In an example of timely thinking, Accenture has released a report which tallies with my recent revisit to how the IT departments of most companies need to radically change to meet the needs of a very different and constantly changing environment. My original post ‘IT could lead the revolution‘ and ‘Still waiting for the IT revolution‘ both talked about how users, particularly in a creative environment, need to find ways to implement new technology quickly and efficiently – often in the face of restrictive IT policies.
And then ReadWriteWeb covered the Accenture report with ‘Millennials Will Route Around IT Departments‘.
Some key points:
- More than a third of Millennials also indicated that they were dissatisfied with the technologies their employers currently provide.
- Over a quarter of the employees surveyed by Accenture to use technology that is unsupported and unsanctioned by their corporate IT departments.
- Almost half of all Millennials who use social networks, blogs, vlogs, or Twitter do so without support from their IT departments (and often against the IT policies of their companies).
- A quarter of those who use online collaboration tools and open-source software also do so without support.
- 60% of the employees surveyed by Accenture argue that they are unaware of their companies’ IT policies or that they are simply not interested in following them.
- Over half of the respondents in this study (52%) said that a company’s use of technology was a major factor when they select an employer.
Add in the fact the survey also reinforces the shift away from email as the primary form of electronic communication, and it’s clear that the revolution is happening. It’s just that in most cases, companies aren’t listening, and are investing in the wrong areas.