Accenture’s new report “Jumping the boundaries of corporate IT: Accenture global research on Millennials’ use of technology” looks at how Millennials across the world use IT. For this report, Accenture surveyed over 5,000 employees and students, ages 14-27, in 13 countries in the Americas, Europe, and Asia-Pacific. Interesting findings include:
- Millennials in the Americas and Asia-Pacific have very positive perceptions of technology, whereas most of them in Europe think that technology takes up too much time.
- Chinese Millennials spend the most time using real-time communication tools for both work and personal use.
- Millennials want to choose what technologies they use at work, especially in emerging markets.
- Millennials increasingly choose their employer based on access to leading technology.
- Millennials routinely bypass corporate approval when using devices and applications.
The report concludes with ways management teams can benefit from the survey findings. The report suggests the following:
- Adapt IT policies to deal with generational diversity.
- Accelerate experiments with social networking.
- Bridge the generation gap.
I’m amazed at how much thoughtful analysis goes into the study of so-called “millennials” use of technolgy when I’m of the opinion that said millennials don’t give technology much thought at all. They just assume it’s part of their world and they go! Is this any different from kids of the 60′s, 70′s or 80′s and their worlds? Nope – it’s all relative.