In a certain way, you are turning the user base into a global IT development unit.

Yes! That is the essential nature of Web 2.0. I think Time Magazine's Person of the Year in 2007 was 'You', based upon Web 2.0 stuff like wikis, blogs, and mashups. But it is important to remember that IT guides this entire process. They provide the security, monitoring, and governance of this infrastructure. They also create mashups for their own use and, in some cases, create them for non-technical user communities as well.