Clio

A recent post on Slaw.ca by Agnese Caruso highlighted the results of an Accenture global report on Millenials’ use of technology, and the transformative effect their generation is having on how businesses, both big and small, leverage leading-edge technologies. The report details the the findings of a survey of 5595 employees & students aged 14-27 in 13 countries, and describes an up-and-coming workforce of “profuse” technology adopters that are using emerging tools to achieve seamless connectivity with their business and social networks.

According to Accenture’s findings, asynchronous forms of communication such as email are losing favor to instant media such as Facebook, Twitter and IM. Preferences for these technologies is beginning to shift expectations among the Millenials for how businesses will interact with employees, customers, and suppliers. With more than 1 in 5 Millennials spending the majority of time away from the office, there is also additional pressure from this cohort to support predominantly online technologies, such as Software-as-a-Service, that cater to mobility and accessibility. Moreover, given a hallmark tendency for rapid technology adoption and non-conformity, Millennials are increasingly seeking solutions that afford device neutrality, and the ability to choose their own technologies – Macs or PCs, iPhones or Droids etc.

For anyone interested to gain some insight into the generational attitudes that will shape our technical future, the Accenture report is an interesting read, and provides a prescient look into the motivations of the Millennials and the transformative influence this group will have on technology over the next decade.