Okay, we'll state the obvious: millennials,
or Gen Y, is now the largest generation in America. And they are
pushing the technology envelope in ways we couldn't imagine even a
decade ago. If you run an IT department, you are no doubt painfully
aware of this.
So the question is: Are you paving the
way with an infrastructure that can support this new tech savvy
generation of workers? Or are you trying to hang onto the status quo as
long as possible?
An interesting
article in CIO.com
discusses the millennial "shake-up" in workplaces throughout the U.S. as
management struggles to get their arms around the new communications
styles, the mobilized ways of working and the technology that enables it
all.
Here are three key elements that stand out
as consistently creating challenges for IT/Telecom when it comes to
building a millennial communications model. If you can embrace the
following on the front end, the back end processes should fall more
evenly into place.
1. Legacy systems are out.
A joint survey,
conducted by Microsoft and SurveyMonkey, targeted 1,000 millennials in
the U.S. in an effort to learn what would help them to "thrive in the
workplace". Ninety-three percent of those polled identified having
up-to-date modern technology as one of the most critical aspects in the
workplace.
2. Variety and choice are essential.
Today
there are plenty of tools and apps; many of which accomplish basically
the same goals. But try to force a single corporate solution on younger
employees and you may quickly come to wish you had taken the time to
offer more options. Taking a one size fits all approach doesn't work for
digital communications. Ironically, in this case, a single uniform
communications method tends to isolate people, rather than facilitating
integrated communications, like it did a couple decades ago.
3. Listening really will pay off.
Before
you invest in what you think is the next great platform, take the time
up front to listen to your employees. Ask them what they need to improve
their own job performance, and how they can be more productive. True,
you may spend more on the front end to give people more choices, but you
will avoid the hassle and waste of trying to please everyone with a set
of watered down tools that no one, regardless of their age, will want
to use.
The bottom line is that millennials,
like any group of employees, want access to the best technology to do
their jobs. And they will continue to push until they get it. But that's
something IT folks have grown used to over the years. As soon as one
piece of technology kicks in and runs smoothly, chances are it's already
out of date.
Use the input of your millennials to keep pace. You may find that they are the spark that ignites innovation!
Kevin Young,
Founder, CEO/CDR-DATA
