There is a great article in the April 21, 2008 issue of Information Week magazine that talks about how organizations need to think about “irresistible” Web 2.0 collaboration tools and their impact on IT.  (Holy Web 2.0 – Cat Herding Nightmare by Andrew Conry-Murray) It’s really good reading for anyone responsible or involved in corporate IT because, as the author states: “Fact is, users will find ways to make their working lives more convenient – with or without the input of IT. 

This is particularly true when it comes to Web collaboration tools.”  The primary reasons you need to get out in front of this: security and legal discovery.  I don’t think this means cutting everyone off at the knees, I just think it means thinking about the implications and developing policies, several of which are suggested in the article.  Interestingly enough, Gartner predicts that by 2011, 10% of all information technology spending will reside with employees.  This means that employees will pay for and bring their own technology – laptops, iPhones, etc. – to work as their primary tools.  They also predict that by 2015, employees will customize 90% of the technology they use at work.  This is yet another dimension of bringing “the outside in” – not just the collaboration tools we use outside work but the technology we use as well, which, in many cases, is ahead of the curve of what we have access to at work.