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Businesses are missing out on the benefits that Web 2.0 technologies have to offer them, according to an expert.

Many executives think Web 2.0 is a drain on their resources but in fact is a way of engaging with partners and customers and is simply an extension of email, according to the chief executive of IT Governance, Alan Calder, who was speaking in CIO magazine.

‘There is a genuine need for CIOs to enable people to use this technology to benefit the firm,’ he told CIO magazine.

‘No matter what policies a company has in place, people will tell other people what it is like to work there, whether it is through Facebook or a blog and everyone has a computer at home today.’

Banning use of the sites is also effectively saying to young people who use the sites that they are not wanted, and senior management had to understand that the technology is ‘embedded in the way of life’ of younger people.

‘Young workers feel that Web 2.0 technologies such as Facebook, YouTube, blogging and Flikr, are key to how they do their job,’ he said.

He did sound a note of caution however, warning that businesses need to be careful with the technology, for instance with the posting of litigious comments.

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Web 2.0 technologies and services offer a great deal of potential to organisations, providing they ensure that security measures are put in place.

That’s according to Gartner, which highlighted the gains in creative productivity that could be achieved through the business use of Web 2.0 tools.

Its report also pointed out that the use of some technologies, such as mashups, is already established and so firms should look to promoting security, rather than banning use.

“Strategies to contain and protect the use of new technologies will always be more effective in the long run than security approaches that rely solely on blocking,” said John Pescatore from Gartner.

He pointed to service-level agreements with content providers as one way of improving security, as well as boosted vulnerability assessments to take into account the risks posed by external use of company content.

A recent study from MessageLabs found that in February, organisations filtered almost 47 per cent of websites falling outside policy parameters, an increase of just under 13 per cent.

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