Your next employee expects some serious IT
Posted 28 August 2007 at 8:46AM by Simon Dickson in IT systems and support
You may have missed it with all this bad weather - but it is the summer, and schools and colleges across the country are pushing out another year's intake, ready for the world of work. But what will they find when they arrive?
A study by IT company Logicalis (PDF) found that a quarter of the nation's teenagers would expect to find relatively advanced communications technology, such as instant messaging and webcams, in the workplace. Three-quarters of those expecting to go to university said they would use instant messaging as their primary means of keeping in touch with friends and family; and a startling 42% said that the availability of instant messaging tools would impact their choice of University.
Experts like former BT chief technologist Peter Cochrane have long been predicting the demise of the company IT department, at least in its current form: Peter says it will 'go the same way as the Typing Pool for exactly the same reasons'. Some companies, including giants like BP, are responding by giving staff more freedom of choice in the IT kit and software they work with. Under BP's 'digital consumer' scheme, staff who passed a proficiency test were given an annual budget to spend as they pleased - with BP's nominated suppliers, or anywhere else. Not only did the initiative keep IT-literate staff happy, it also resulted in cost savings.
Tags: bp, IM, logicalis, peter cochrane, teenagers, webcams
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Comments
2. At August 28, 2007 4:39 PM, anjanesh babu wrote:
BP's policy seems an extension of what 3Com has been doing all along.
Attitudes of Internal IT support chaps do not gel very well with the user ; they tend to believe that all PC users have negative IQ and need ignoring at all times.
You would be surprised what untapped potential would be available if sought for .
3. At August 29, 2007 7:07 AM, Robert Currie wrote:
Allowing employees to choose their own IT software could have many advantages - they may feel more comfortable using something that they've used in a previous job or even at home, rather than struggling with the office standard. Even if most companies weren't able or willing to follow in the footsteps of BP, it's always going to be worthwhile considering any requests you get from your staff.
4. At August 29, 2007 11:04 AM, anjanesh wrote:
correction:my earlier post should be read as "BP's policy seems an extension of what 3M has been doing all along" - not 3Com.
my apologies
5. At August 30, 2007 10:16 AM, Mr F Snapper wrote:
i would think a lot of companies don't use an IM because the employees would spend less time working and more time gossiping!
also a lot of companies will have spent hundreds on bespoke software and therefore asking the worker if they want to instead use something else is impractical. we cant use pirated software here and therefore would maybe have to shell out hundreds on each employee just so they can be "comfortable" as their last job had some piece of software?
don't even get me started on the potential issues sharing files between these new comfortable employees.
6. At August 31, 2007 1:56 PM, Anjanesh wrote:
in response to Mr.F.Snapper
it would be daft of 'non-it' guys to think that open file sharing is secure.No one here is asking for individualistic software packages (every person should be IT flexible to a certain extent) .
Besides;in today's security oriented world individual software approach would not work.
What we are suggesting is an open approach to IT with inputs from regular employees. Proactiveness is not something that is inherrent to IT support .A bit of user knowledge wont hurt.
Or is that IT support guys are insecure about relegation of 'Admin' powers to the common user?
7. At September 4, 2007 5:08 PM, Anon Manager wrote:
Whats this nonsense about expecting to use instant messaging in the workplace? It's banned outright in any company that has any concern about security implications let alone staff tapping away all day instead of working, besides, using instant messenger is hardly rocket science. If todays students expect application such as MSN Messenger as their God given right to use within the work place they are in for a nasty shock!
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1. At August 28, 2007 1:17 PM, Luke Beesley wrote: