It's been a long time coming but network analysis is coming on strong heading for mainstream adoption. This is great news for people who have been building out competencies, tools, and technologies to support network analysis.
Gartner, Inc. has examined the maturity of 1,650 technologies and trends in 79 technology, topic, and industry areas, and these findings have been published in “Gartner’s Hype Cycle Special Report for 2009." Each Hype Cycle provides a snapshot of key technologies and trends in a specific technology, topic, geographic region, or industry domain.
The Gartner hype cycle is very well known as a way to assess and track trends. New technologies initially go through a sharp "Peak of Inflated Expectations" followed by a deep "Trough of Disillusionment." The curve of serious adoption then follows with a gentler rise in the "Slope of Enlightment" as people begin to adopt the technology and achieve business results. Eventually the technology peaks out again at a "Plateau of Productivity" where there is wide adoption and the technology matures.
 Social Network Analysis is shown on the 2009 hype cycle as leaving the Trough of Disillusionment and beginning the upward journey of serious adoption with mainstream adoption projected for two to five years.
We noticed a definite shift about 3 years ago when network analysis began that upward climb. It was strongly heralded by Rob Cross's very popular book on The Power of Social Networks.
In our own work we, experienced the shift as a sharp increase in the number of major value network projects popping up at Blue Chip companies such as Cisco Systems, Telenor, and The Boeing Company. We also experienced a significant rise in numbers in workshops and events, and increasing inquiries about applications to support network analysis, which is why we launched ValueNetworks.com in late 2007.
This is a solid, inevitable, and accelerating trend. Even the recession has not blunted the interest - it has actually given the movement an additional boost as people become disillusioned with old ways of thinking about business and seek fresh perspectives.
There is a quick summary of the report available on the Gartner Website and there is also a pricy but very interesting full report.
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