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As a non-native speaker, I am a bit baffled by this. What explains this evolution ?
If you want your English to be good, try to spend more time with books, and less time with anything written after about 1960. This (excellent, and free) advice applies to native speakers as well as those enjoying English as a second (or third, etc.) language.
It's just people trying to sound smarter than they are.
In the US, anyway, using those words instead of "using" has been basically standard for a whole lot longer than 10 years in the business world. My memory is that it started in earnest in the '90s, although it's possible it was earlier. It's just people trying to sound smarter than they are.
Technically, "use" means to use something for its given purpose, and "utilize" is a specific kind of using. It means "making the most effective use of something, often in a manner not initially intended."
This I think is one of the many wrongs perpetrated by “business speak”. People say “invite” for “invitation”, then instead of using “invite” as a verb they say they “sent an invite”. They don’t say “installation” and say rather “install” as a noun. They say silly trite things like “circle back”. They load up conversations with sports metaphors and military jargon. A layoff or staff reduction is now a “reduction in fo…
That happened with the onset of digital invitations, like evite, in the late 90s/early 2000s. I remember it vividly because I staunchly refused to use “invite” in place of “invitation.” I wonder how many other language shifts are also tech related.