Half of global chief information officers (CIOs) plan to invest in Web 2.0 technologies for the first time in 2008, according to analyst Gartner. But IT leaders who fail to find useful social applications will look wasteful. How can Web 2.0 work for business, and which social software tools will help CIOs?

Our panel give their views.

* Ignore the underlying software and start by separating the new concepts of Web 2.0 from the old ones of e-business. The term “B2C” said it all: unidirectional channels from us ­ the sophisticated technology-enabled elites ­ to them, the passive browser-content consumers.

The new value of the second wave is two-way and multi-way. It is what happens when anyone and everyone is enabled to contribute information to build something, create an outcome or solve a problem. Anyone can add a picture, a viewpoint, a score, a correction, a code fragment, a vote, a video, or a guess.

Any employer can do this, or any customer, stakeholder or employee. This force has the power to change business models and industry structures. Could you make better decisions if more people contributed what they privately know? Could you build a repository of high-value content from people who would give it for free? Could your dialogue with customers be richer and quicker? Stop looking at mash-up technology tool comparisons, start fermenting social business ideas.

Mark Raskino, research vice president and Gartner fellow

* As with any communication platform, social networks provide additional environments for marketing and sales. Such processes are fine ­ as long as marketing is not undertaken in a cynical way, for example to groom young people to get into gambling.

Some universities are beginning to use social networking environments as discussion forums for education-related matters. For example, at Aston University there is a great deal of debate on Facebook about library opening hours ­ and such debate is helpful to both students and the university itself.

I find it difficult to get too excited about Web 2.0, however, because social networking is just another platform for communication. I am on Facebook, and occasionally I will be “poked” by my daughter ­ which often means she is running low on cash. But she will contact me through other ways ­ such as email and phone ­ so what is so new and different about social networking?

I think young people love creating an entity, an identity which puts them on the social map. They could easily migrate to another “cooler” platform next year. I see individual networking sites as largely transient. And as in the case of investments in 3G telecommunications, there will be a few disappointed individuals who have invested heavily in social networking.

Fahri Zihni, director of ICT, Aston University

* Many of our members are successfully using blogs to communicate directly with customers and they believe that blogging can have a significant, tangible value as it can increase engagement with key markets and provide a face to an otherwise faceless organisation.

Other corporates are actively using micro-blogging utilities, such as Twitter, to conduct free market research, while more still are delivering podcasts to staff and allowing them to collaborate through internal social networking sites.

However, the benefit of deploying any or all of these Web 2.0 technologies dep-ends on having a corporate culture that is flexible enough to embrace the tools.
The open, collaborative, uncontrolled and unmediated nature of Web 2.0 working fits with some firms better than others. Any CIO hoping to choose the most valuable Web 2.0 technology must first understand where and how it would fit with their company’s culture.

Ollie Ross, director of research, The Corporate IT Forum

* Forrester advocates embracing the POST method for social technology: people, objectives, strategy and technology. All productive Web 2.0 implementations start with a clear business problem ­ one that comes with measurable goals, committed business champions and a narrow audience. Then you must identify behavioural changes, metrics for success, implementation strategy and, finally, technology.

The best projects often start small, with one manageable business problem and inexpensive software. If value is shown, project scope enlarges; if not, the strategy is scrapped, the software tossed and another solution tried. Successful CIOs are those willing to view Web 2.0 tools as cheap and disposable.

That said, CIOs must accept that Web 2.0 technology is not a panacea; a wiki will not generate best-practice documentation and social networking will not force employee collaboration. Traditional concerns, such as participant incentives and corporate culture, still go a long way to determining success or failure.

Oliver Young, analyst, Forrester Research

* Social networking has many useful applications that IT leaders can implement. Sites such as LinkedIn and Ecademy are great for finding useful contacts. This could be for a number of reasons, such as getting feedback on a prospective employee; or finding people with experience of certain technologies, products or companies.

Recently, some prospective employees have listed their blog site or their personal site on Bebo, MySpace or Microsoft LiveSpaces. Blogging is a specially useful tool, specifically for trying to keep your staff or industry peers abreast of your progress.
However, the biggest opportunities are for smart IT leaders to identify new business opportunities using Web 2.0 technologies. Sites such as Epinions.com and
e-Rewards.com provide useful customer feedback.

Dharmesh Mistry, chief technology and operations officer, edge IPK