Most readers will know J.P. Rangaswami, Managing Director in BT Group and ex-Dresdner Kleinwort Global CIO from his popular Confused of Calcutta blog and his appearances at technology management conferences. He has achieved industry luminary status through his thoughtful and often outspoken views of the role of IT in driving change and the challenges of executing that role inside the large enterprise.

Recently he commented:

“…when I see emergent tools with the following characteristics, I get very interested:

• Low barriers to entry, in investment costs, running costs and prerequisite skills
• Low TCO, open architecture, no proprietary lock-ins, either overt or covert
• Evidence of take-up by Generation M
• Emergence of a community of participation in an open multisided marketplace around the product or service
• The *possibility* that knowledge work can become more effective and more efficient, not just in the enterprise, but in health, education and welfare. Globally.”

These are the dynamics JP is seeing in the Facebook phenomenon, in Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and other web watering holes where user-generated content is the wellspring of value. He has noted that the enterprise is starting to benefit as well, citing examples like fire departments (Los Angeles FD) using Twitter and “old line” manufacturers like Slater Tools and aerospace manufacturing specialist Winslow Automatics taking advantage of YouTube.

Many IT departments are plagued by “polarizing” debates – with social media tools bleeding into the enterprise from the bottom up, with the “consumerization” of technology, and with the emergence of customer-centricity, personalization, and new interaction paradigms between the business and its audiences. In his FASTforward 08 keynote, JP will review the inevitability as well as the benefits of IT departments embracing the User Revolution and accepting the fact that the user has gained control.

Don’t miss the chance to meet J.P. Rangaswami and hear his latest take on where the user revolution is taking us. Make time Wednesday morning 2/20, and don’t miss registering for FASTforward 08. There is still time to catch this unique event.