You may have already heard discussions about populism in this election year, but are you familiar with what Forrester Research dubs technology populism? A new report from the analyst firm identifies a coming wave of IT adoption spurred by a proliferation of consumer devices, social networking tools and cloud-based collaboration services. As a result, IT leaders will need to rethink the ways they currently deploy technology.

"Technology Populism is driven by people’s needs to interact," says Matthew Brown, Forrester Research principal analyst. "Today’s organizations are increasingly dominated by Generations Xers and Millennials, a workforce that is adept at provisioning its own technology and one that is willing to shun traditional methods of communication.”

Brown notes that desk phones and e-mail are being replaced by text messaging, instant messaging, and mobile devices, such as iPhones and BlackBerrys, and social computing tools like wikis, mashups and network sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Consider, too, these other trends:

* Cheap and plentiful broadband.
* New applications based on network interactions.
* IT support for Web 2.0 applications.

Brown explains that the next frontier for software is cloud-based collaborative offerings. As a result of this technology populism, IT leaders will need to rethink the ways they evaluate, provision and support collaborative software and services. Challenges include governing Web. 2.0 technologies, ensuring information technologies and avoiding information siloes.

The report, "Embrace The Risks And Rewards Of Technology Populism," is available from Forrester.

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