You know a technology approach is getting hot when InformationWeek does a whole special report on the subject.

InformationWeek just published a major report on the Enterprise 2.0 phenomenon, citing both the opportunities and challenges that lay ahead.

Perhaps the biggest takeaway from the report is that while companies are interested in the various Enterprise 2.0 products and methodologies, there is quite a bit of wariness in the enterprise IT community about perceived risks in Enterprise 2.0 — especially in terms of security.

InformationWeek commissioned a survey of 250 IT executives, which found that close to a third, 32%, already have active Web 2.0 initiatives underway — such as blogs, wikis, search, or mashups. Wikis are widely used at six percent of companies in the survey and used effectively by a few employees at 25% of companies. Mashups are widely used at about seven percent.

But, two out of three IT executives worry about the security of Web 2.0, and more than half say there are issues with integrating Enterprise 2.0 with their current technology assets. Skills are also hard to come by. These are hurdles that will take time to surmount.

Ultimately, InformationWeek defines Enterprise 2.0 this way:

“Enterprise 2.0 can’t just be about a wiki here, a blog there forever. Taken together, the emergence and convergence of Web 2.0 and IP communications is what will determine whether there’s truly an Enterprise 2.0. It’s a new architecture defined by easier, faster, and contextual organization of and access to information, expertise, and business contacts–whether co-workers, partners, or customers. And all with a degree of personalization sprinkled in.”

Getting those enterprise players to actively engage with the new services may be a challenge onto itself. At least 20% of the companies in the InformationWeek survey made more than half of the 13 tools available, but most say they’re hardly used. “IT departments on the cutting edge of Enterprise 2.0 shouldn’t bet on employees flocking to these tools without a push,” the article states, saying many companies will need to engage in “Nudge 2.0.” It cites the example of Procter & Gamble, which is “running an internal marketing campaign with the tagline ‘connect, converse, accelerate’ as it rolls out real-time communications, a collaborative content portal, and desktop search.”

Nudge 2.0 it is.

Challenges to Web 2.0 in Business:

Security 64%

Lack of expertise 55%

Integration with legacy technologies 52%

Difficulty proving ROI 51%

Source: InformationWeek