Companies are just beginning to learn how to use the web to grow their business

Implications: 1.  Web 2.0 companies will drive innovation ideas inside IT 2.  Web 2.0 companies are still growing and experimenting 3.  The transformation of business because of the web is just beginning

Analysis: When I read articles like this one, I realize that IT executives, managers, and programmers have a wonderful opportunity to lead.  Can the IT industry learn from what web 2.0 companies are doing and turn that innovation into a win inside their own companies?

Twenty years ago (or even ten), the way you tried to understand how to innovate in IT, was to talk to other IT people about what they were doing.  We all ran around attending conferences together.  This truly was the first "geek squad".  But that is changing now.  Now, you can read in magazines or business periodicals or just browse the web to learn about what new things are happening.

If we in IT can somehow unleash the creative thinking from our internet experiences, IT executives and staff can harvest ideas right in front of us and learn how to drive our businesses forward.  If we are successful, then we can become the business leaders that IT executives have been reaching for over the last few years to a decade.  The opportunity for IT is to start selling business solution that are now available on the web instead of selling the latest technology like we used to do ten years ago.

You can see that companies are still learning how to succeed in this new business environment.  Companies now understand that they have to experiment with web business just like businesses used to experiment with new product packaging in the 60's ("new" and "improved" labels) or new methods of distribution in the 80's (think Federal express and catalog shopping).

This is the new opportunity for IT executives.  There is a new set of workers entering the work force who are very comfortable with using technology.  CIO's can tap into this workforce and create a new wave of innovation for their companies.  This will take a shift in management thinking of CIO's.  Those who can make this shift will find great success.