A Forrester report says social networking, RSS and mashups will be among the fastest-growing technologies by 2013.
On the eve of the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco,
Forrester Research released a report stating that enterprise spending on Web
2.0 technologies will continue to rise over the next five years, growing 43
percent each year to reach $4.6 billion globally by 2013.
The five-year forecast from Forrester, released April 21, features a
breakdown of future business spending on technologies such as social
networking, RSS, blogs, wikis, mashups, podcasting and widgets, as well as an
analysis of enterprise Web 2.0 spending across North America, Europe and Asia
Pacific. The report forecasts that enterprise spending on Web 2.0 technology
will "get hot" in Europe and the Asia Pacific
region in 2009.
The report notes that large businesses, including General Motors, McDonald's,
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance and Wells Fargo, all use Web 2.0 tools
extensively and that 56 percent of North American and European enterprises say
Web 2.0 will be a priority this year.
"Software firms can make money selling enterprise Web 2.0 software, but it
will not be an easy road to hundred-million-dollar run rates," Forrester
analyst G. Oliver Young, the lead author of the report, said in a statement.
"The market for enterprise Web 2.0 tools will be defined by commoditization,
eroding prices, and incorporation into enterprise collaboration software over
the next five years. It will eventually disappear into the fabric of the
enterprise, despite the major effects the technology will have on how
businesses market their products and optimize their workforces."
The report indicates that the current enterprise Web 2.0 market is small but
growing. The spending by enterprises-those companies with 1,000 or more
employees-will reach $764 million in 2008, but grow quickly over the next five
years, representing an additional $3.8 billion in spending.
Darryl K. Taft covers the development tools and developer-related issues beat from his office in Baltimore. He has more than 10 years of experience in the business and is always looking for the next scoop. Taft is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) and was named 'one of the most active middleware reporters in the world' by The Middleware Co. He also has his own card in the 'Who's Who in Enterprise Java' deck.
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