Q: To what extent are you actively pursuing social networking tools?
Nearly 50% of respondents indicated that they've already launched, or are planning to implement social network initiatives, resembling the profile of a much more mature initiative: outsourcing. Author Jim Love continues, "...like outsourcing, which also has had its own detractors, the momentum is clear. In fact, at a conference I spoke at recently, one of my fellow panelists reported that CMOs are poised to control more IT spend than CIOs. While it might not be for every company, social networking is in a position where it's a strategic mistake to ignore it." As a graphic the author saw recently stated, "The ROI of social media is that you get to stay in business." According to Love, "At one point that would have sounded trite. But if you are old enough you'll remember when people were making similar statements about the Internet. Soon we stopped talking about 'if' the Internet would change business forever. We all just accepted that it had."
* Excerpted from "IT Trends in 2013: A Fresh Spring Perspective ," (
) Cutter Benchmark Review, Vol. 13 No. 1.