Perhaps the most significant benefit that Web 2.0 services can offer is a better method to externalize themselves. Web 2.0 services create secure communication channels between businesses and other organizations, permitting enhanced collaboration and accelerating business processes.

Document distribution and revisions can occur in real time across the globe, often eliminating the need for overnight delivery services. Businesses can more easily establish common best practices and leverage subject-matter experts beyond the enterprise when they're needed. As Web 2.0 services help break down the barriers between organizations, they begin to transform them into real-time responders to business opportunities and threats, helping keep early adopters ahead of their competition.

Organizations already trying to address use of consumer Web services in the workplace are the first ones that should be experimenting with enterprise-class solutions. However, it's probably safe to say that every day employees are learning more about Web 2.0 both on and off the job. So what constitutes technology leadership today could become standard operating procedure tomorrow.

Why not let employees lead the way with Web 2.0 in the enterprise? After all, IT departments couldn't stop cell phones or PDAs. It may be time to join the revolution instead fighting against this change. After all, these technologies fulfill collaborative needs that are as common in our individual consumer lives as they are in our workplace ones.

Till is chief marketing officer at Xythos Software.