March 21st, 2007
No surprise: CIOs want Web 2.0 suites from their big vendors
Forrester Research just published a report ($249) based on a survey of 119 CIOs regarding Web 2.0 technologies, such as blogs, wikis, RSS, social networking, and tagging. The big news from the research, which is really obvious, is that CIOs prefer buying a suite solution from larger, incumbent vendors rather than best of breed apps from smaller firms and startups.
The report authors noted that the "deck appears to be stacked against small, pure-play vendors; integration issues, longevity concerns, and the occasional lack of polish send CIOs looking for other options."
Same as it ever was. CIOs aren't prone to bet on small companies with bleeding or leading edge technology unless it is a unique solution to a particular problem. It's unfortunate because it forces startups to think more about getting acquired and partnering with larger entities–which have a tendency to stifle dreams of delivering serious disruption and innovation. On the other hand, most startups aiming at the enterprise or trying to be the next generation of Microsoft Office won't survive unless they can get past the CIO censors, which means that getting absorbed by a big company or partnering is a ticket to survival.
See also: ReadWriteWeb, Nick Carr
Dan Farber, editor-in-chief of CNET News.com, has more than 20 years of experience as an editor and journalist covering technology. See his full profile and disclosure of his industry affiliations.
