 2009. "[Mobile] will drive business applications that continue to untether the
workforce, enable virtual organization while connecting workers
together using new collaboration and communication technologies, many
of which will be using 2.0 approaches. If the desktop didn’t completely
die in 2008, it will become almost completely outmoded in 2009…" [ed. – right on. ;-)]

7. SOA goes on a diet, picks up some new tricks, and survives.
"I’ve long been bullish on the ideas of SOA, but very concerned that the
focus is on complicated technology, hard to master skills, and too much
the purview of technologists and not business people…"

8. The massive changes in the business landscape create new 2.0 business opportunities. "While the financial sector has been hit hard, many aspects of it were already online, if in a very 1.0 way…"