Web 2.0 is most obviously associated with consumer social networking websites, but businesses are fast waking up to the power of applications based on the platform, experts revealed today.

"Businesses are starting to realise the strengths of web 2.0 in terms of fast deployment of rich internet applications, use of open source technologies, and the communications benefits it can provide to employees and customers," said John Andrews, president and chief executive at Evans Data.

"While developers are the 'early adopters' of the technology, the demand for web 2.0 talent is only getting hotter. It is an indication that the business market will continue to grow quite rapidly."

The 2008 Web 2.0 Development Report from Evans Data suggests that developers are working on web 2.0 software for business applications in several areas, including interface design, widget development and social networking sites.

In terms of interface design, 40 per cent of interfaces for web 2.0 applications are 'mixed' web-rich clients that include Ajax for fast downloads of pages with live feeds of data (widgets) and other dynamic components found in web 2.0 applications.

An "overwhelming" majority of respondents are using widgets from Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and others to deploy fast, lightweight business applications and services.

Additionally over half of the developers in scientific and technical fields see social networking as a communications and collaboration medium.