CIOs preparing for the younger workforce entering the market should be ready to face the idea that by 2020 smartphones and wearable devices will be considered by many as their most important connected device.
That’s the conclusion of Cisco System’s latest Connected World Technology Report, which also predicts the rise so-called supertaskers who use four devices after surveying workers.
Interestingly, 44 per cent of Millennials feel most productive in the office, six in 10 prefer a pen and paper to the hottest note taking app.
On the other end, 50 per cent of hiring managers said they would hire from only video interviews.
Cisco says the report “examines the relationship between human behavior, the Internet and networking’s pervasiveness. Examining this relationship unearths data about how companies will remain competitive amid the influence of technology lifestyle trends.” It is based on surveys of 3,700 professionals between the ages of 18 and 50 in 15 countries (100 from each country, including Canada).
Among the highlights:
–More than four in 10 Generation X and Gen Y professionals (five in 10 in Canada), as well as nearly six in 10 HR professionals, consider themselves to be a “Supertasker,” defined as an individual who can successfully do more than two things at once, and do them well. Nearly two thirds believe in the year 2020, Supertasking will be most coveted by their organization;
–Seven in 10 HR professionals think Gen Y employees (in their late 20s and early 30s now) are able to perform tasks faster if they are allowed to use their mobile devices and apps instead of PC’s;
— About one quarter of respondents would be willing to move to Mars or another planet if their organization was to open a branch;
–Nearly half (42 percent) would give up sense of smell to have Internet access, if given the choice;
—If forced to choose one device, the largest proportion (about 40 per cent) would select a laptop for both work and personal use;
— In exchange for a free smartphone with unlimited data service, more than 4 in 10 would allow their carrier/service provider access to all of the data and information stored within the phone.