There is always a certain cynicism when a new IT buzzword is bandied about and inevitably overblown, but in the case of Web 2.0 there is growing evidence that there is more to this than just the hype.

Tesco.com, the most successful online grocer in the world, is planning to enhance its offering with Web 2.0-style community features, demonstrating how seriously the technology is being taken.

This is not about the likes of MySpace and YouTube – sites that have been hugely popular with a predominantly young audience, but are not yet necessarily big money spinners. Instead it is about taking the principles created by social networking sites and applying them to business – a perfect example of the growing influence of consumer technology on corporate IT.

Companies are also finding internal uses for Web 2.0. Last week, staff at city law firm Allen and Overy rebelled against an edict that banned the use of Facebook – because they found it an invaluable tool for communicating with their work colleagues, not simply for organising their social lives as had no doubt been assumed. The firm’s IT director was quoted in the press as saying that Facebook had ‘networking benefits, both professional and social’.

Investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein has carried out trials on tools such as blogs and wikis for internal use on IT projects, and found they reduced email traffic by as much as 75 per cent and improved productivity.

Rather than cynicism, it is better to maintain context. Web 2.0 is, like any other technology, just one potentially valuable item in the IT manager’s toolbag. It has to work for your environment, bring real benefits, support your objectives.

But this is an emerging technology in which IT leaders should be taking an increasing interest. You may wonder why your children need to spend so much time on MySpace, but if the tools they use can generate similar loyalty from your customers and partners, there’s a strong and obvious business case to be made.