Hyperconnectivity, the state in which the number of network connections exceeds the number of people using the network, is dramatically changing the business landscape. Hyperconnectivity is transforming everything from the way we do business, to how we communicate to how we hire.
Nowhere is the impact of hyperconnectivity more evident than in the new generation entering the workforce, commonly known as the Millennials (or Generation Y) - an estimated somewhere between 80 and 95 million people in the United States born between 1980 and 1995. Millennials grew up with technology and use it constantly, not just for work, like many of their elders, but to stay in constant touch with friends, almost every minute of the day.
They can be seen in shopping malls texting to Twitter.com, racing through airports juggling Blackberries in one hand and laptop cases in the other, in break rooms blogging over lunch, and on the train downloading music or videos while sending IMs and updating their Facebook profiles.
Millennials electronically record their work lives and their love lives. They log their opinions and thoughts on products and friends alike almost as soon as they think of them. They turn to their social networks on Facebook or MySpace to look for news, product suggestions or job leads rather than through traditional media.
They don't expect connectivity just from the computer on their desks at work. They want it on their TVs, in their cars, and in their pockets. They want to be connected on their vacations, in their places of worship, and even in their beds. The hyperconnected use as many as seven devices and nine applications (like instant messaging, blogs and video) for both personal and business activities. Indeed, the lines that separate their work and personal communications have blurred.
A recent global IDC study on hyperconnectivity sponsored by Nortel confirmed that we are in the early stages of a communications revolution. It found that 16 percent of the global information work force is already hyperconnected and another 36 percent are poised to join them soon, with Millennials forming a large part of that number. The study found that the hyperconnected workforce will increase to 40% within five years, and a year or two after that 50%.
With more and more Millennials entering the workforce each year, forward-looking business leaders need to look for ways to adapt their business communications to meet the needs of this new generation of workers that rely on "everywhere, all the time" connections.
How should corporations react, for example, as the distinction between personal and business time intertwines? It is no longer a black and white world, yet many traditional corporations still expect employees to separate work and personal communications, prohibiting use of the company's network for non-work web sites like Facebook. This will become increasingly difficult to manage because Millennials view the world quite differently.
The IDC survey found approximately 25% percent of the hyperconnected have texted their offices while they were at a place of worship and even more while they were on vacation, at close to 55% percent. They also use the same work devices and applications to communicate with friends, family and the online world at large.
This freedom to work during personal time, from wherever an employee happens to be, may be beneficial to the enterprise, but it also creates the need to review communications policies, business practices and IT support for the 24/7 worker.
Are companies ready for the increasing expectation by Millennial new hires that businesses offer a hyperconnected environment? There are a number of things to consider.
- Communications must be unified. The organizations that most successfully embrace this world of hyperconnected change will be those that think in terms of integrated communication, not discrete devices. Merely handing out Blackberries so people can check e-mail on the road isn't enough, any more than publishing a brochure online and calling it a Web site was a decade ago. Companies must adapt to a completely integrated communications environment -- one that weaves blogging and Blackberries, iPhones and IMs, phone calls and Facebook, into a single tapestry.
- The enterprise is no longer bounded by walls. It's important to recognize that a company's applications must be accessible anywhere and everywhere, so the IT strategy must take into account carrier networks, wireless networks, and home networks, to name a few. The boundaries between networks and domains are blurring.
- An ecosystem is key. No one technology company will be able to deliver all necessary capabilities, so look to the broader ecosystem to find the company that can partner with you to fundamentally transform (and communications-enable) your business processes.
Successful companies will also share another trait: They will recognize that the change is already happening -- a fact they can embrace or ignore, but not one they can stop. The wave is already beginning to crest. The only choices are whether to rise with it or drown under it. It's a choice that may very well define success or failure in the long term, but a choice that must be made now.
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John Roese is Chief Technology Officer for Nortel.