IT management hardly recognises the diversity among end users, if at all. In many organisations, the IT department does not acknowledge or recognise that there are different generations of employees in the organisation.
As a result, the IT department does not acknowledge or recognise either that there is a diversity of end users when it comes to requirements, preferences, knowledge and skills in the area of application and applicability of IT. Many IT departments regard end users as some kind of homogeneous mass and, as a result, often provide a very homogeneous product or service. This irrevocably leads to a mismatch in demand and supply. These are the findings of a study carried out by MarketCap in cooperation with Inter Access.
Younger generations of employees are often more familiar with the use of ICT than older generations who did not grow up with ICT as a part of daily (social) life. In the future, organisations should take this into account when offering ICT facilities. The baby boomer generation, which refers to the baby boom which occurred shortly after the Second World War in many Western European countries, was followed by generation X. This generation may well be succeeded by the net generation, which is increasingly growing up with the possibilities of ICT. The study was based on a division in three generations: generation 1.0 (50 years or older – did not grow up with ICT), generation 2.0 (30 to 50 years – can cope well with ICT) and generation 3.0 (younger than 30 years – mostly grew up with ICT). The study was carried out in companies with at least 250 workstations. In addition, the group of respondents consisted of a group of IT employees and a group of employees in management positions other than IT (non-IT).
Many of the organisations which were questioned recognised the above division in generations in their own organisation. Within the group of IT employees, overall a little over one third of the companies (35 percent) indicate that the division applies to the organisation. Within the group of non-IT employees this is even more than 44 percent. With respect to industry, it turns out that the recognition gap between IT and non-IT occurs mainly in the business services industry and in the government & health sector.
With respect to the size of the organisation (based on the number of workstations), it's mainly the larger organisations with at least 500 workstations where the IT department does not acknowledge the diversity among end user groups. It seems therefore as if in many organisations the IT department does not sufficiently acknowledge (or recognise) the fact that there are different generations of employees within the organisation who have different requirements and preferences for the ICT environment. Symen Vlastuin, market analyst at MarketCap, indicates: “It is commonly known that young people use the internet more and more as a social network. But the young people of today are also the employees of the future. Companies will have to go along with this, if only to be an interesting employer for new generations on a tight labour market.”
Han Dieperink, CTO at Inter Access, adds: “The introduction of new and innovative ways to communicate also has positive effects on ways of cooperation and knowledge gathering within organisations. Blogging and social networks (such as LinkedIn) are an excellent way to contact experts outside of one's own circle of acquaintances or organisation."
In addition to the question whether the division in different generations applies to the organisation, the organisations were also asked to what extent they should take these employees into account between now and two years from now when providing ICT facilities. Approximately 34.1 percent of the IT employees who were questioned felt that it was very important or extremely important that organisations take them into account. Again, the non-IT group seems more aware of the emergence of a new generation of employees. Around 41 percent indicates that between now and two years from now it is very important or extremely important to take into account a new generation of employees when providing ICT facilities.
Han Dieperink concludes: “Companies don’t have one type of employee. The oldest generation is used to working within traditional personal networks. The ‘mid-career’ generation mostly uses mobile phones and email. The youngest generation is used to presenting themselves via weblogs and uses Instant Messaging technology for direct communication. ICT departments need to differentiate and tailor their services and investments to this.”
Lammers van Toorenburg Benelux PR Anja BreunisPhone: +31 (0)30 656 50 70E-mail: interaccess@lvtpr.nl
Inter Access B.V.Lindy DragstraPhone: +31 (0)35 688 84 54E-mail: lindy.dragstra@interaccess.nl